Halloween 2021

Pumpkin Carving

The kids took over a lot of the pumpkin carving this year. Julia picked an easy one and did most of it by herself. RJ picked an 'advanced' pattern, but we got it done!

Pumpkin Carving

 

When lit, the results looked good!

Neighborhood Party

Pizza and the parade in the caul-de-sacs resumed this year.

Neighborhood kids Pre-parade

Candy

Did somebody say Candy? After Doug threw away the remnants of last year's haul the prior week, the kids went out again on Halloween night. RJ, Bradley, and Geoff Gray were on a mission to cover as much ground and collect as much candy as possible. Towards the end of the night (9pm ish) I think they accomplished their mission.

Not to be outdone, Julia dragged Sara around the neighborhood and accumulated a big stash! And Sara was proud of her 24,000 steps.

This should last us a couple weeks

All Saints Day 2021

St. Mary prepares to deliver the prayers of the faithful during mass on All Saints Day.

Julia enters church dressed as St. Mary

Hanging around with friends

 Fall weather ... outdoor play!

Poppy, Summer, Julia

No worries ... I have a parachute

Green Team Hockey

RJ gets a different team color (and a different number) each season. Now we are rooting for green #21.

Kudos to #19 for a great pass.

Face-off, Rebound, Score.

RJ found Mr. Brad, Carter, and Caleb at the rink on Nov 13

Covid Quarantine

Doug decided to get a hernia operation at the same time that Sara decided to test positive for Covid. So we did some stuff around the house.

 

We cut the lawn

RJ cut using the rider mower and Julia push mowed the trim and hilly spots. Doug managed the process since he was not supposed to lift due to hernia surgery. 

We played Ratrace

Ratrace status as of 10:05 p.m.

The game lasted 3 hours, so we had to take a break. Julia almost won, but she got divorced while in high society. RJ went bankrupt, but came back strong in the lower class by betting on the stock market and mooching off high society. 

Notice the sloppy Green's Furniture business that was managed by RJ. Not noticeable was the super slow service provided by Black's Art Gallery, managed by Julia. Doug bought 3 Plaster Busts of Beethoven. 

Too Much Screen Time

Other random things:

• RJ ran 2 km in 9m 15sec
• Tried to look at microorganisms in a microscope (unsuccessful)
• Tried to cook green beans (unsuccessful)
• Thanks to friends for helping out (kids teachers provided gift card to Lost Dog Cafe, Ms. Kimberly bought us fruit, Janelle made dinner for us)

Such an emergency requires some time watching screens. Dad worked most of the weekend trying to implement multiple base currencies in Acumatica while RJ talked to Milo and built a lot of things in Minecraft, and Julia talked to Nora and watched Odd Squad videos.

Screen time in lower level

After the nightmare was over we took this picture

The annual wedding picture took place on October 24 this year.

Better never than late (or something like that)