Co-op at the park.

There was a sick kid at the house where we were supposed to have co-op today, so we met at Spring Creek Park instead.

My Spanish lesson on colors went well.  Someone else taught about Copernicus and Galileo.

When the founder of our little co-op did not show up, I was surprised to learn the reason:  She put both of her kids in school!!

Mom watched Max while we did homeschool.

Max had a very "screamy" night last night.  Stupid cold!

He's mostly content, though, when he's awake.

Picking up acorns, throwing them, dancing around ... He really enjoyed the park!  Hoping for a better night tonight ...

Still no package.

Gabe's toys still have not come in the mail, and Dan says he doesn't think they're coming.  The seller has closed his e-bay account.  We are going to report him.

Dan says he will pay Gabe $50 to learn to tie shoes.  Parenting literature says that you're supposed to wait till your child shoes an interest to teach him to tie his shoes.  Well, not only has Gabe never shown an interest, but he has always gotten irate when we even bring it up.  His solution is simply not to wear the shoes that have laces. Now that a monetary reward has been offered, though, he's interested ...

Speaking of shoes, Max sometimes asks to put his on!  He points to them, and I ask, "Do you want to put on your shoes?"  He nods emphatically, yes!

A couple nights ago he did this while I was trying to put him to bed!  He asked to put on his slip-on moccasins, walked to the front door, and asked to go out!  It's cute that he now understands what we say, and nods or shakes his head to indicate yes or no.

I gave him a wheat roll to play with while I cooked.  He methodically tore it to pieces and stacked some of it on a shelf ... but didn't eat any!

He stacked these two soda cans, and then was so excited about it that he kept calling me to look at it over and over, clapping his hands with glee!

Joe.

Maya and Nathan.  Right now Buddy is building a wall in their house so that Maya will have her own bedroom.

Playing outside tonight.

Gabe's newest drawing.  This is Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z.

Getting used to the idea that his package is not coming ... Life's tough lessons.

Fall flowers, and Gabe at the leaning tower of Pisa.

Someone has been very resistant to learning math lately.

Math has a laxative effect on him ... as soon as we start working problems, it seems, he suddenly has to go to the bathroom.  And he spends an inordinate amount of time in there ... (hiding).

Meanwhile this morning, outside, Dad was pulling Max and Maya around in a wagon and picking flowers.  Gabe says, "Everyone gets to do something they enjoy except me."  Grandma and I have assured him that this is not the case.  Other kids his age are working in school, she doesn't like cleaning, and I told him that I was doing the hardest job of all:  making him do his math problems!

More fun with Buddy.

Pretty zinnias and marigolds are still growing in the garden

Max kept breaking the stems.

Yellow daisies and gourd vines.

Gabe is enjoying our unit on Italy, as far as I can tell.  Today we looked at a lot of pictures of the leaning tower of Pisa ...

But who knew Gabe had been to the tower himself!  When he saw this picture he said, "That kid looks just like me!"  He really does!!

Kidnapped camera.

Some days Dan has to take the camera to work.  Today was one of those days.

Today Buddy took Maya to Lowe's and bought her a Mickey and Minnie toy.  Later she was playing in the barn with Grandma and Buddy and said, "I just love you guys so much!"  Dad said, "Thank you, Maya!"  Maya said, "I wasn't talking to you.  I was talking to Mickey and Minnie!"  (But she reassured Mom and Dad that she liked them a lot too, though ... )

I want to make it a new rule that we don't tell Gabe about any packages we order unless we know exactly when they're coming.  Gabe is expecting some toys shipping from Hong Kong.  First thing every morning, for the last two weeks, he wakes up and says, "Mom, is the mail here yet?"

And I say, "No, the mail doesn't come till the afternoon."  When the time comes, we take a long hike to the mailbox.  And the toy is not there.  And Gabe is just shattered.  And then we repeat the same ordeal the next day.

Joe came over after school.  "So Gabe, did you get your package yet?"

Gabe said, "No, it didn't come yet.  And I got so mad about it that I got sent to my room."

Today I found out that MD Anderson failed to schedule my appointment in early December, as they were supposed to.  They admitted that they made a mistake, but said they could not fix it.  So, I won't be seeing the gynecologic oncologist until a week after my follow up at the breast center in January.

Combined with a round of yucky colds, it's been mostly a blah day.

Cold medicine.

We all have a cold right now.  Here's Max, learning how to pick his nose for the first time.  Awwww ...

Today I picked up some pseudoephedrine from Wal-Mart.  Nowadays you have to show your ID at the counter for this stuff, and it took forever to buy it because I was already in their computer but with a different birth date.  The birth date they had for me was January 1, 1900.  And the clerk could not seem to convince the system otherwise ...

Standing there so long, I explained to Gabe that this medicine used to be available without a hassle, but now you have to buy it at the counter because people were making illegal drugs from it.  He then asked me, in a hushed voice, "Mom, are you going to make drugs out of it?" ... in a tone that implied, "Come on, Mom, you can tell me."  (Here he is later, playing his favorite Dragon Ball Z game.)

I'm always losing Max's acetaminophen.  Notice in this picture that these "Infants'" drops are actually for "Ages 2-3."  

When we got home, Ricky came over to borrow Dad's trailer.

Dan helped me a lot with Maxie today so I could work on Halloween preparations.  And also because I was so dizzy and wired on cold medicine that I felt like I was going to hit the floor!

Picking up some newspaper and boxes from Granny's for paper mache.

The Blue Menace was apparently using his power of x-ray vision on the way home.

Visiting the "bodies" of the dummies in our attic.  Frankenstein, the mummy, Headless Horseman, and the sea monster all live up there.

Making signs for the Haunted Woods.

Marguerite and John also visited us today!  Marguerite is about to go and visit her granddaughter for the first time!

Gabe got a book about how to draw Dragon Ball Z characters and used it to draw this Piccolo.

Ever the favorite, here is the Broly Gabe drew today.

And here's a new guy called Burter.  (I've been thinking all along that his name was "Burger.")

The day we didn't go to Nature Fest.

Today I dragged two families' worth of kids to the big Nature Fest at Oak Meadow Park in Bridgeland!  Gabe has been saying he wants to see a real armadillo, and they were having armadillo races!  There was also supposed to be a water-skiing squirrel ...

But when we got there and saw the parking situation, and how far we would have to walk to the actual event (or wait for a bus), we quickly cooled to the idea and decided to leave.  On our way out we saw this big bridge, and the kids wanted to cross it ...

So cross it we did, and then we started walking a secluded little nature trail ...

... that was supposed to lead to a fishing pier, but it just went on and on.

Gabe pretended he heard lions and dinosaurs growling.  Maya pretended to be scared.  (I think she was just pretending.)

Then Grandma treated us to lunch at Alicia's Mexican Grill!  Max did great.

What a nice treat for everyone!  Water-skiing squirrels and racing armadillos were quickly forgotten.

Joe created his own meal from what was on the table:  french fries wrapped in a flour tortilla!

He also had some tortilla chips dipped in ketchup.  And that's not all he dipped in ketchup ...

Asking Brian what do do about it ...

"Just lick it off, buddy!"

Gabe had several french fries impaled on a straw.

Maya, sipping soda.

Max had some sips of my soda, picked and ate some little pieces of rice off the table, and seemed generally delighted to be there.

Afterward we went to Hobby Lobby for some Halloween stuff.  Max sneaked into the Christmas tree display.

He wanted to give these funny snowmen big hugs.

We also found some great Halloween stuff at the dollar store next door.

By the way, on the way home we passed a dead armadillo in the road, then turned around and stopped the car so Gabe could get a good look at it.  Mission accomplished!  Successful day ...