Go Green Alligator Pandas!

 Eva doesn't really identify with the name that was democratically voted for by her intramural volleyball team: The Green Pandas. She wanted to be the Alligators, which happens to be the team name of her t-ball team a couple of years ago. So, to make things right, I call them The Green Alligator Pandas.

 Today they played the Turquoise team. I don't know what they voted on, but I'm going to call them The Terrific Turquoise Tarantulas. The Terrific Turquoise Tarantulas won the first game. The Green Alligator Pandas won the second game, and Eva contributed to their winning score with several awesome digs that made her mother very proud. Then, the Terrific Turquoise Tarantulas won the tie-breaking third game. Darn. But kuddos to the Tarantulas.

 This picture looks weird, but I just had to include it because it's a picture of one of Eva's awesome point-scoring digs.

And in this picture it looks like her arm belongs to Elastigirl, which is totally awesome. Elastigirl could be very valuable on an intramural volleyball team.

Halloween!

 Eva helped me make these cute, yummy little hot dog mummies. You just wrap refrigerated roll dough around the hot dogs and bake them for 15 minutes. It looks like Eva was really getting in to the Halloween spirit while she made her hot dog mummies. Frightening.

 We had excellent weather for Halloween this year, the best Halloween weather I remember since I lived in Texas many, many moons ago. Halloween got caught between two snowfalls, just at the peak of warm spell between. It was almost 70 degrees during the daytime, and Eva didn't even wear a jacket while we were trick-or-treating. Of course, I carried it around and kept asking, "Are you cold enough for your jacket yet?" because I just can't imagine why a person would refuse a jacket after the sun has gone down.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 had a good time on Halloween. I don't think they caused near as much destruction as the real Thing 1 and Thing 2. Rebecca's wig recovered really well from Rocco's attack on it. He must have thought it was a bird because he tore that thing up and left little blue feathers flying all over the basement.

Unlike years past, these two put off costume design until about 5 minutes before we left for trick-or-treating. We're not exactly sure what they were supposed to be, but it doesn't seem to have mattered.

These two, on the other hand, have been planning their cowgirl Halloween costumes since springtime. Giddyup!

First Snow

Our first snowfall of the year really packed a punch last week. We lost a couple dozen tree branches and had to call the power company to have them detangle some from our power lines. The city has set up a tree branch drop-off site, and we're hoping to get our branches over there this weekend because they're taking up a lot of yard space. It was an exciting way to start the snow season, but I hope our trees don't suffer too much more trauma this winter.

Denver Rescue Mission

 Spencer has been working on the Citizenship in the Community merit badge, and he had to volunteer 8 hours for a local charity. He dragged the bike trailer around the neighborhood and asked people for donations to the Denver Rescue Mission, which helps homeless people downtown.

 Our living room filled up with donations all week. People in our neighborhood were so generous. One man went straight to his closet and just took things off the rack to donate to the Rescue Mission. One sweet old lady couldn't hear what Spencer said, which is saying something because Spencer has a loud voice, but she gave him a dollar because she could tell he was asking for something.

On Saturday, I took Spencer and his good pal downtown, and they unloaded all their donations. It's going to snow this week, and they felt good that they rounded up some coats to keep people warm. Go Scouts!

October

Our lives have become a whirlwind of driving, piano lessons, driving, swim practice, driving, ballet rehearsal, driving, scouts, Activity Days, young women, firesides, driving, and driving.

Eva started playing the clarinet, and she's really taken to it. This picture was from one of her first days of practice. Since then, she's learned to keep her cheeks from puffing out like that, which is too bad because I thought the cheek-puffing was really cute.

Spencer's swim team had a big meet at this awesome pool in Thornton. He's one speedy fish.

But in the midst of all this activity, it appears that the kids still have time to goof around. Thank goodness.

Jug Dance from La Bayadere

Scarf Dance from La Bayadere

Eva and Rocco in the Best Dressed Dog Show

Broomfield Days

 We didn't get any pictures of the parade this year, but here are Eva and Ava posing in front of the cars in the car show. We also watched Dock Dogs, a couple of dance performances, and listened to a cowboy tell stories.

Spencer got up early and went fishing. He caught a lovely trout, which he ate for lunch. Yum.

Fun with Sage

 What do you do when you have a nice, quiet morning at a sage-filled campground, but you forgot to bring balls or cards or even a book? Fun with sage!

 Rocco's ready to be a bridesmaid.

 Where DID you get your sage wreath?

 From my stylist, darling. You should call him. He does amazing things with sage.

Last Hurrah!

 Friday night of Labor Day weekend we scrambled to throw some camping gear together, picked Rebecca up from ballet, and drove down Hwy 93 to Golden Gate Canyon. It was almost dark when we got to the parking lot, and we had to hike in to the campground. Luckily, Ben had the handy dandy super bright flashlight Grandma gave him, so we hiked in the dark to Sourdough Springs campground. It was really neat because occasionally we came to a high point in the trail where we could see the city lights poking out from between two peaks, and out on the eastern horizon we saw lightning flashes in the clouds. We set up our tent in the dark, cooked our tin foil dinners, and roasted s'mores before we went to sleep. Rocco was totally afraid of the dark. But in the morning when he could see that we weren't on an alien planet he was back to his happy floppy self, and he got all kinds of burs in his fur to prove it. It was fun to hike back and see the scenery we'd missed the night before because we were watching the stars come out and couldn't see anything beyond the trail.

 Rebecca's shoes are toast, but she refuses to throw them away because they've hiked Mt. Quandary, the Great Wall of China, Mt. Huashan, and Walgreens.

 Eva and Ben demonstrate their stellar backpacking skills.

Mom ran behind, trying to keep up.

Weekend

Congrats, Luke and Jessica! While Ben was away at Luke & Jessica's wedding, we kept pretty busy around here. Spencer painted a fence at the Metzger Farm.

Eva painted a barn. Rebecca painted, too, and danced and babysat.

When he returned, Ben had a souvenir from the wedding: a Soviet-era gas mask! It's a little bit uncomfortable, but that didn't keep us from having a gas mask fashion show. Thanks, Papa!! I believe it's already made it to school for show and tell once, and it's only Tuesday.

Eva's Rocco Tricks

Horse Show

It was a week of horse highs and lows. Last Sunday, Eva's favorite horse Comanche had to be put down because he was old and sick. But she got to go to the stable several times this week, and today she participated in her first show. Here's Eva with Quincy. I'm not sure Quincy can even feel Eva on his back. She probably doesn't weigh any more than the saddle and blanket, but she does her best to let Quincy know who is boss.

Here she is waiting for the judge's feedback.

Eva, Quincy, and Becky had a successful morning. We think Becky is the best horseback riding teacher in the whole wide world.

Eva's First Horse Show

Last Week of Summer

It's been a long week because the kids' friends went back to school on Monday, but their school doesn't start until this coming Wednesday. So there hasn't been anybody to play with. But we managed to find a few things to do. We watched movies.

 Played Legos.

 Dressed dolls.

 Played with the camera.

And had school uniform fashion shows. Just a few more days, and the kids will be making new friends, eating lunch at school, and learning, learning, learning.

Happy Birthday, Rebecca!

 Rebecca turned 14 today! She went ice skating with friends last night and went to her very first dance tonight. It's so fun to watch her grow up into such a nice, happy young lady.

Eva's Room Remodel

Before:

 After:

Lakeside

 The kids all got unlimited ride passes to Lakeside for completing the library summer reading program, so we went on Tuesday. This crazy ride (the one above) is one of those free-fall rides where you ride up a big shaft and then they drop you and you scream for like half a second before your lungs and vocal cords cease to function. Ben hurt his leg somehow. Maybe somebody from Lakeside will read this and send him a check for lots of money. Maybe.

 This ride is called the Round Up. It's one of those rides that spins you until your back is glued against the green pad and you can't move except your cheeks go flapping in the wind and you worry about drooling. The kid who was running the ride meant business. He said there were 2 rules: no leaning forward and no lifting your feet off the floor. And he also said that if anybody broke even just 1 of the 2 rules he would stop the ride and everyone would have to get off. And he was serious because somebody on our ride lifted one of his feet up, and the kid stopped the ride and everyone had to get off. By the end of the evening, that kid had all the visitors to the park trained, tipping hats, and saying, "Yes, Sir!" He's just the kind of guy we need running our public schools... I also like the above photo because it shows us what Ben would look like if he had a moustache. I think a gun holster would add to the look.

This ride is called the Matterhorn. It was nice.