Killer Bunny

Hoppy Halloween!

Fun for all ages

Our friends Jim, Ginger, Vivian, and baby Bryant joined us to carve pumpkins. We thought Riley and Vivian would have a ball scooping out pumpkin guts and choosing jack-o-lantern faces. We were wrong. They spent the evening off playing elsewhere.

No worries. We grownups had a ball instead.

ri

The Reward

Yesterday was a big day in the Richards family: We went to the farmer's market without a stroller.

That's a big step for a family with a free-willed child like ours. So we drove a hard bargain: If Riley behaved, she got to run free afterward. If she misbehaved, the stroller would return next week.

The verdict:

Diplomacy

I remember, as a kid, asking my mom which child was her favorite. She responded predictably and emphatically: "I love ALL my children equally."

So I had to chuckle when, after asking Riley whether she liked Zelf, Pinky, or Super Grover best, she responded as emphatically as my own mother had: "I am ALL them's mommy!"

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Saudi Arabia Or Bust

Here's a mobile Matt is about to send to Saudi Arabia, where it will hang in the children's area of His Excellency Somebody-Or-Other's royal palace.

This project has been several months in the making. Matt welded the frames, dyed all the fabric (over the tiny stove of our tiny kitchen), and enlisted a friend to do all the sewing. The only problem? His shop ceilings were about 5 feet too short to fully assemble the mobile.

Thank heavens–quite literally–for the church gymnasium.