Happy Halloween!

This year's crop of jack-o-lanterns looks terrific on the front step. I love Halloween!

The Dakota Kid

Brad's been helping his mother clean house, and they came across a cowboy costume that he wore for Halloween circa 1974. Brad put Connor in it and posed him as the cowboy on the old Dakota Kid Sunflower Seed packages.

Super cute!

Dig Out Your Soul

The new Oasis album hit stores last a couple of weeks ago. I don't normally rush out to buy a new album on the day it comes out, but this time I did. I've listened to it about 25 times already, and it's TERRIFIC! My fave tracks: "The Turning," "Falling Down," "To Be Where's There's Life," and "The Shock of the Lightning," which you may remember from my previous post.

There's lots of buzz about this album being a "return to form" for the band; however, in my (biased) view, it's just more of the same great music they've been churning out for 15 years. The naysayers have said this album has a preponderance of plodding, mid-tempo rockers, but I find most of them to be quite energizing. Go to iTunes and check them out yourself.

Papa's Pumpkin Patch

We spent a bit of time at Papa's Pumpkin Patch yesterday, along with half the rest of Bismarck. The weather was perfect for climbing on huge wooden trains and tearing around in the haybale maze.



We saw them launch the pumpkin trebuchet and managed to find four pumpkins to buy, despite the selection being fairly picked over.

Let the carving begin!

So Long, Al

It's not every day that you bury your dad. Yesterday was that day for Brad.

It's still really fresh and hard to put into words, so I'll just post links to his obituary and to Gary's eulogy.

Family dinners won't taste the same.

Happy Birthday, Dylan

Look who's 10

Yes, it's double digits for Dylan. To celebrate with his friends, we had a Harry Potter birthday party. Local artist, art teacher, and Potter fanatic Ali LaRock came to our house to host the party.

She brought all her cool Potter stuff.

She sorted them into their houses with her Sorting Hat.

The kids got to make their own spell books.

Then they made quills and wrote whatever they wanted in their books with real ink.

I made a snitch cake, which turned out even better than last year's.

The kids were so into it and having so much fun that they didn't want to quit. Aside from the ink that spilled on Dylan's good shorts, the whole evening was a home run. I hope Dylan will always remember this special celebration.