Halloween Parade

Joe with Mrs. Olance leading his class in the parade.

Mickey Mouse
(Doesn't he look big all of a sudden?)

Tri & Joe

Tri, Joe, Maseera, Andy, Gabe, Brooke, Ben, Roderick.

Joe had his first Halloween parade at Red Cedar school. Because he is line leader this week he lead his class in the parade.

The Great Pumpkin Walk

Daniel (earth), Charlie (moon), Molly (sun), Joe (Mickey), Emma (witch) Grace (Snow White)

Joe & Molly

Joe checking out his loot.

Emma & Daniel followed the yellow brick road to the E.L.H.S. theatre group's Oz. The tin man is giving out chocolate hearts.

Zachary (Mario) and Emma

Last night we went to the Great Pumpkin Walk in downtown East Lansing. This is one of my favorite local events. We see lots of people we know and the kids are able to trick-or-treat in the stores around campus. This year Joe is Mickey Mouse and Emma is a witch. We met our friends who have a cosmic theme this year. Daniel is the earth, Molly is the sun, and Charlie is the moon.

Welcome Baby Jack!

Our nephew Jack was born yesterday afternoon in Atlanta, Georgia.

Letter to the Editor

Emma put a voter survey together last week to find out how many kids in her third grade class are voting for Obama and how many are voting for McCain. Chris helped her draw the chart that she brought to school and then asked her classmates to anonymously check either the McCain or Obama box. At the end of the day she tallied up the results and then drew a bar graph that showed Obama with 22 votes, McCain with 3 votes. We told her that we thought that the Lansing State Journal might publish her results if she wrote a letter explaining her data pool, collection, and methods. Here is the letter (with the bar graph) that she wrote and will mail tomorrow. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this timely survey will be news worthy!

The Mouse

Halloween is Coming!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

T-Birds

T-birds with Coach Chris

The Thunderbirds played another great game this morning. Next Saturday is the last game of the fall season. Emma has the pink headband (4th from left).

Spider Girl

It is always important in 3rd grade to match accessories to the season.

Swimming

Joe with Swim coach (MSU kinesiology student) Ryan

Homecoming Queen

Thanks to my friend Michele for sending this fabulous news story to me. Click HERE to watch a short ABC video about a Homecoming Queen who sleeps in her crown!

Mother of Invention

This week on "This American Life":
Karen Sosnoski's one-year-old son, Anton, was born with what's known as Mosaic Down Syndrome, a rare condition where some of his cells have the extra chromosome that causes Down syndrome and other cells don't. So as he grows, he could end up having all the health risks and challenges of Down syndrome...or just a few of them. Through a website, Karen found a kid with the same diagnosis, named Tim Colvin, who was doing really well...perhaps because his mother, Kristy, invented a surprising and unusual way to raise her son. When some people hear about what Kristy did, they're shocked. Karen went to talk to Kristy and Tim about how Tim was raised. (13 minutes).

I didn't think I would, but I cried when I heard this story. So many things in it to wonder about as I find my way parenting Emma & Joe.

To hear this story click HERE and listen to Act One: "Mother of Invention."

*THIS JUST IN: Read the comment left by Kristy (mom of Tim) by clicking comments below.

Special Olympics

Joe participated in Special Olympics for the first time yesterday with his class. In fact, I think this was the first time that Joe bowled. He was excited about it when he came home and showed us his ribbon, his score (85 points) and his award certificate. He also told us that he wore bowling shoes. Here is a photo that his teacher Renee Olance took of Joe.

Strike a Pose: Kindergarten Photo

Strike a pose, glamor boy!

Yesterday Joe had his kindergarten photos taken at school. At dinner we asked him to show us how he posed for the pictures. This is what he did. Helpful Emma said, "don't worry, if the pictures don't come out well, they will take them again."

Obama Rally at MSU

Thunderbirds

The T-birds won their first game on Saturday morning (3-1). Emma played goalie for the first time (giving up 1 goal) and she scored a goal for her team.

MSU Homecoming 2008

Sparty

MSU marching band

Molly, Joe & Emma

Molly, Joe, Emma, Daniel
Stacy and Charlie in the back.

Joe & Molly

Friday evening we headed to Grand River to watch the MSU homecoming parade with friends. The kids had a great time watching all the floats, listening to the bands, seeing the athletes and all of the local groups march down the street. The best part, of course, was the candy.