Autumn is in full swing!

Well, about half of the leaves have flown this year, and it's starting to be consistently chilly. The vegetable stands are stocked full of bright orange pumpkins, and we're avoiding the scary-looking costumes that are filling the stores. Summer clothes are put away, and we're stocking up on winter gear. I guess it's finally autumn!

It's a cozy time of year, and starting to be full of anticipation of the coming holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving (which we already had in Canada, but to me Thanksgiving can only be a big event in November with pilgrim decorations and a turkey in the oven), and then Christmas! Throw in two kids' birthdays between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we're heading for great holiday season! 

The kids are still enjoying playing outside without winter coats.

 (our cute neighbor friend)

 But this week was one of the first that they had to stay indoors for several days due to rain and wind. So what does that mean for our indoor climate? Absolute mayhem! I came out from working in the office and found this:

(Yes, mom. I realize two of my kids are half-naked again. 

My kids take their clothes off. What can I say?!)

They had decided to line the stairs with our camper bed mats, and make a luge track. It actually worked pretty well. Their teamwork was extraordinary, and the final product was a load of fun! They were having such a great time, after I assessed the situation and assured myself that no child was in immediate danger of losing life or limb, I snapped some photos.  You might think that Collin didn't make it into these photos, but you're mistaken. See that white blob at the bottom of this photo? That's him, stuck between layers while trying to reposition the mat.

Yesterday Vlad took off for Finland. He is helping with a PhD defense, and is taking a quick three days to go see his mom in the meantime. We took him down to Grand Forks just so we could spend a bit more time with him before he took off. We all felt a little lost without Daddy last night. While in Grand Forks the kids and I ate at our favorite Chinese buffet, bought Katya her favorite baby doll in the world, got groceries, and hit the Old Navy clearances before heading back up into the land of the polar bears. At the Chinese place, they had these little doughnut "dumplings" that I could have sworn were really just fried Pillsbury dough rolled in sugar. So I grabbed some Pillsbury dough at the store, and this morning we fried it and coated it with sugar - a first for us. Sure enough! Same exact thing, and it was delicious! Saturday morning donuts this morning instead of Saturday morning pancakes.

Last night when we got home we realized that the garage door had been open since 7:30am when we left, and that there were two lights on in the house. What to do? I told the kids to stay in the car, and in true Vlad-like fashion, I grabbed a metal bar from our weight set, and tromped around the house, turning on lights and checking each room, closet, door, and under beds to make sure there was no intruder. There wasn't. Unless you count a little mouse that I'm sure is hiding out in our furnace room. Relieved that I wouldn't have to use the metal bar on any poor unsuspecting robber, we went about our normal Daddy's-not-here routine. It's Claire's turn to sleep in the king bed with me and the other kids get to sleep on the floor on bed mats (with an exception for Katya who insisted on joining us in the bed around 2:00am). Even Lizzie the Mutant Canine is allowed to sleep in our room, since she gets so sad when Vlad isn't around.

We have a good time together when Vlad isn't here, but we also miss him like crazy. Have a good trip, honey! Have fun, and come back safe and sound.

xoxoxo