Celebrations + PreHalloween

Wow, I'm behind on posting! Let's go all the way back to Zane's birthday - We broke down and got him a PS4. He told us he was going to ask Santa for one...but we couldn't let Santa have all the glory! Mom and Dad are cool too :) Plus, 10 is kind of a big deal since he'll be in double digits until he's 100.

 So many candles!

 Everyone has been enjoying PS4 time...even the gorilla.

 Olive fingers.

 Ozzy's cone has been off for a while now. He didn't calm down at all, but he's all healed up!

 An evening wienie roast with friends.

 You go to check the mail and your daughter perishes...dang it. She was revived with fruit snacks!

 Zane earned his second stripe on his red decided belt. One more stripe before he tests for black (in February if all goes according to plan).

 Zane is in a drumming group for 4th and 5th graders before school 2 days a week. The group performed with two artists from Guinea at an assembly and then the next night with those same artists at the CoMo African Dance and Percussion Celebration. It was amazing!

Little sis entertained herself by taking many, many selfies before the show began.

 Hannah and her bestie, Sarah, during the Super Improver celebration at school. It's an afternoon of fun and games for those kids who have worked hard on academics, behavior, and emotional growth! Zane and his friends got their faces painted like Mario, Luigi, and Wario but they all scattered before I could snag a pic.

 We've been having a lot of fun with these masks!

Hannah doing the Monster Mash dance she learned for her TRYPS play.

This school year has been a struggle for the adults (luckily, the kids don't notice) since we're sharing a building with another school while ours is renovated. You'd think educators who teach kids to share and cooperate all day would be able to apply that knowledge to this situation...but we're still waiting for that to happen. These ladies are my team and my friends and they make every day fun! Our shirts say "I smell children" (from the movie Hocus Pocus). One 4th grader read my shirt and said "oh, that's creepy!" Haha!

 Downtown trick or treating with the Alpaca, Kittycorn, and their friend as...darkness? He wasn't quite sure what he was.

 While walking around downtown we stopped at Sky Lark bookstore to get candy AND to see the bats that Zane and his classmates made. Originally they were in the trees for the Roots and Blues festival before moving to the bookstore. Zane's is roosting in the back corner.

 A rainbow kittycorn butterfly!

Zane is 10!

Our boy is 10!! It's hard to believe that 10 years have passed since we were taking the loooong walk in Portland to get him to sleep in the stroller. Ten years since he wouldn't eat dinner right after asking for a snack. Ten years of doing the chubby run away from us in the park because he wasn't ready to go home yet. Ten years since he was stiff as a board and screaming as we put him in the car seat. Ten years of watching him grow into the kind, thoughtful, and caring person he is today. All those other memories are now looked back on and laughed at, though I'm sure we weren't laughing at the time. 

 Zane likes to try new things. It seems like we have an activity every season! Within the past year, he has enjoyed soccer, baseball, basketball, swimming (lessons...even though he knows how to swim, it's just more fun to be in the water than to sit on the side and watch sister), chess, and now drumming (before school). He has also chosen to be a part of K-Kids for 4th and 5th graders at school, which is a student lead community service group. Each month a few members of the Kiwanis Club come to help students facilitate the meetings and their project, which is still being decided upon.

 He is sarcastic. His teacher from last year told me she really enjoyed having him in class because he understood her sarcasm and could give it right back to her. He knows the line between funny and mean and speaks up when his friends cross the line. He's a good guy to have on your side.

 He is trustworthy, thankful, honest, and terrible at lying so he doesn't do it that much ;) He makes good choices and has a good set of friends. He will leave a situation if he doesn't like how others are acting (which happens a lot with the neighbor kids). Sometimes he needs a few reminders to get his butt in gear and will get stompy and/or pouty if he really doesn't want to stop what he's doing...but hey, that's life.

 Zane also loves downtime. Don't we all! At home he plays with friends, builds Legos, reads, walks Ozzy, rides his bike, or watches weird YouTube videos. He still hasn't figured out the loveliness of sleeping in and wakes up by 6:30 every single day, if not earlier. Someday (hopefully soon) he'll be in awe of that.

We love you, buddy!

Ozzy + Fence + Soccer + Runs

Ozzy is still deeply in love with Mason. Just look at that intent stare!

 But he has branched out and will snuggle with the rest of us if Mason isn't available.

 Often, when Ozzy is with you, this is the view. He wants to be as close to your face as possible. All the time.

 Mason and Hannah made apple pistachio pies.

 Zane likes to wrap Ozzy up like this so he can't run away. Ozzy tolerates it well.

 Walks are fun!

There was a teacher work day with no school so we met some friends at Sky Zone. Zane played dodgeball while Hannah worked on her front flips.

On Sept 29th Mason and I celebrated 12 years with an evening at the Blue Note listening to comic Chris Porter from KC. He was hilarious!

I ran a 10k with my much faster friend.

We fenced in the final portion of our backyard so our little 10 pound beast can enjoy some off leash freedom.

 Everyone got in on it!

We took a break from fencing to go visit our friend's mega pumpkin patch! That thing must weigh 100lb!

Nearly there...Zane took over on nailing the slats.

 Finished product!

 Ozzy likes to balance on the middle beam under the table while we eat. He's like a mini mountain goat.

 School wide tie dye day! The students screen printed their shirts last week with a design drawn by a 5th grader. I take photos of school events and post them on the Facebook page.

 Ozzy had some of his male bits removed.

Soccer season has come and gone already! Zane had games on Saturdays and a few Wednesdays, plus no rain outs and the season is over. He had some pretty epic saves as goalie! 

Last weekend I went to St. Charles, MO (right outside of STL) for the MO' Cowbell half marathon with these ladies. 

Afterward, we all decided that we don't need to torture ourselves with half marathons anymore. The shorter runs are just fine!

The cone isn't funny...except when it is. He's doing well and we should be able to take it off on Friday.

Activities not pictured include jazz, TRYPS, ATA, and drumming.