Da Ba Dee Dabba Da-ee

This is the probably the only time we will be able to recycle a costume between these two. Contrary to popular opinion, this is indeed a rhino costume- not a mouse and not an elephant. Perhaps there are some species of mice with horns, but I have yet to encounter them. The bow is a new addition, but otherwise we kept it the same. I have a feeling when Nadia has a say in matters, she won't be asking to be Batman for future Halloweens. On second thought, she would have been perfectly fine to be that this year though. She loves Batman.



Speaking of Batman...


He's quite the poser.


Are you ready for the grand finale of our family theme? Prepare yourselves, it's not pretty...





Sadly, no one asked about our costumes. Little did they know that we had prepared our rendition of Eiffel 65's "Blue" very carefully as a response to any inquiries. Now the world will never know whether we would have gone with the "da ba dee dabba da-ee" chorus or the ever popular "if I was green I would die". If you need a refresher, you can find the video here.



We attended quite a few festivities despite Rowan being sick a few days before Halloween weekend. The Church trunk or treat, a little party with some good friends, faux trick or treating with our LDS friends in the area on Saturday, and handing out candy on Sunday. We have an obscene amount of candy in the house and my pants can now attest to that fact.

Nadia at the Trunk or Treat. She kept pulling up her pants trying to rectify her rhino shoes slipping on the gym floor. They had the classic chili cook off and also a chemistry magic show with peach cobbler afterwards.



Nadia got to trick or treat in style, while Rowan opted to run around with Zach and Ezra. It was hard to have to keep reminding them that we were only knocking on certain people's doors since it wasn't officially Halloween. I think we confused a lot of people when they saw us running around the day before.


Storming the Thorpes. We tried to split off into smaller packs after the first three houses. Everyone seemed to start off at the same place at first.

After trick or treating on Saturday:


After the candy kicked in:


Now if anyone knows what to do with 50 lbs of candy, please let me know.

Smarty pants

On Sunday, Steve, Nadia, and I usually all take an afternoon nap while Rowan watches scripture movies. Last week we awoke to a fully prepared FHE lesson by Rowan.



He went over our family goals and illustrated each one. Then he had a song planned out- it was pretty impressive!

Rowan is such a writer these days. He usually has movie time while Nadia takes her nap, but lately he has been choosing to write instead. Our house is constantly cluttered with little notes and messages that he has written. "To Dad BOO From Rowan" or "To Zach Batman FROWAN" (He likes to mix From and Rowan together- he'll be a great texter) are some of my favorites. Today we came home and he wrote out his Primary Program part all on his own. I'm hoping he'll actually say it this coming Sunday, but we'll see. Either way we're so proud of him and all he is learning.


Rowan isn't the only smarty pants in the family. Nadia has learned to count to 10, but she refuses to do so for the camera. Here's the best I've got:



She also sings "Old MacDonald" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and has been doing it for several months now. But once again, she's camera shy.

Apparently horses say baa in her world.


She also knows a few of her letters- S, O, and a few others. She's become quite the talker too!

We are Family

October is close to being over. Is that crazy to anyone else but me? I feel like I'm in a weird flux of feeling like time is going too fast and too slowly. Everything job related is going too slowly and everything else is going too fast. I'm not a patient person and we keep hearing bad news. Steve's superior is being laid off this semester and is applying at a few of the same jobs Steve is. I never considered that we'd be up against anyone else besides graduating PhDs for jobs and that has spurred us on to be casting a wider net. I believe we're approaching 60 openings that Steve's applying for. When you consider that a lot of these places are getting 100-300 applicants at least, that still leaves a surplus of qualified people. We read about a job recently filled where the successful applicant had 25 publications. Most people in Steve's field typically have under 10 before they graduate. The prospects are not great, but we both know we'll be okay. I just need to turn to my faith more. Steve had his first interview this past week with Ohio State, which went well. It sounds like most places don't make a decision until February and I'll be indulging in Twizzlers until then.

Since Steve's been gone a lot of evenings, we made Saturday a family day. We went in the morning and picked out pumpkins at our local farmer's market.







Afterwards we went to the Spurlock museum on campus. I had been a long time ago, but the kids and Steve had never gone before. It's perfect for a quick overview of history and cultures. When we went to the Field museum in Chicago, it was really overwhelming at how much there was to see and do. This trip was a little more kid-friendly in the sense that we didn't have to pack a lot of effort in to see the whole thing.

Outside of the museum there was a nice fountain that the kids explored without getting wet. A small miracle.


Maybe a little wet...



Then we went on to the different exhibits. I think Rowan's favorite was the Egyptian one because of his previous exposure of mummies through Scooby Doo. It actually turned out to be quite Halloween appropriate.



Nadia found what she wanted to be for Halloween...


And Rowan found another object related to a Scooby Doo movie. It's kind of sad how much that kid has learned from those shows.


Steve seemed to frequent the displays with weaponry and his son followed suit. The suits of armor anyways.



Nadia was more concerned with public modesty.



At least they didn't have any cutouts with Greek statues. Those Europeans had modesty down.



A pleasant surprise to this outing was that the museum was hosting a skull painting and craft event. Apparently they do a craft every Saturday.



After the museum we went out for lunch, then home and had a family nap followed by a family walk. I heart family day!!

Broom Corn Fest

A month or so ago (yes, I am way behind) we revisited the broom corn festival because not only is it our favorite small town fair, but Steve has fond memories of eating his first deep-fried Twinkie there.

We met up with friends to watch the parade (yes, the infamous Lawn Rangers were there)


Nadia opted for the shade with Daddy. It was a little warmer than we were expecting.


I think the majority of these guys were drunk.


We were only interested in the sugar high, so after the parade we hit the food stands.


First stop? Ice cream and donuts.


Rowan thought it was funny to put the ice cream cone on his head and pretend he was a choo-choo train.


And what's a train without a caboose?


Apparently she hasn't figured out the process through which food goes to your stomach.


Next stop? Elephant ears. Deep-fried twinkie still holds first place for best fried food.
(I can't figure out why I think about mice everytime I see this picture)


Rowan and Daddy went on several rides while Nadia cried because she wasn't tall enough. We later found one that would let her on...


Let's just say it was a rough introduction...


Rowan went back on the dragon roller coaster that he tried last year. It was a happy reunion.


By the end we were sugared out. The kids had a snowcone where you could put as many as 20 different flavors on at a self serve station before we left. It made for an interesting diaper the next day.

Bye Broom Corn Festival! I'd say until next time, but I'm praying we'll be gone by then.

Preschool- Take Two!

Rowan started up preschool two weeks ago. He's going to the same program as last year and seems to be enjoying it. I was a little worried because by the time it finished last year, I practically had to drag him there. Perhaps it was just a matter of wanting of be outside. Anyways, he's happy to be back and I'm happy he has more activities going on during the day.

And here's some cute pictures of Nadia to counteract the scary video I posted.

This dress reminds me of Pebbles off of the Flintstones.

Rowan took this of me last Sunday- do you look/feel like this post-church too?

I wonder where she gets that from....

10 minutes into it...


20 minutes later...


Sigh.