Fall 2002

Halloween Tonight we went trick or treating. Hollace has been practicing this for awhile. She did great. She said "trick or treat" and "thank you" at every door. There was one time though that the people didn't get to the door fast enough and Hollace yells "open your door!". Some dorky teenager dressed as a bat or ghoul or whatever comes swooping over and grabs Hollace starting to take her away. I yelled at him to put her down before you freak her out. He meant no harm, it sounds worse when I write it down here. He then pulled up his mask to show Hollace that he was just a kid. Hollace never freaked out or anything, don't know what she was thinking. Last year I went all out and sewed Hollace a Dalmatian costume. This year I went the other way, I bought jaguar jammies and called her a cat. This year I did remember the make-up though. I had cat ears for her but they were too big so I wore them. She refused to let me take a picture of her but eventually I got a few. Being the Mac geek that I am, since Hollace was a "jaguar". And that is what Mac calls their latest OS and has that pattern on everything, I cut out the Apple logo in white felt and pinned it to her. Maybe I will submit her picture to MacAddict. After we got home and warmed up we then went out to ArtWorks where the ladies that already live there was having a little get together. It wasn't much but it was still nice. You can see pictures from ArtWorks here and pictures of Hollace's costume on her page Vacation This year for our fall camping we actually had a game plan. That means we put just a little bit of thought into what we were going to do. We now own a camper so we had a mission. We went up to Michigan. The whole week before was in the 70s but of course as we headed out of town the cold front came through. We seen snow the first day and then the cold winds came. Between the electric heater we brought and the propane heater that comes with the camper we stayed warm while playing Hungry Hippos and Legos. One of our missions for going to Michigan was to finally get to meet my best online buddy (and fellow Mac addict) Kelly in Winsor Canada. After a little glitch getting into the country (we forgot our birth certificates but had Hollace's) we met Kelly and her kids Matthew and Natalie. It was great finally getting to meet her and the kids. Come check out pictures of both our visit with Kelly and our vacation.   This and That Cindy is pregnant! That make #4 for her clan. The new baby is due in June right after Emma turns 4. Come check out the website I did for ArtWorks, Hollace's hang out. Since June the previously run by Fox Lake children's museum has been trying to make a go with it as a non-for-profit after Fox Lake abruptly dumped them from funding. I volunteer my time by doing the website, designing a brochure and all their print ads. Preschool is going well for Hollace. Up until recently she really didn't like it but lately I have been seeing the effects of what she is learning. Clean up time. She always cleaned up before but now she announces it by saying "clean up!" and does it without us telling her a million times. Praying before a meal. We were playing preschool the other day and I asked what do you do before we have snack. I was expecting something like wash your hands but instead she clasped her hands together, closed her eyes shut and said "this". Then she said "God is great, God is good, thank you for this food. Amen". She goes to a Lutheran preschool. Last night she surprised me by making a good attempt at writing her name without looking at it out of the blue. She never showed an interest in it before. I asked her where she learned that she said she taught herself. I will have to see if this is what she is learning in school. Last week we finally got back to church after a 2 month break (no reason for the break just lazy I guess). Hollace went to Sunday school for the first time. That was kind of cool, both me and RAW could sit together and enjoy the service. I am usually in the playroom/nursery with Hollace.       The Race ...the movie I have edited my first feature film, well all 2.5 minutes of it. It is 3mbs as either a Quicktime or Windows Media movie or if you have a really fast connection, download the 9mb version. It is worth the download so go check it out. 3.4Mb QT or 3.4Mb WMV,