The obligatory Halloween photos

Coop chose to be a witch this year for Halloween, and he really wanted green skin.  I'm all about making dreams come true:

The witch hair, which has to be pulled back into pigtails because it gets in his face:

Ta-da!

Except that Coop didn't want to be the only green-skinned witch, so I ended up in the game, too:

Turns out, Parker was also a witch.  (The boys had matching witch pigtails!)

Zachary was a bat:

Off for candy:

Coop ate a ring pop in the car on the way home, and went to bed with blue lips and tongue.  That can't be good....

A little bit of work, a little bit of play

Cooper's ABCs:

The "100 Board" work at school.  He had to sort and order the numbers from 1 to 100.

School friends Ava and Madeline.  Each week, Coop alternates between which of these girls he's planning to marry.  I think it's Madeline this week (but Grayson also wants to marry Madeline, so we'll see...).

Over Labor Day, we went to Topeka with Michael and Kristen.  BNSF had a "family day" event at their huge railyard.  Fun.

Then we stopped by my office at Washburn.  Cooper, Thomas Jefferson, and Parker enjoyed the lovely afternoon.

Finally.... it's done.

Cooper and I finished our model pirate ship project:

 (Excuse the bad hair on both of us.  It was a Saturday morning.)

It's not pretty (the craftsmenship, not the hair), it won't win any awards, but by golly, it's done:

Cooper insisted we add a plank, even though the plans didn't call for one:

It lives, for now, on our fireplace.

Our annual trip to the Ren Fest

Coop, Alan, and I headed to Bonner Springs this past Saturday for the KC Ren Fest.  This year, we stumbled into the children's play area, which included this fabulous pirate ship playground thing.

That's Coop, standing at the front (bow? port?  who knows...) with the pirate spyglass he made out of a toilet paper tube and some cellophane.

There was also a station where you could make a magic wand with feathers and glitter and beads.  And then you had to go to the wizard to get it tested.

Coop's got the magic!

Alan and Coop (and a couple of strangers) rode the elephant.  It's always a toss-up between the elephant and the camel.  This year, the elephant won out.

Quick stop at Ye Olde McDonald's for some ice cream before heading home for a nap.