We took Rocco for an evening walk on Thursday or Friday night. The moon was glorious – as full as it could be and casting a muted yellow light onto the earth. I stopped the kids and made them absorb it. Then I shouted “make a wish!”
Mario pleaded for lots of toys at Christmas and a new Skylander. Sophie begged for new Legos. Maria pleaded for her mom to have the best birthday ever. That’s it. All she wanted from the moon. My sweet baby. She has got every caring gene in her body (Mario has them too but the toy gene trumps quite often).
On Saturday, Jon took the kids to Marion to visit their cousins at Patty’s and Joe’s house. I got in a killer 11 mile run in and lifted weights. It was superb. And then to top it off, Rocco took a walk with me and didn’t stop every second and make me beg him to move. It was delightful. I love taking him to the woods by our house and letting him off the leash; he rips through the leaves and dashes from log to log smelling the remnants of other animals.

Saturday evening, Jon and I drove up to Marion to pick up the kids and visit Patty and Joe and Jon’s brothers and their families. The boys spent most of the time watching each other play Minecraft on the iPad while the girls played make believe in the basement. It’s so freeing to have them all play together alone while the adults chatted upstairs.
Ri woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. She’s such a machine, though. She washed down some Tylenol and just went back to bed without complaining at all. When she woke Sunday morning, I knew she didn’t feel the best but she kept a straight face and went with me to the YWCA to do crafts with the homeless kids. She has such a big heart. Within about twenty minutes, I could tell she felt horrible and I made her sit down. But soon I saw her up helping a little girl with her Halloween mask. We left the Y and went home for a day of relaxation. She slept on the couch while I raked leaves with Rocco. It was so gorgeous outside I didn’t mind the manual labor at all. She mosied outside after a while and recited recipes from one of her kids’ books.while I made a leaf pile. Then she began to take pictures of all the glorious flowers in the yard. She’s got a bit of an eye on her….

She slipped in this one (Rocco’s poop bag) and thought it was hilarious!

Meanwhile, Jon took Mario to his swim birthday party. Jon talked it up with the moms at the party keeping them laughing with his jokes. He reported that Mario had a great time with his dudes splashing around the pool and being silly. When Mario came home, he reported to me that one of the boys swam in “panties.” I looked at him quizzically and Jon chimed in “they were speedos, Mario.” Mario had never seen such things since he has been wearing boxers for the last two years to be like his dad. Indeed, anything he can do to be more like his dad makes him happy. He watched football with Jon in the evening jumping off the couch every few minutes to act like he was catching a pass (Jon does not do that).
Ri and I read Janes and the Giant Peach for 45 minutes, which made me oh so happy. I love reading with her and dreamt about it since she was a baby. I tucked her in bed at 8:30 with the hope that she would be better in the morning. Mario stayed up until 10 with his dad watching football and making us watch his pretend touchdowns (and touchdown dances). I think he’s ready for the NFL at age 6.
Oh, and we got Boo’d last night, which means we have to “Boo” two houses in Grandview tonight. I’m not sure if I like this “Booing” idea – seems to be yet another way to commercialize a holiday (I now have to go our and buy candy and bags to put at the two houses we “Boo.”) But the kids were so excited to be the “Boo” recipients so I will play the game like a good citizen and go buy candy and bags after work. I will make them walk to the houses we “boo” tonight though – it’s too nice outside to drive anywhere today. Winter will sneak up on us way too soon….