happy halloween?

I have a love-hate relationship with Halloween. I hate gory stuff, can't watch scary movies (or even Law and Order SVU) because of the nightmares that follow, and am generally opposed to a holiday founded on the pagan tradition of hiding from the devil by wearing masks.

However, I LOVE costumes and playing dress up. I love trying to think of ideas for "group" costumes (before we settled on the tooth theme, I considered an insect theme [with burke as a glowworm], an agriculture theme [with burke as a carrot] and tried unsuccessfully to come up with group themes that included a peacock or a hedgehog). I love fall treats like caramel apples, chai tea and pumpkin dip. I love the fascination that kids have with dressing up. And seriously- a holiday with lots of free chocolate? I'm in.

So if you celebrate Halloween, have a fantastic day. And if not, I get it. For now, Burke and I are off to spread some joy around Denver. He's wearing his extra costume from nana (the cutest little bunny rabbit) as we run around and do errands... I'll post pictures of our family tooth-themed getups sometime this weekend! :)

pumpkin carving!

burke with my "g" pumpkin and ian's political pumpkin

tom's sick jack o' lantern

I have such great memories of carving pumpkins growing up- newspaper spread out across the family room, bowls of goop dotting the floor, the smell of roasting pumpkin seeds, checking out our work by turning off the lights and putting candles in our masterpieces... This is certainly a tradition that Adam and I will continue with our family!

Since Burke can't wield a knife yet, this year we had friends over for "fall fest"- pumpkin carving, cider sipping, and pumpkin pie devouring. And now I have enough roasted pumpkin seeds to snack on for a couple weeks (or at the rate I'm snacking, enough for today- haha!). I love fall!

colorado wedding

We made the trek through the mountains to Colorado wine country last weekend for a friend's wedding. It was GORGEOUS... perfect fall weather, beautiful scenery, lovely people. Congratulations Tiffany and Tucker!

overheard

I know that I used to post quotes from my students last year... The fun continues, even without my own classroom. Here a few quotables from my days subbing:

Daniel: I thought you had a baby.
Me: I did.
Daniel: Why didn't you bring him?
Me: I thought he might be a distraction.
Daniel: But we're fifth graders now- we could take care of him.

Leticia (to another student): I had Mrs. G as a second grade teacher and she smells just the same now as she did then.

Mrs. Voss (another teacher): What's a reunion?
Hiram (remember him from last year?): It's where we all get together and talk about the good ol' days.

extras

One of my favorite things about being at home is that there is time in my schedule for 'extras.' If a friend needs dinner, I am available for the grocery shopping and the cooking... Or if, say, a friend is getting married in the mountains next weekend, I have time to bake cookies for all her welcome baskets. Love that! :)

kojo giveaway!

If you head over to the kojodesigns blog today (or for the rest of this week), you'll have a chance to win a set of FREE personalized stationary (you could even get it personalized in someone else's name and use it as a Christmas gift)!

We're gearing up for the holidays and are bribing people for their opinions with a giveaway... and I'd love to see one of y'all win. :)

bad, bad news

Remember a few months ago when I asked y'all to be praying for Adam's dad's health? After a brutal summer of radiation and chemo, we got some really bad news last week that his cancer has spread. Even worse, it's too widespread and too far along to cure. Mark will still get chemo (a different kind than this summer), but the purpose of it will be to buy time (the doctor said 18 months-ish).

Needless to say, we're devastated by this news. I will try to give periodic updates on here, and Evette (adam's mom) will be keeping a more complete journal at caring bridge (also in my sidebar under "Mark Gentry updates"). I don't know if there's anything else to say, really. We love y'all and cherish your prayers.