Stampede

Last Saturday we got free tickets to a Stampede game (Sioux Falls' minor league hockey team).  They were great seats -- just about five rows up and directly behind one of the goals.  More than once the hockey puck crashed into the plastic barrier right in front of us and about made me jump out of my skin!  The Stampede won and a good time was had by all.

Eden looks like one of those team owners you see all the time on TV when a professional football game is on.  They're up in some special box, basically looking bored, and you know they're just calculating financial gains and losses as they watch the game.

Halloween

Z was a wizard and Eden was Cinderella.

"Trick or treat!"  They were both so adorable this year, but Eden especially was into it.  She raced from house to house, was thrilled with every piece of candy she received, and loved showing off her costume. (Although she was a little sad she had to cover it up with her coat. It was cold and windy!)

 

 

Z does his best to make sure we never get a nice picture of him these days.

Post-costume.  So sweet.

Omaha Zoo!

Last week we all played hooky from school on Tuesday and took a trip to the Omaha zoo.  We left Sioux Falls Monday after school, stayed in an Omaha hotel, and spent Tuesday at the zoo.  The day was overcast and a little rainy, but as a result the zoo was almost empty, just the way we like it!

Eden loves the goats!

It's hard to tell, but these rabbits were huge!  Compare them to the box of cereal.  The sign said they weighed 22 pounds!

Enjoying a popcorn break.

Goofing off with the jellyfish!



"Just take the picture, Mom!"
 

The kids had fun taking videos in the aquarium with my phone.  Z got a little artsy!

 

And Eden went for humor.

Underground Rabbit Hutch

This summer both kids got a rabbit.  Eden's is almost all white and is named Blue; Z's is spotted and named Duff (after the Dufflepuds in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader).  Nathan converted an old dresser into a really nice hutch which we kept in the garage, but they were still a mess to clean up after.  Nathan found an idea for an underground hutch, which supposedly they could live in year round, so we decided to try it.  We picked a spot in the corner of the yard that had a little grass hummock in it.  We found a bucket with a snap tight lid, and Nathan cut a hole in it and attached a length of tube (just an old piece attached to our gutters) to it, and then buried the whole thing in the little hill.  Z and I built the fence enclosing the whole area, so the bunnies can go in and out and roam around the enclosed area.  They've lived out there almost a month, and so far, so good!  They seem to really enjoy it, and so do we!  It's fun to go in and hang out with the bunnies, but it's great not to have to clean up after them or bring them in and out every evening and morning.

A peek inside the bucket.

Eden's First Book

Eden has written her first book, which is both a chapter book and written in Spanish!!  It's called The Adventures of Soli.  Soli is a little girl who has fun with her friends.  In the first chapter they play outside until it starts to rain.  In the second chapter Soli and her family go camping.  While they are hiking they meet a bear and find a treasure trove of gold and diamonds!  In the third chapter they go to the zoo.  I looked up six or seven words in Spanish for her, but the rest she did all on her own.  Pretty incredible!

Conversations with Eden

Eden does speech therapy at school two days a week.  She loves it and she loves her teacher.  And she's doing very well.  Yesterday she and I had the following conversation:

Eden: Mama, my speech teacher told me today that if I keep working hard I'll be done with all my sounds in two or three weeks.
Me:  Great!  Good for you!  What do you think about that?
Eden: Well, I'm a little sad.
Me: Did you tell your teacher that?
Eden: Yes
Me:  What did she say?
Eden: I don't remember exactly what she said, but I think what she meant was, sometimes you have to grow up.

So true. 

Lost Teeth

Eden lost her first two teeth last week.  They had been loose a looong time, but she was not eager to pull on them too hard.  In fact, the two new teeth had already come up behind the little ones, so she had four teeth in the spot where there are only supposed to be two.  But, she finally gave the loosest one a little tug and out it came!  A couple of days later she did the same for the other one.  The picture is from when she lost the first one.  It's hard to see, but the gap is in the middle on the bottom.