Halloween Recap

Halloween was a two-day extravaganza this year, starting with a party on Thursday at Gavin's preschool...

Gavin was up for dancing to songs about pumpkins and haunted houses, but did not wish to wear the top half of his giraffe costume.
So Mommy decided to do that part.
Gavin headed off for his first-time ever trick-or-treating with Daddy and his friend E.J. (dressed as Scooby Doo).

Back home after a successful outing to 20 houses!The haul! Gavin has not eaten any of it, but likes to sort it.
Relaxing after two busy days of celebrating...

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

Why we don't go out to restaurants without getting a sitter

Dimple Kid

We did some family photos this weekend and here's a first look! Many thanks to Karmen Lindner for an amazing job and to Anne and Bill for letting us spend the morning at the barn for a beautiful setting!

A Sneak Peek...

Gavin has a hat... actually more than one

Gavin's favorite book right now is called "Do You Have a Hat?" It's pretty fun to read it with him because it features all kinds of famous people from history and their hats, like Abraham Lincoln and Sally Ride. Gavin is adding all kinds of new names to his vocabulary because of it, including Carmen Miranda, Franciso de Goya and Walt Whitman. It's a very cute book.
Now one of his favorite things to do is try on a bunch of hats at once, as seen here, a collection featuring Mommy's sun hats for Florida and working outside. We hope he'll be this enthusiastic about the concept when it comes time to bundle up for winter!

"Star Wars -- nothing but Star Wars."

Someone in my office shared this with me today and it is too funny not to post. My favorite part is the choreography in the middle section of the performance. It is supposedly from the 1993 Miss Arizona pageant -- she was Miss Douglas. A blogger tracked this woman down, who seemed to have a good sense of humor about it, saying "Obviously I didn't win Miss Arizona and wasn't one of the strongest competitors in the competition."

Pumpkin Patch, the return.

Remember last year's visit to the pumpkin patch? We weren't going to let that happen again so we headed out to Eplegaarden this weekend (just a mile or so from our house) on a beautiful morning to hunt for the perfect pumpkin...

"Over there..."

Not exactly an accurate measurement...

There it is -- our pumpkin!

2 years, 7 months

It's been awhile since I did one of these "age" posts! Gavin is no longer a toddler. He is a walking, talking boy who is quick to express his likes (horses, crackers, his teachers) and his dislikes (putting on sunscreen, vegetables, and sometimes baths). Just today, his new way of answering affirmatively has changed from "Yeah" to "Yeah, OK." Very funny.

Daddy's Shoes (click on photo for slideshow)

Daddy's Shoes

Sarah Palin Disney Trailer

Watch this for a Friday laugh -- I promise more blogging to come this weekend! I know we are overdue on some new pics.

Those summer nights

Whoa! It's been a long time since I blogged ... we have been taking advantage of the lovely evenings to read on the front porch. Gavin is very into reading right now and loves to read the same ones over and over and over and ....

Big night out...

We enjoyed a great evening Saturday night attending the wedding of my longtime friend Jenni to David ... the festivities were held at MMOCA, with the ceremony and party on the rooftop. It was a beautiful spot for the event and we enjoyed getting dressed up and catching up with some old friends (those photos are on Vikki's camera -- Vik, please send 'em my way!).

Waaaaaay behind on blogging

Hey everyone ... apologies for letting the month of July get away without some more posting. It's been a blur lately and seems like before we know it, Labor Day will be here!

I pulled off a 36th birthday surprise for Don -- a surprise pickup soccer game with some friends and teammates. Sorry, no action shots here, just some visual evidence that it was a gorgeous day and a relaxing time for all involved.


Gavin continues to love his new school and we feel so lucky for him to be there with such great teachers and activities -- he really digs the weekly music class! Here he is, rocking out with Daisy and some jingle bells...

Funky dance moves at preschool!

Weekend in Minneapolis

Gavin awaiting the appearance of "more horses!" in the Edina Independence Day Parade...

Check out the bearded flag dancer!

Awesome old-timey bicycles

Aunt Heather with Gavin at the sculpture garden of the Walker Art Center

Making a break for the spoon!

Anna and Caroline got to make their own prints -- part of the Walker's "First Saturdays" activities for families -- that will hang in Heather and Rick's beautiful new family room.

Gavin got to make a "habitat" that is now "on display" on our kitchen table.

Duffy's song "Mercy" (as performed by Gavin Smith)

Gavin Hugs it Out at Preschool

Some Gavin moments...

Enjoying a musical performance at his new preschool...

Sharing a hug with Rose, one of his classmates in the Yellow Room...

Stealing Colin's chair when he got up to check the burgers on the grill while we were visiting the Benedicts on Sunday for dinner. Gavin thought this was so funny that he did it twice, of course getting a bigger laugh and milking the moment on the second go-round. He is really showing his sense of humor more and more and enjoys getting us all to join in on the joke.

Baby Sylvia!

We were so lucky to get a quick visit on Sunday morning from Jackie, Indra and their new baby Sylvia (7 weeks old!) on their way back home to Ann Arbor, MI, from visiting family in western Wisconsin.
I even got in on the baby holding and forgot for a moment how floppy the little ones are!

Extra! Extra!

News you can use on a Tuesday...

Big Week for the G-Man

It's been a big week at our house, between Gavin starting preschool and me suffering from a wicked bout of the stomach flu (enough said). Gavin managed to come out of this week healthy and mostly happy about his new school, new teachers and new friends. The school sends us daily e-mails and pics, which is an awesome way to keep up with how he is doing...

"Still Swinging, Still Hungry, Keely Smith Keeps the Passion"

“I’d kill right now for a meatball sandwich,” Keely Smith declared from the stage of Birdland on Tuesday evening. Ms. Smith, who has recently acquired the nickname Queen of Swing, has expressed the same craving for meatballs on New York nightclub stages before. Performing clearly stimulates her appetites.

I have an imaginary picture of her chomping down on a sandwich at 4 a.m. in a Las Vegas diner after a marathon performance with Louis Prima in the early-1960s heyday of Sin City. On Tuesday she recalled that Mr. Prima struck her as the handsomest man she had ever seen until they divorced, and then she realized he was ugly.

Some of you may not know our dog, Keely, has a namesake -- resulting a few years ago from a late-night brainstorming session involving our ITunes library.

To learn more about her, read on in a NY Times story found here...

Building towers...

Gavin had a great visit (and so did we) with Mimi and Grandad last weekend ... Gavin had a really fun time showing them how he can use up all of the Legos.

Official race finish photo!

OK, I really need to stop resting on my laurels (butt) and get moving again!