Pandemic MN fall is here

 Layla's 11th birthday was September 20th.  She had a small party in our backyard with 3 neighborhood girls on the 19th, and then Jonas made his woodfire pizzas (with Dan's help) for our family party in the backyard on the 20th.  Both days had wonderful weather, which was a huge relief, and were lovely times.  

Layla's party theme was Unicorn/Mermaid/Princess, per her wishes.  I got some face jewels on Amazon, and they were the hit of the party!

Finn is modeling the body glitter spray on his face here, but it was kind of hard to see in direct sunlight. Sparkles-R-Us!

Family backyard party:

Making S'mores with Dan's girlfriend, Kathleen.

Eamon gave her this unicorn purse.  She loves it on MANY levels.

Family party pizza fun:

Beautiful colors are showing up all over MN, so we are trying to spend as much time as possible outside.  Our planned outing to the Chanhassen outdoor gardens was canceled due to van repairs, but we hope to reschedule soon.  Lots of walks lately...probably like 15 a week, haha, if you count the little ones with Kellan.

I know it is a bit silly to post 4 photos in a row of the same tree, and not even our tree, but THIS tree across the street from us is the tree that tells where we are with fall.  It is the very first tree in the neighborhood that starts to turn red for the season, and it is often the first tree to be fully red, and then the first tree to lose all its leaves.  I watch this tree with equal parts delight and dread.  

The view from my couch, below:

MN in the fall is short and glorious:

For Halloween this year the older 3 kids are going to be Harry Potter characters (Hermionie, Harry, and Luna), and Kellan is going to be Norbert the dragon (the one Hagrid raised from an egg in the stories).  We're still putting the finishing touches on the older 3 costumes, but Kellan's dragon cape arrived and it's LOVE, folks.  He FEELS this character, haha.  He also reassures us he is a nice dragon.  

The day after he got the costume, the first words out of his mouth in the morning were to ask for his dragon, so I took a few photos.

He wears the cape everywhere.  Now I'm hoping it lasts until Halloween!

During this time Cora lost her first tooth!  It's been hanging on for about a month now, and she refused to pull it, but finally Jonas convinced her to pull it out herself, and voila!  Now we don't have to look at her crazy tooth any more.  She's delighted to be part of the older kid crowd now. (In the picture below you can see her bending her baby tooth down basically flat...this was the day before she pulled it out).

Here we all are in the basement that evening, looking on Amazon for a prize for her tooth.  Normally we'd get something from the dollar section of Target for a lost tooth, but we don't go to Target unless it's a real need, not something like this (and of course the kids never come in with adults during a pandemic), so a small Amazon prize it is!  

Speaking of the pandemic...the Midwest is sucking it up royally these days, when it comes to following basic rules like not being inside with non-family members, wearing masks, distancing.  You know.  Super hard stuff.  (*insert my eye rolls here*). We in MN aren't doing great that's for sure, but the chart below has been like this for days and days, and Minnesotans sure don't love being surrounded by ND, SD, IA, WI.  What, oh what, do those states share in common, do you think?  :) Major shout-out to my relatives in VT for helping to contribute to that state being basically the only state in the entire country doing well, haha!  Keep up the good/better work, east coast! (I'm betting lots of money the chart below looks like these due to Labor Day...folks just can't say no to a big party.  Blah.)

The general response of most of the country to the pandemic and elections is cause for regular despair and rage in me most days, haha, BUT there are a few bright spots of hope in the midst of those emotions, and one of them is due to the book our previous pastor, Pat Kahnke, wrote.  It's called MAGA Seduction:  Resisting the Debasement of the Christian Conscience. It's available on Amazon, so go have a read!  A rabid Trump lover wouldn't get it, but I think anyone else would really benefit from it.    Plus, my Dad wrote a great forward for it...good stuff!  

We had a little backyard party at the Horsman's house last night to celebrate the release of the book and talk about the writing process with Pat.  I'm so proud to know these people and call them friends!  Pat is one of the most humble, kind people I have ever met...and one of his extra special gifts is freely apologizing whenever it is called for.  Humility and admitting wrong stand out as HUGE character traits lacking in our leaders today, so when someone I know and trust, who has this particular gift, has something to say?  I listen.  I hope others do too, but even if no one else buys this book, I'm proud to know these people, and proud to have been part of a church by a conservative pastor who is redeeming the names "conservative" and "evangelical."  Well done, Pat!

Kellan has been asking to "go for a drive" lots lately.  Clearly we aren't enough adventure and excitement for him, haha.  Jonas took him around the lake as a distraction the other day: