Fun at Aunt Kendra's and Granny D's...

There have been a couple of big events since we last posted. Last weekend there was another surprise 30th birthday party. This one was for Lisa's sister Kendra - welcome to the club old lady! David did a great job shocking Kendra with a party, and it was really nice getting to meet some of their friends. Reece had a good time playing with the older boys (Cousin Grant and his friends) and probably picked up a few bad habits along the way. He also picked up a new-found love for playing with balloons...so now those are a staple around our house.
The week went by fast, and was as busy as most others. It's getting to be crunch-time for my classes, as I have 5 big papers/projects due within the next month.
The biggest recent news is that Lisa finally got a chance to get away for a couple of days, and was able to spend her first nights away from Reece. He traveled with me and Nana Davis to Louisville where I had to attend a conference on Thursday/Friday/Saturday of last week. We stayed at Grandma Davis' house in New Albany, IN, and it was great to have 4 generations of Davis' under one roof. Nana and Granny D had a great time with Reece, and he truly did entertain them. As everyone does while at Granny D's, Reece ate very well. He had mashed potatoes, pork, ice cream, and all kinds of other goodies...including Grandma's famous biscuits. Reece also had a great time chasing around Patches. That poor cat is so good with Reece. She doesn't even meow when he grabs her tail and pokes at her.
Meanwhile, Lisa was in Brown County with some of her closest friends from college - Amy, Suzy, Kristen, Andrea, and Becky. They shopped and gabbed and played games like ImagineIf. From what I heard, they're all good friends with George Bush as well (must be an inside joke there I'm not aware of, right Suzy?).
One other recent event was my Saturday night trip up to Angola and back to go to my buddy Tim Warner's wedding reception. It was a great time. Only problem was that I almost smoked a dear with my car on the way home. Close call. God is good.
To kick off this week, Reece spent this morning at Brooke and Dan's, and was finally in a good mode for them. We're glad his true colors finally showed through, and he had a good time with Sam and her parents.
The picture of the jackass is just for fun...Reece liked it at the zoo last weekend.

Trick or Treat...

For the first time in a long time we bought and carved pumpkins, the night before Halloween (nothing like waiting till the last minute). Reece was in bed, Sam was asleep in the guest room, and Brooke and Dan stayed up late with us as we all tried our hand sculpting our pumpkins. I must say that you can tell who the creative couple is (the two on the right are from the Brand household). Joe even took the seeds and cooked them for us as a late night snack. It was very tasty.

On Halloween we dressed Reece up in his monkey costume and sat out on the driveway ready to greet all the trick or treaters. It was such a beautiful night and everyone seemed to be in great spirits. Reece loved watching all of these dressed up people come up and grab for candy. He eventually started grabing for candy himself. Sorry buddy -- maybe next year. A little into the evening, the Brand family came and joined us and we had a party with our lighted pumpkins and dressed up babies. It was such great fun --- it is so nice to be able to take a dark holiday and brighten it up by laughing and being with friends.