Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! The pic above was taken about a week ago at Boo at the Zoo. Sara had a good time on a Thursday night going to the zoo in her costume. Grandma D. was here for a visit, so it was a bit extra fun.



Here they are having some fun.



Sara on the Drum.



Out for trick-or-treating for the evening (we expanded from the 1 house the last 2 years, to 4 houses this year).

In other news, things are going generally well here. Grandma D was here for a visit a week ago. I have been traveling a bit to DC and soon to Boulder for meetings. The baby is making its presence known more all the time, the kicking and moving around has begun in earnest... another usual checkup next week. Danette is doing generally well other than a cold that seems to have gripped our house this week. Sara is doing pretty well this week, and next week she has some changes coming. She and some of her friends are moving into their own new room at day care... they are splitting off the older two-year olds, which includes Sara. The new room is in next door to the preschool rooms, so that is pretty exciting and a good next step to prepare for that next year. She has been over to the new room a few time with her buds and they all seem excited from what we hear.

Have a good November.

21

Twenty one in one of those interesting numbers in life... 21 often reminds me of the game of basketball which is getting into swing now. My friend Nate and I have revived our fantasy basketball partnership for the upcoming NBA season... and I am a bit out of shape, shall we say and have been cramming for the test next week known as draft day. 21 can also refer to the umpteenth attempt to legalize gambling here in our fair state through a proposed amendment that would grant a monopoly to one company in the constitution. Or roughly speaking, 21 is about the number of days until little Riley turns one month old.

Twenty one is also the number of weeks along that Danette happens to be.... *insert dramatic pause here* Yes, we are expecting to make this family of three into four around the end of February. Admittedly, many readers are already aware of this fact, but it hasn't appeared here until now. Danette is doing well. The first trimester was generally fine, but the second is certainly better. Sara is excited to be a big sister, even if she doesn't fully understand what is on the horizon for us all. There have already been a couple of ultrasounds and other typical tests all appears to be well with the baby-to-be-named-later, II. We are starting get plans for preparations going (yes, just plans mostly). We are going to turn our office into the nursery so that Sara will hopefully still sleep through the night when the baby does not. Unfortunately, that is going to be a bit of an undertaking to get set up, but we will get there. We have even ordered a new dresser for Sara so that we can move the one with that has also served as the changing table into the baby's room. Regardless, we are all looking forward to the end of February.

No ultrasound pics or the like, the scanner is not connected to our newish computer, nor do I know if it would work anyway at this point. So, today's pics will be of our trip out to the Arboretum this afternoon and the little miss. This morning we picked up some new shoes for her (and learned that the new ones are a half-size larger than 3-year-olds typically wear). Then this afternoon after her nap we drove out and took in the colors and had a nice little hike. A little nippy today, around 50 for the high, but it was all good. Sara had a good time, though she was mostly interested in the crushed pebbles and rocks that made up the walking paths than the vibrant colors of the leaves.



Sitting by the pond for a minute.



The other side of that pond.



Another pic of the colors and walking path.

Summer in October

Well, we are fortunate that it has been downright beautiful here lately. I think it was something like 81 here today. Definitely taking advantage of a lot of time outside when we can. This semester has been pretty crazy with work. I have even been teaching on a bunch of Saturdays so far, so even the weekends have not been all that relaxing our home-bound.

Sara is doing well, though we think she must be going through one heckuva growth-spurt for the last month or so. Not sure if all that growth is upward (or just general physical and mental growth), but she is always in need of sleep, and lately, food (more so than usual). After the last post where I had Sara to myself for the weekend we decided to move her bedtime 30 minutes earlier to see if that would help a little (and really hoped that she wouldn't just get up 30 min earlier). Well, it seems to have helped. Bedtime used to be a full-out major battle because she was so tired, but now it is a lot easier (not easy, just easier). Overall it is a little better too, as long as she has a decent nap.... but other than that she is doing very well, apparently very helpful at daycare, loves to play with her Duplo blocks, read her magazine and books, etc, etc. Oh, and run and run and run. So. Much. Energy.

In other news, D'Arcy and Rew had their baby, a son named Riley was born this past Friday evening.... wooo hooo hooo. Poor kid is gonna have to start working real hard to beat his ol' man on the PS3.

Well, for the real reason you are here... pictures:



Last weekend we went to a local fundraiser for the city's family center. Sara got to ride pony for the first time.



Play under a parachute...



And of course standard playground equipment.



Quite a bit warmer today... so off to the park for the Sand



Big slides.



And general fun.