Fall 2000

We inundated Lisa with Pokemon wrappings. Here she is teasing us by naming all the characters on the paper before opening the present. We got her a Japanese learning program to further that line of independent study.

The banner line of the newspaper for October 3rd.

And Lisa makes the paper yet again. We are so proud of her. Even Sarah seemed pleased that Lisa had made the morning announcements at school last week. The other students mentioned are part of Lisa's group that does birthdays and other things together. In fact, Lisa just went to a joint party for Sumeet Mitter and Ashwin Jayant on 9-30 and got a ride home from Justin Worth. I love the fact that their idea of a great time was to have a Moon Bounce (Jolly Jumper) at the party.

Jenny set this scenario up for the boys. They really seem to like each other. Thank goodness!

Our Granny Smith apple tree in the front yard is a good producer. We pulled around 15 lbs of apples off it and there are still a few more to go. I made apple crisp.

These apples sure are tough when you don't have teeth!

Alan digests the news at any opportunity.

Alan can actually sit by himself long enough to take pictures. This one was taken at the end of September.

Roger can now hop into a swing all by himself. Having the backyard set is so convenient.

Jenny tried taking Alan on the swing and he liked it alot!

Sarah went to the homecoming dance with Chris. Here they are in front of the Hungry Hunter restaurant where they met three other couples for dinner before the dance. A variety of parents provided the necessary transportation.

Jenny went out for the cross-country team this fall. I'm so proud of her!

We shopped for pumpkins at Valley Farms. Roger pulled the cart until we started putting pumpkins in it. Alan rode in the front pack and even picked out his own tiny pumpkin.

Sarah disembowels her pumpkin.

Deb, Keith and Kurt joined us for pumpkin carving.

Even Alan had a pumpkin to chew on and explore.

Roger wasn't quite sure what came next. He figured it out with help from his sisters.

Roger was a little uncertain about trick-or-treating, but after Lisa and her friends took him to a couple houses, he got the hang of it. Our little elephant is a bit shy.

Lisa was Pinky (from Pinky and the Brain cartoon), Natalie was Juliet, and Lydia dressed as some sort of Ninja.

Sarah is the one next to the cow. Who says these kids are too grown up to enjoy Halloween?

"Do not feed the animals," reads the sign. Alan made many people take a second look.

All decorated for Halloween.

We converted the garage into a cave.

Jenny was Hatshepsut for Halloween. Middle schoolers have Historical Figure Day on October 31st and are encouraged to use the same costume for both that and Halloween.

The kids trade candy with their friends.

Roger surprised me by climbing to the top of this 6-ft shelf. He likes to get up there, hand me the toys to make space, and then sit up there.

Glen and I played Scrabble one evening and Roger wanted to join us.

He was deep in thought trying to figure out his next move.

For Thanksgiving, we joined forces with the Walshes. Maggie is a close friend of Sarah's and Matt is in the Mesa Verde Middle School Band, along with Jenny. Sharon Walsh is part of the telephone tree for the band and happened to call me about band business earlier in the week. We compared notes and decided that it would be fun to get together for the holiday. They already had a turkey and some of the fixings, so Sharon came over early and we spent the afternoon cooking. Sarah and Maggie were pretty surprised that their parents had come up with this plan on their own. We had a great time; definitely a repeatable idea as far as I'm concerned.

The kids all ended up playing with the Little People after Thanksgiving dinner, everyone from Alan all the way up to Lisa.

Alan and Roger like the track. Alan used it to practice standing up.

Alan is getting better and better at standing. He can now use the wall to provide balance. He's so proud of himself and so are we.

Roger did this marvelous picture all by himself on the whiteboard. I put his name and the date on it for posterity and took the picture before he could erase it and do another one.