Our oak tree has blessed us with lots of leaves this year. Cecilia and Tristan have really enjoyed all of the leaves. If only raking the leaves were as much fun!

...there she is!

Where's Cecilia? Tristan raced into the house tonight exclaiming that Cecilia was gone! Because of the glint in his eye, I knew he was teasing...

Tristan models his new bathrobe as he clips his new shuffle to his shirt.

You can see the excitement in Tristan's face as he opens his new Shuffle. He has named it "Snuffly"

Halloween 2006

Cecilia dressed as a witch for Halloween and Tristan dressed as Obi Wan Kenobi. Cecilia and found the idea for her costume in a magazine. I made Tristan's costume from a "Simplicity" pattern. I haven't sewn anything since 8th grade, and the pattern did not necessarily follow it's namesake. I'm sure that some issues were user error, but there were places where just two more words would have made everything much clearer. Both my mother and my mother-in-law were very patient throughout the entire process. Initially, Rose helped me cut out the pieces, and then she and my mom each had numerous opportunities to coach me via telephone. A friend at work even helped me pin the sleeves on! You've probably heard that it takes a village to raise a child, but in my case it takes a village to sew a Halloween costume!

Compared to Tristan's costume, Cecilia's costume was relatively straightforward to make. We tye-died clothing and used burlap for the skirt. Initially she wanted to dye her hair black, but we compromised with multi-colored hair that included streaks of black.

Tomorrow is Tristan's 8th birthday, and while I know it is a cliche, these eight years have really flown by. Tristan celebrated with his friends by hosting a party at LaserQuest. He graciously allowed his parents and his sister to play as well. Everyone had a great time. Tristan asked his friends to bring food for the Lincoln Food Bank and their Backpack program instead of buying him gifts. His friends were very generous, as you can see from the photo above. We'll take the food to the Lincoln Food Bank tomorrow after school. We are all very proud of Tristan, and I know that he feels proud of himself as well. We asked him tonight if he missed getting presents from his friends and he replied "this is better". He's a great boy.