Bear leads a spontaneous exercise class

This was an amusing scene the other night...Bear often starts practicing his karate or just jumping around in the middle of the living room. This time, all of the other kids -- led by Alleluia Boy -- joined in. It was funny to see the little ones trying to imitate all of Bear's moves. Take a look:

The Music Man rides a bike

TMM has wowed everyone at his school with his proficiency on an adapted tricycle. After only three days of practice, here's how he was doing:



We hope to get a similar bike for him at home, given how much he enjoys it!

Halloween

All right, here's the mandatory Halloween post! As I've mentioned before, Halloween has never been my favorite holiday...but I love taking the kids trick-or-treating around here. The neighborhood just comes alive in a way that you never see any other time of year -- pretty much everyone is home, and out and about. The kids have to keep prompting the adults to keep moving, because we're so busy talking with the neighbors we haven't seen all year!

Mouse went as Juliet, Jubilee Girl went as a lollipop fairy (her own invention),
The Music Man went as a tiger, and Alleluia Boy went as Thomas the Tank Engine.

Trick-or-treating with the residents at a local nursing home...another favorite
thing to do.

Pumpkins by (bottom to top) Alleluia Boy, Jubilee Girl, and Mouse.

Some neighbor was handing out big candy bars!

And here is a short clip of the kids trick-or-treating in the neighborhood:

Puzzle fun

Now that Matthew is home alone with me for a couple of hours every morning, we're finally getting some time to do things together again. His favorite activities include building really tall towers out of cardboard blocks and knocking them down (a toddler classic, right?), playing with water and pots and pans in the sink, and putting together puzzles. He can put together a giant fire truck floor puzzle pretty much by himself, with only minimal assistance. Here he is putting the final touches on: