Happy Halloween!

sneak peak

Kai striking a Skywalker pose (thanks to Uncle Matt for letting Kai borrow the lightsaber and for introducing him to star wars (I think!)). Nina's costume isn't ready, but she had fun dressing up in last year's, and wanted a belt (=winter scarf) and light saber (=rubber eel) to match Kai's. It was a halloweenie weekend.

A good weekend

Pretty girl in the fall sun and Kai getting a headstart on his Christmas list.

What a gorgeous weekend.
We received a last-minute invitation to dinner at the home of one of Nate's sales reps, a guy from Cutoff, Louisiana. The thickest Louisiana drawl I've heard yet. He and his sweet and pregnant wife have two sweet girls, 4 and 6, and Nina and Kai were thrilled to play with their toys and jump in their trampoline for hours. They live just a few minutes from us. April is the kind of housewife that makes it all look so easy and effortless. Wait a sec, I didn't see a single piece of paper or crayon or bill or lego out of place anywhere!!! What the...?!
We had the redfish Nate and Rob had caught on their late-night fishing trip last month. It was delicious. Grilled with a cherry tomato-mustard-onion sauce on top. Dessert was a hilarious and delectable dump cake=cake mix, canned pineapple, can of blueberry pie filling, a stick of butter and pecans.
Saturday Kai started piano lessons. His teacher, Curtis, has a new baby boy named Kai. A good sign I think. Nate said he was beaming when he got out of the lesson. This will be our saturday morning for the next at least 4 months.
This is our first weekend together just hanging out at home; Nate's done studying for the boards, and we decided not to make the trip to New Orleans. I won't disclose what time I got out of my pajamas yesterday.
It was a rough week at school for Kai, and I realized that I have to really be selective about what I should worry about and what I shouldn't. Should I worry that Kai used potty words after his teacher asked him not too? Or that he spit his food at lunch? Or that he refused to eat his lunch after his teacher made him sit next to him? Or that he got into a playful scuffle at recess? I'm still trying to figure out how much I should ask about, how much I want to know, how much to discuss with Kai, how much to let go. I don't want to be on his case all the time. On friday when I picked him up the first thing he said was, "Mom, I was good at school today!" So does he think the other four days he wasn't? I hope not.

It's not that bad

Sorry folks. It's really not that bad. I shouldn't have started my blog at 1 AM.
So here's some good. We spent 2 hours in the park after school yesterday, then took Kai's bike and Nina in the stroller on the Tammany Trace, a 31-mile trail through the woods around the northshore. Kai's only had one tantrum: when I told him we didn't have time or enough food to ride the full 31 miles. The fresh air and exercise made us all feel great.
Kai woke up all wiggly this morning. Yowza. Running, dancing, yelling, jumping, not sure what he dreamt about last night but must have been something really good. I warned his teachers about his extra exuberance. Reina calls him "frisky".
Here is a picture of Kai's class. His best bud, Elias, is next to him. A really sweet kid. My personal favorite is Lainey, fourth from the left, a tomboy with messy hair, a thick southern drawl, and big smiles for Kai. Trey, on the far right, is the troublemaker who told me the other day to "get out of my way" and spends lots of time in the office.

Because I love the way she says betuz