HALLOWEEN

Tonight was Halloween. I got to wear my elephant outfit again and go trick-or-treating for a little while. After we got home, I got to hand out candy to lots of other kids.

TRUNK OR TREAT: ROUND 2

I got another chance to put on my elephant outfit and go trunk or treating the Saturday before Halloween at my church. A lot of my friends dressed up and we had a great time. All of the kids from my day care were there too, so papa took a picture of all of us with Miss Carrie (he wasn't the only one - there were a lot of flashes going off!).

RANDOM STUFF...

Here are a few random photos from the last few weeks. In the first one, I am pointing out to papa where the grubs are hurting his lawn. In the second one, I am showing off my Ronald McDonald block. In the third one, I am eating a gi-normous banana that was as big as my arm. In the last one, I am showing off the two Halloween cards that I got through the mail.

Mama and I recently visited my nana, grand-dad, aunt Megan and uncle Gary in Georgia for about 10 days. While we were there, we drove to Alabama to visit some other relatives, including my mamaw and papaw. There was a horse there named Busby and a small dog named Abby (who wasn't nearly as big as my dog Max is, but the horse was close!). I also got to help pick some peppers in grand-dad's garden. On the last night we were there, I got to take my elephant costume for a test drive at the Peach Tree City Church of Christ "Trunk or Treat."

Sleep-Eating?

Hello! Ethan is on vacation this week, so in order to not disappoint all of you who check this regularly, I am going to post a video from this past summer. One day Ethan was so tired, he would not eat his lunch. He literally fell asleep in his corn and chicken nuggets. However, I was determined to get him to eat something, so I got him to eat some yogurt. He caught his second wind near the end...

BOO!!

We were "Booed" today. One of our neighbors left some Halloween goodies on our front porch, and we are now supposed to "BOO" two more houses. Coincidentally, mama had dressed me in one of my Halloween outfits today, so I fit right in with my new blinking pumpkin necklace (designed for safety while trick-or-treating, not for formal wear) and the skeleton that hangs on the window.

Hanging With The College Crowd...

Several of papa's former students (who are now going to Millikin) came over for dinner Monday night. All of them are music majors of one type or another, so I busted out my drum and showed off a little bit for them. Then, I went and got my other instruments and gave each of them one to play. They were all nice enough to play along, especially since I was quite demanding with my "GO" and "STOP" commands. The only problem was that one of them (I'll call her "Larry" to protect her anonymity) was a little perturbed that the ladybug wasn't quite in tune.

GO ILLINOIS!

Even though we spent the day at the Great Pumpkin Patch last Saturday, papa taped the Illinois vs. Wisconsin football game for us to watch when we got home. I love to watch football, and I was really happy that Illinois beat the Badgers. As you can see, I decided to watch part of the game from my rocking horse!

THE GREAT PUMPKIN PATCH!

Papa and mama took me to the Great Pumpkin Patch outside of Arthur today. We were going to go today anyway, but, coincidentally, a couple of weeks ago another boy that was adopted from Russia (Guerin) invited us and some other families to meet there. We spent some time together and had a good time, although it was very, very hot. Is it supposed to be 90 degrees in October? I saw lots of animals, including a rooster that was as big as me. I laughed the first two times it went "Cock-A-Doodle-Doo," but I cried the third time because it looked like he was going to eat me. There was a straw maze for big kids that papa took me in, then a small one for little squirts like me that I went in all by myself. I got to ride in a wagon through pumpkin patches and saw all kinds of gourds. One of the best parts about the whole trip was all of the flies that bothered us at lunch. I laughed hysterically whenever they would land and I would swat at them and they would scatter all different directions!! That made mama and papa laugh too. There were also some punpkins that were as big as me. It was a fun day.

Great-Grandma Korte's 92nd Birthday

We celebrated Great-Grandma Korte's 92nd Birthday last night. We ate at Monical's, then went back to Grandma and Grandpa Osborne's to open presents and eat cake and ice cream. I even got to help G.G. (as I like to call her) blow out the candles!!

ETHAN'S DOG...

A few weeks ago, due to a change in parking arrangements, mama had to start parking on a different side of the garage, which is much shorter than what she is used to. It's a tight fit, so papa hung a tennis ball up to help her know when to stop. It works, but the other day, after papa let Max outside, he heard Max in the garage goofing off. He went in to investigate, and found Max jumping up and grabbing the ball. Fortunately, he would let go before ripping it out of the ceiling. Papa told him "NO," so he just sat there and stared at it. Papa got the camera and took a picture, and I think the click noise scared Max, because he jumped for the second picture!!

GO BLUE DEVILS!

Ethan made it through an entire football game for the first time the other night. It was a game between Villa Grove and Cerro Gordo (at Cerro Gordo). Cerro Gordo was undefeated going into it, and it was their homecoming. Cerro Gordo lost, 20 - 0. Ethan honed his clapping skills at the game, and was a pro by the end. The cheerleaders were impressed with his cheering skills, and he got to high-five all of the players at the end of the game. One of the ladies gave him a little VG Blue Devils football, which his papa ended up holding most of the night so Ethan could clap and signal "touchdown." Ethan's favorite part of the whole game, however, was the marching band that performed at half-time. Throughout all of the third quarter and most of the fourth, he kept stating that he wanted to see the "BIG DRUM!" again, played by the guy in the "RED SHIRT!" We took a picture of him eating at Culver's on the way to the game, then another one of him and his papa at the game (although the lights make it look like the Culver's food did not agree with them). All in all, it was a good night.

Mt. Zion Homecoming Parade

Ethan loves parades! So we went to the Mt. Zion Homecoming parade last Saturday. The highlights of the parade for Ethan were the firetrucks, the horses, and, of course, the "big drums." He always tells us that the drums are loud but he's not scared! So many fun things to do in the fall!