Halloween

Ohio is weird. Trick-or-treating does not occur on Halloween. They have something called "Beggar's Night," and it is not always on Halloween. For example, this year, Beggar's Night was on October 30th. I think they do this for safety reasons, and also they don't want trick-or-treating to interfere with other events (e.g. Beggar's Night will NEVER be on a Friday night because it would coincide with high school football games).

This year, Beggar's Night bit us on the rump. Oh, we were prepared to go trick-or-treating. But Beggar's Night was scheduled for Saturday, 6 - 8 pm. The Auburn vs. Ole Miss kickoff? 6:00 pm. And while Ashley is a huge fan (she admittedly has problems), she isn't such a huge fan as to cancel trick-or-treating with her soon-to-be 3-year old only child so she can watch a football game (although the decision wasn't a no-brainer :-). We decided that I would stay home and watch the game, I mean hand out treats to the kids that came to our door, and provide text message updates about the game (more on that later).

Bode wanted to be a troll for Halloween. There's a story they read at daycare about a troll under the bridge. Bode loves this story and has said he wanted to be a troll for the past month. There aren't many scary troll costumes for a toddler, but we found something close. The costume was for a garden gnome which is sort of a troll (you have to use your imagination). Anyways, Bode loved the costume, and that is all that mattered. Here are some shots. First, the little troll and me. Notice I'm in my Auburn gear.

Next, here's Ashley and Bode. While it's hard to tell, Ashley is dressed as Robin, the Boy (Girl) Wonder. She had to make some small adjustments to the costume. The skirt was a bit short, and the top was low-cut, and the designers probably had late teen-age girl in mind. But she still looked cute and quite appropriate for our neighborhood.

Bode loved getting the candy, and that is all he wants to eat--even for breakfast. Fortunately, he seems to understand candy is an after dinner treat.

The mighty Auburn Tigers are 9-0!!! They have what should be an easy game this week (Tennessee Chattanooga or some high school-like team). Then, their last two games are against their big rivals: Georgia and the dreaded Iron Bowl at Alabama. Should make for a fun November.

Pleasant week to all.

Fall

It's a beautiful fall day. The leaves are really coming down, and the colors and very nice. Here's a shot of our front yard--I really like the red in the tree across the street.

Note the goofy looking scarecrow. That's an original woodwork by Jeffy. Maybe I should start selling them. Below is a better shot of the scarecrow (let's call him Bob for no reason other than I'm not very creative; Scarecrow Bob). You can also see Ashley hard at work trimming some bushes while Bode is standing on our front porch.

We raked a bunch of leaves. The picture below is about half of them. The other half are further up the street and out of the camera's view.

What's a fall Sunday without an Auburn football reference? As you (hopefully) know, the Mighty Auburn Tigers beat LSU yesterday and are now 8-0!!! Ashley is elated, but also very nervous. It's funny--she's a bit superstitious and really believes if I talk too much about how good they are, I will jinx them. I could see Bode believing something like that...but Ashley? She's almost 40, err, in her 30's :-) Auburn's QB is a legitimate Heisman candidate. I tried to get Bode to strike a pose, but this is the best he could do...

As usual, Bode wanted to take some pictures. Here's a slanted shot of me. You can also see our obnoxious Auburn flag proudly flying on our house.

Auburn is predicted to be #1 in the BCS rankings, which historically is not a good position. They have a tough road game Saturday at Ole Miss. Game time is 6:00 pm on ESPN2. Pleasant week to all.

Trucks and Spiders

Lots has been going on. End of preamble.

Bode-man is growing like the Auburn band-wagon. He's over three feet tall, rides his little tricycle like a rough-rider, and speaks eloquently (for a two-year old). Here's a shot of Bode and Auburn. Look at the length on the little guy.

He's quite the little photog. He took the following picture of Auburn and me lying on the floor.

He's also getting heavy. Here's Bode and me trying to play airplane. His glide-time isn't nearly what it used-to-be, a combination of him getting heavier and Daddy getting weaker.

He's really into his toy trucks. He likes the dump-truck, the bull-dozer, but his favorite is the excavator (and he even calls it that...like I said, he's quite eloquent).

Sometimes Bode needs a smooth surface on which to run the trucks. Daddy's back seems to do the trick.

And other times, the carpet works just fine

Can you believe the mighty Auburn Tigers are 7-0??? They play LSU tomorrow. Ashley is already nervous. Hopefully big Cam Newton can pull off another amazing display and get a W for the team. Incidentally, Bode has learned most of his A-B-C's. However, he thinks "W" is "Spider." It's funny to here him identify letters. If the word "brown" is on the page, he'll spell it. "B and R and O and Spider and N." Very cute.

War eagle to all and to all a pleasant weekend.