Two nights of Trick or Treating

Incase we didn't get enough candy this year from the various and sundry Halloween parties, we had two nights of trick-or-treating. There was some discrepancy in different neighborhoods in regard to what night would be "Beggars Night." We spent Thursday trick-or-treating with Grandpa Al in Bexley, and Friday trick-or-treating in Worthington with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Kathryn. I love Halloween, but I'm now officially glad that it is over.

A True M&M

Church "Fall Festival" Party

Just a few highlights of the church Fall Festival. The kids of course looked adorable and enjoyed their first round of trick-or-treating. Michael and Noah were awesome as Dr. Evil and Mini Me (see below). Cole ran around a lot, and ate too many Fritos. Kensie cooked an awesome pot of chili, which did not win the cook-off, but should have. I ate some really delicious jalepeno cornbread, best corn bread I've ever had, and I wish I knew who made it.

Dr. Evil and Mini Me

Okay, this is my favorite family costume of the year. My brother Michael and his son Noah as Dr. Evil and Mini Me. Aren't they adorable? My sister-in-law whipped those costumes out on her sewing machine in no time flat.

Carving the pumpkin

Unfortunately, I waited to take a picture of the pumpkin more than a week after it was carved, but it was really cute. In this picture it has the dentures removed collapsed mouth, and you can't see the cute bow and eyelashes very well. This was mostly a daddy-daughter project, Cole helped a little bit.

No Polly Pocket, You have so much to live for...

I found poor Polly Pocket in this state while I was cleaning the house. Sadly, it all just had become too much for her. I wish I could have found her in time.

Daddy-daughter project

Charles had recently made this step stool for the kids while he was hanging out with his dad. He and Juliet had the project of decorating it. Juliet helped Daddy pick out the supplies, paint the bench, put on glitter, and glue on those flowers and butterflies. They both had a lot of fun doing it!

Beautiful Girl

I know she is my daughter and all, but I just think she's gorgeous!

Here come the cousins...

The cousins are in town. My brother Michael, his wife Kensie, and their two kids are staying with my Mom and Jim for awhile while they prepare for the next steps in their lives. We love having them here. Cole and Juliet (mostly Juliet) love having Alyna and Noah to play with at Grandma's house. Here we are enjoying a fantastic Fall day.

Band-aids fix everything

I don't know if you can tell from these pictures, but Cole is placing a band-aid on his tongue. Cole firmly believes that if you hurt yourself, a band-aid will fix it right up. Even if the band-aid is only on there for a minute Cole feels better about things. This morning Cole bit his tongue and asked for a band-aid to put on it. He put it on an spit it out about 10 seconds later, and all was well with the world again.

What is in a name....

Juliet has been on a naming kick lately. It is fun to hear the names she comes up with because they are truly the random creations of her brain. She has named the little mouse in the picture Nalgon, and she carries it around in her pocket. She has a bear that she has named Teenie Ock Googie, note that it has a first middle and last name. Another doll she has is named Safari Pickii. It will be interesting to see what she names her kids.

Cole in the spotlight....

We do a program with Cole called RDI (Relationship Development Intervention). It is something that is designed for parents to do with their autistic kids as they interact with them throughout the day. You take the things that you might do with your child throughout the day, chores, playing, eating, walking, etc...and you find ways to use those activities to work on specific communication goals. Our goals right now have to do with non-verbal communication. We worked for a long time following gazing. We did a lot of activities where Cole had to follow our gaze in order to get important information. Now we are working on gesturing. In these clips you see us working on the "come here" and "stop" gestures. Cole is so affectionate we were able to make up some kissing games that helped him learn the gestures. The harder part will be the next step where we have to teach him to make the gestures. Anyway, I know this is off on a tangent, but I know that I've mentioned RDI to some people and these are such cute videos I thought they'd be good for illustrating.

EGGS...cellent

Okay, I'll admit that eggs are fascinating objects, and fun to play with. I was still pretty annoyed when I walked into the kitchen to find THIS mess.