Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Catching up, all the way to CJ's birthday party

Let's first start out with the best shot from Halloween, when CJ was a pirate (briefly) at her school parade. It was a typical kid's halloween. CJ was sporting an outrageous pirate costume that Meg spent much of the previous two weeks concocting, and all the other kids ooh'd and ah'd over her accessories (which included a well-stocked treasure chest, below).



CJ, of course, took one look at some of the store-bought costumes and got her own case of costume envy. Mayhem ensued. Film at 11. When the the time came to actually go out trick or treating, everyone was so tired of the holiday that we just went to the park so CJ could run around with Tomoki.

The following weekend, we went for a nice walk in the woods with Tomoki and his parents to catch the last of the fall foliage.



The next day, we hung out with Felix, who tried to show CJ just how cool it was to play in a box. From the looks of things though, CJ was clearly thinking outside of the box.



This past Sunday, we took a handful of CJ's friends from school and the neighborhood out for a dim sum birthday party. Much fun was had by all.



We ate at the restaurant's first seating, which thankfully meant a clean floor -- as the kids pretty quickly took the party under the table.



I'm not too sure what's going on here. It's been a while since I was three.



After CJ blew out her birthday candles...



...most of us continued the party at our apartment. CJ and Sloan decided to drive over.



Katherine's mommy read a great story:



And then it was time to open the presents.





After all was said and done, we were wondering what had happened to CJ's guitar and new camera. It turns out that, while she was more than happy to hang out with her buddies, CJ still needs to work on sharing. She chose instead to put her prized possessions under lock and key (or behind bars at least).

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Vote early and vote often?

Not in this country. It took us three hours and twenty minutes to vote this morning. No one told us we were supposed to be disenfranchised.

Here's CJ, contemplating our country's future:



And if you haven't voted already, what on earth are you waiting for?

UPDATE: Unlike the last two elections, enough smart people voted so that the good guy actually won. Every now and then, this country can be quite an amazing place.