Happy Halloween!!

About two months ago Abby decided she wanted to be a Karner Blue Butterfly for Halloween. A Karner Blue is an endangered species and is found throughout the midwest. Abby learned about it after donating money to the Nature Conservancy (to learn more or to make a donation yourself, go to www.nature.org).

Well, Carlene made Abby's costume -- after extensive Karner Blue research -- and all was well -- or so I thought! A couple days before Halloween Abby started cutting paper. Each day she'd cut more and add it to her pile. She refused to let me pick up the paper. She said she was making a bloodhound costume for Halloween!

Luckily, I convinced Abby that we didn't have time to finish the bloodhound costume and that she should instead wear the Karner Blue Butterfly costume!

We went to Abby's friend Ben's house for dinner and were joined by Ben's sister Katie and their friends Eponine (think Les Mis), Leah, and Carys. Will and the other two dads decided to dress up as well -- perhaps as Tin Woodmen or robots or recycled something or others! Your guess is as good as mine!

It was a cold night, but we were off!

And much fun was had by all!

Abby and Will trick or treat at Lisa's house!

Abby, Lisa, and Carlene -- the Karner Blue Butterfly creator -- show off their costumes!

There are many reasons to love Abby, but two of my current favorites are that she wanted to be an endangered butterfly for Halloween and her favorite treat of the night was the pack of tofu that Lisa gave her!

She said, "Mother, let's go home and cut the tofu into Halloween shapes and eat it!

And so we did!

Well, I didn't eat the stuff, but Abby did!

And so you Halloween purists don't fret too much about the tofu, Abby did not miss out on the candy -- she did get to eat a couple pieces before Halloween was over!

Abby's First Political Rally

Abby and I -- along with about 3,000 other people -- went to Abby's first political rally tonight. Senator Barak Obama spoke as did our DFL candidates for the House -- Tim Walz -- and Senate -- Amy Klobuchar! We had a great time and Abby seemed genuinely interested in the event! She listened to Senator Obama and asked questions about what he was saying. She was particularly curious when he started to talk about Martin Luther King Jr. (Martin is in heaven with the dinosaurs, you know!)

She's now calling us "little Barak Obamas!"

Wedding Reception Dancing

Saturday night we went to a wedding dance and Abby had the time of her life!!! Here Abby (in the gray dress) is dancing with Ari. Abby is wearing a dress I gave to Ashley about 15 years ago!!

(The picture was taken with my cell phone, so the quality isn't great!)

Saturday Morning Photos

Will took these sweet pictures of Abby this morning!

Tights

At first I couldn't figure out why Abby was so agreeable when I said she needed to put her tights on! Then, I looked up and realized why she was so cooperative!!!

Abby's Halloween Party

For some crazy reason, I thought it would be fun to host a Halloween Party for Abby. So, we did!

Little did I know that everyone would come and that our house simply is not large enough to accommodate 32 children and 26 adults! It was mass chaos and Abby clearly did not enjoy it. She refused to wear her costume and spent most of the morning at the food table eating sweets!

So, it appears that my first attempt at party planning for children was a bit of a failure. But, in my own defense, when I said siblings were welcome to attend, I simply did not realize that many families have four children in them!

All Four Grandparents

Today we had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Engelhardt's house. Abby had a good time with all four of her grandparents! From left to right -- Grandpa, Grandma, Abby, Noni, and Granddad

Our Montessori Tour

Yesterday Abby gave Dick, Teri, and me a tour of her Montessori classroom. She was a little shy at first, but showed us where she hangs up her coat, listens to music (with headphones), and then decided she wanted a snack. It was simply great to watch. She got a placemat and spread it on the table, she went to the snack station and selected the banana tray. She brought it back to the table and set the table. She even put the fork on the left and the knife on the right.



She then went to the sink and washed her hands, put on her apron and came back to the table and cut her banana into pieces. After doing this she went back to wash her hands again and then finally sat down and ate her banana slices with a fork!!!

After she finished, she took her dishes to the sink and washed them!!!

Noni watched all of this and announced that she was going to send Granddad to Montessori!!!!

Leaves

Noni and Granddad (Will's parents) are visiting and Abby is having a great time and I'm getting my yard raked!!!!! Teri and Dick made a huge pile of leaves for Abby to jump in and she did just that -- over and over and over again. I came out and snapped a couple pictures. After jumping into the pile and seeing me with the camera, Abby yelled, "Oh, that's a great one for the blog!"

A Day in Lanesboro with Noni and Granddad

We spent the afternoon in Lanesboro, Minnesota -- a lovely little river town south of Rochester. Noni and Granddad bought a painting (we think Granddad agreed so quickly because he may have cut some sort of deal with Noni involving a plasma screen TV). We had lunch outside and Noni and Abby wrote letters back and forth to each other on a napkin.