Every tree in our neighborhood dropped its leaves in one day, and then it blows down and gets caught at the fence between our house and our neighbors (the good ones)…so, we had one huge pile of leaves…..

I downloaded, easily, about 200 photos from the camera a couple days ago – so the halloween pics will be appearing SO soon!   Don’t worry, you can stop biting your nails.  I’m having a hard time parting with L’s hair.  it’s just so cute – and somehow really fits his personality – but his dad wants it GONE.  Luckily, i’m the one that always initiates taking him for a haircut, so I’ll just avoid it until he asks again.  It’s so cute!

This boy is SO loving electric company.  Did you know its been re-done?  it’s so awesome.  Ralph and I immediately get sucked in.  His favorite song right now on there is ’silent e is a ninja’…okay – maybe it’s MY favorite song, but hey…he likes it too.

I had an OB appointment last monday – and heard the heartbeat via the doppler.  YAY – Dr. Says everything is great still.  My next appointment is the beginning of December – I may take Logan so he can hear the hearbeat, too.  We’ll see.  We will do our ultrasound in January to find out what we are having.  becuase YES, WE WILL FIND OUT!! 

Oh – room update – now, I asked Logan what he wants us to paint his new room – and he said ‘You think about that, mom.’

We went up to olathe north today to do a free trick or treating ‘thing’ that they do up there for the kids. It was all well and good – up until we got to the guy with the nasty chopped up face or whatever – and Logan was DONE. then, we went down the ’scary hallway’…..and there was a werewolf mask…..’i wanna go home’. The guy took off the mask for him and it was a little better. But, I did end up carrying him most of the way…and we had to ‘go to the light!!!’. We did NOT go back into any ’scary rooms’. He was fine once he saw the candy he got!!!

The boy tends to, as would be suspected, to try out new words and phrases…some he’s (ahem) HEARD before, MAYBE.  anyway, here’s a smattering:

• also….
• how ’bout this instead….
• because….
• knock it off!
• lose your attitude
• mommy!  The light is red.  you stop on red
• what yo commitment?
• its soft and comfy
• spoooooooky
• how ’bout…..
• that naaasty

That’s all we can think of right now.

Who have not heard the news – Logan has an announcement for you:

A couple weeks back, Logan was SO EXCITED to make his haunted gingerbread house.  It was so exciting – he got to eat  a bunch of candy and frosting – and decorated the house however he wanted!   SO much fun.  Here are some pics:

Logan REALLY wanted to eat the house – well, we had to keep it in the oven b/c of the cats, plus – you know….he would of course constantly want to eat it.  Well, we kept forgetting to let him actually eat it – and he did too…..can you see where this story is going?

Well, last week we came back from Manhattan….Logan was sick – I was starting to get sick, and we were going to eat frozen pizza….I started up the oven and called Shauna.  About 5 minutes into our conversation….a FLASH of memory came over me -
OH CRAP.  As I went into the smoke filled kitchen…….:(  Oh yeah, you guessed it:

Yeah – go back to the slide show to see the plate that it used to be on.  Poor Logan was SOOOOOOOO sad that it could no longer be eaten.  Mother of the year.

Me:  So, what do you want to have your new room decorated with?

Logan:  Polka dots!

Me:  what kind of polka dots?

Logan:  MONSTER ones – and pink!

Me:  Pink monsters, huh?

Logan:  YES – and green – hey!  My shirt is green – like my shirt, monsters! 

So, our lesson here is that monsters are green and pink – and they live in polka dots.

We’ll be moving Logan to the front room eventually this year – and so today, here is the conversation we had.

Me: ‘Logan, how do you want to paint your new room?’ Logan: ‘SCAAAARY’. (that stems from a Max & Ruby episode today)
Me: ‘okay, what scary things do we put?’
Logan: um….polka dots!
Me: So, you want a scary polka dotted room?
Logan: Yup!

So, hmm….yeah….um….we’ll work on that one.

and I’ll post. 

For those that haven’t heard details, they found my uncle last tuesday and he had passed away the thursday before (the day he went missing).  He actually walked his hike, got down to the bottom, sat under a tree and passed away.  He was 200 yards from the parking lot where his motorcycle was parked.  Apparently, after the coronor’s report, we found that he had advanced heart disease – it was a massive heart attack.  oddly enough, that was more comforting – he wasn’t hurt or anything…and it was instant.   Apparently it would have happened no matter where he was….so, our family is of course very sad and mouring, but the healing is beginnig.  I leave this next friday, the 25th for arizona for the memorial service. Thank you to all of you for your emails.  I really appreciate it.

From Kelly’s daughters:

My family asks that, instead of flowers, people donate to the search and rescue groups that helped find my dad. Here is the address again since I messed it up the first time Red Mountain Community Church at 6101 E. Virginia street in Mesa, AZ 85215. Thank you all so much for helping us honor these amazing men and women! God Bless!

We have met as a family via a conference call.  It was very surreal, to be honest.  I was hearing voices of relatives I havne’t seen since WAY before my Grandma passed away – well, actually, probably her funeral….how sad is it that only sadness brings families back together.  we have always had such a close family.  Extended, that is.  People are always amazed that I know my cousins, and consider them to be friends.  We text, we FB…..but you know what, it’s just not enough.  We’ve been talking for years about a ‘cousins’ weekend where we all get together.  But have we done it?  no.  Partially, we are probably too broke – but hey..maybe we need to make it a priority.

There is nothing new from Arizona.  We are sending money and funds to my uncle’s church, who is then sending meals and drinks to the volunteer searchers….but they are cutting back on the amount of people searching – just becasue that’s what they do after so many days.  We are staying strong though.  Kelly is so damn stubborn that he’s still alive out there, probably annoyed that they can’t find him – thinking he’s clever.  I just hope that he sits his butt down to be found.  That would be extremely helpful.  He has been tracked to a fresh water source, so we know he’s had that – and they have found NO personal effects – which they continue to say is a good sign – he was carrying a camera as well as a camelback.  But no glasses have been dropped, no walking stick, nothing.  So, help us out and keep believing.  We are also sending out the request for a couple dollars here and there for the rescue mission – they work solely through volunteer work and donations – so here’s the info and ‘blurb’ from his wife and 2 daughters: