Rock Star!

Here is a short clip of Chad's jazz solo from the concert last night. Bass guitar is his absolute passion. He plays all day and reads guitar books like he used to read sports books. He never volunteered to do a solo with the trombone last year and he dreads recital time because he is terrified to play a piano solo. So the fact that he volunteered to do this shows you how much he loves playing his bass. Check out the smile on his face at the end of the solo.

Zombies, Jack-O-Lanterns & Jock-O-Lanterns!

Tonight was pumpkin carving night at the Smith house. Check out these bad-boys! Unfortunately now we have to eat 5 lbs of roasted pumpkin seeds. I never have developed a taste for them.

Miranda's Halloween tribute to Michael Jackson. I think she has watched the "Thriller" video once too often.

Chad survived the flu season unscathed until after basketball try-outs and then promptly developed what was probably a mild case of H1N1. (See Lyssa, I knew that would happen after the comment I put on your blog.) Aw, who cares? Chad made the Desert Ridge Varsity team. Yahoo! He's back in the green and white. And he will hopefully return to school and basketball practice tomorrow in spite of the dramatic pose above.

Aaron says to tell everyone that this is a picture of Chad with a future Diamondback B-team basketball player. First, we'd better see how his first season ever in a competitive basketball league goes this fall. He and Chad are on the same AYBL team (Go Hoosiers!) It is the first time they've ever been on the same sports team and it should be lots of fun. Hopefully, they will still like each other next spring.

Ding Dong Ditching

Every year one of the kids' favorite traditions is Halloween Ding-Dong Ditching. They each get to pick out a family for whom they will anonymously leave cookies and a Halloween poem. (Of course now that I've posted this, it's not so anonymous anymore. So, if any of you dear readers have been past or become future beneficiaries, be silent and pretend you know nothing. :) ) Anyway, last night we let Amber go for the first time and she was so excited. Unfortunately, Bethany's chosen family did not answer the door and she had to retrieve the cookies to give to someone else. Amber was terribly disappointed by this and she puckered up her little lips and said, "Mom, doesn't Bethany get to be a ding dong ditch?" Only she said a different word that rhymes with ditch and starts with a "B". Well, of course hilarity ensued. I would just get the kids calmed down and they would ask Amber, "What are we doing again?" to which she would gleefully respond, "ding-dong (x)itching" and the squeals and laughter would start again. Ah, what a refined passel of genteel darlings I am raising. My how-to parenting book will be available in bookstores in the summer of 2010. :)

More October Fun!

Friday, I woke up from a lovely autumn nap to find that the girls had been decorating. The front yard looks great. Don't you love harvest decorations? Earlier in the day, they had hung ghosties and spider webs with Aunt Emily at Grandma's house and I guess they decided they were experts and should do our house too. What a fun surprise.

Balloon Fiesta!

Autumn is my absolute favorite season of the entire year. I love the changing leaves, I love the crisp feeling in the air, I love the yummy apple and pumpkin desserts, I love that basketball season is starting, I love planning cookies to make for the Halloween FHE Phantom, I love getting costumes ready and I love the Balloon Fiesta! I don't actually get up at 6:00 in the morning and go down to Balloon Fiesta Park anymore to see the mass ascension because that is for die-hards and tourists. Luckily, we live in just the right spot to get a great view even without getting up at the crack of dawn. Yesterday, we drove to school surrounded by balloons of every shape and color. They looked so close that we could almost touch them. One actually landed in the field just across the street. I took tons of great pictures and came home to find that the memory card in my camera had come loose and none of my pictures were preserved. Alas! So, this morning, the kids had a day off of school and we headed to the Burger King by the park for breakfast and a great photo-op. The pictures weren't quite as good as yesterday, but you get the gist.
This morning was the Special Shapes Balloon Rodeo. There are some really interesting balloons. There is a sunshine, a cow, a house, a beer can, an Energizer bunny - you name it. They don't fly as high as the round balloons, but boy are they fun to watch.

Grandma and the Smith kids watching the balloons from the huge windows at Burger King. Amber has been going around for three days saying, "Balloons! I see balloons!" and shrieking with delight. She and her peeps have been painting balloons at preschool this week too. What fun! And speaking of October fun, they also made spider snacks at preschool yesterday. Thank goodness Miss Melissa let Amber stay in the class. :)

Here are the round balloons floating on the horizon. They ascended after the special shapes, but they were worth the wait. Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?