October 2022

What a fun month this has been!

You started things off with an impromptu bathroom fashion show.

You can get Ares to sit with you a little longer if you cover him in the blankets so I have loads of pictures of you sitting with just his head peeking out.

Ares kept stealing Dad's crocheted hats so I made him a tiny hat of his own to play with. I didn't really intend to put it on his head, but figured we needed just one picture.

Pumpkin patch!

We thought we should probably see how tall dad is this fall, too.

The corn maze was really fun.

There were a few fun surprises hidden along the way.

They had an awesome haystack for climbing.

I think you would have stayed here all day if we'd let you.

Finally, time to pick out pumpkins!

Mrs. Hofius invited the whole class to her farm for cider pressing, lunch, and a hike. We got to see the chickens and watched Mr. Hofius "baaaaa" at the sheep to get them to come when he was feeding them the apple pulp.

Your turn at cider pressing. We even got to bring a bottle home with us.

Your very first bubble. You were very proud.

Falcon football.

You dressed as Ares for Halloween!

We kicked off the Halloween weekend with WCT's Monster Mash, which was super fun! You got to see some of your theater friends and I helped set up so I got to be part of the volunteer crew, too.

Presley's family came and the two of you danced your hearts out at the end of the night.

At home, I planned a scavenger hunt sending you to all of Ares' favorite places.

Some of them were harder than others.

But you did find them all eventually.

You had the right idea by looking at things from a cat's perspective.

Pumpkin carving time!

Cat face, of course.

You wanted to re-enact Ares hesitating to jump down after being caught on the counter...."but my pawsies."

At school there was a costume parade followed by a class party.

You started out by spelling your name (Ares) in colored sprinkles, which looked really good, but then got completely hidden when you added the bats.

Rock painting. I'm not sure what that had to do with Halloween, but you seemed to be enjoying it anyway.

Trick or treat time! Since you were Ares I agreed to dress up as you. Since part of my costume included a "Hello my name is Kinley" sticker, I felt it would be kind of confusing to wear that to the WCT  and school parties where people only barely know me in the first place. So, despite several days of festivities, this was actually the only time I wore my costume.

You picked out my entire outfit, including many items that are actually yours. I wore my hair like you would and even wore your coat.

We invited the neighbors to join us again, Camden was ready to get going and not much up for pictures, but this will have to do.

I did my best to pose Kinley-style.

You have had a series of colds this fall that have not been very fun. When I finally got you to learn how to blow your nose, you developed your own personal style that's a bit of a "stomp and blow," which totally cracked me up. I was laughing so hard I was crying, not just once, but for days, every time you did it.

Finally, just so I have it documented somewhere, I want to note how fun it is for me when you come out of school and have a list of things you want to tell me about your day. You will walk up to me and say, "4 things" and then go on to tell me all about each one. I know there will probably come a time that you are not so eager to tell me about your day but for now I love it and want to always remember it. I love knowing what's going on with you when I'm not with you and when I talk to other parents I realize that I know a lot more about your school day than the average family probably does.