Trunk-or-Treat!

Last night was the ward Trunk-or-Treat dinner and Halloween celebration. We loaded up and went to the church a bit early to help set up and let Caitin test her costume in the parking lot. Mater was the perfect little pink panther. Caitin loved pulling her wiggly little tail.En-route, Caitin with her Thomas smile,

and her costume tied down.

Roaming through the cultural hall before it became too crowded.

There was an awesome turnout to this event...loads of people. We took turns sitting at the table for dinner. Needless to say, maneuvering this beast of a costume indoors was difficult, but outside during the trunk-or-treat, Caitin did great...only running over a few people. The light on the front saved many, but we didn't think about a back-up light.

You can download this (in slightly higher quality) and another from here:

http://ia310821.us.archive.org/0/items/K10Thomas/Picture029.avi
and here:
http://ia301524.us.archive.org/2/items/K10Thomas2/Picture025.avi

Costume Poll

Alright, I realized my Costume Poll (check out the right-hand column) was spelled 'Cosume', and that couldn't stand. I ended up deleting the existing votes to fix the error. I blame vanity!

Sorry to those who's votes were deleted, and please vote again!

Halloween Costume

Caitin is the biggest Thomas-the-Train fan in the world. Thomas is her blankie, her friend, and her favorite toy (aside from Thunder). Go figure that she would choose to be Thomas for Halloween.

We're glad that choice was made early enough for Dad to take it to heart. Some may consider this a little beyond the definition of a costume, but I think most Blankenagels will agree that it is just right!

We still have a bit of painting to finish up, but you get the idea!

I scream, You scream...

Mater has an aversion to being left out...particularly when sweets are involved.

We went to Maggie-Moos (similar to Cold Stone) last week for a Better Batter milkshake (thank you Sharps for cluing us into these!), and Jamie pulled a fast one on Sarah. I witnessed the event, but these pictures are only a substitute. Sarah sat down with the milkshake in hand and Jamie on her lap. She brought the cup up and put the straw in her mouth, but before she could taste the goodness of chocolate cake batter in drinkable form, Jamie had reached up, grabbed the straw, and pulled it right into her own mouth - drawing long and deep. And we thought we bought it for us.

One of my most favorite things is to hold my daughters when they are sleeping. It's a rare occasion, because they are both very determined to never miss any fun, and really work at staying awake when they really need naps. Last Sunday, though, mater and I caught a little shut-eye before church. That's her stuffed bat she's holding. What a sweetie.

Negotiator gone bad...

Caitin is our negotiator. She has often achieved extra bedtime stories, drinks, treats, etc. by striking deals with Mom and Dad. For example, sitting around the table to bowls of ice cream, when she finishes before Dad she looks him in the eye (a rare occurrence in itself), smiles kinda' shy-like, and says with extra layers of sugar, "Would you like to share with me?" Undeniably presented.

This last week she picked up a new tactic that is slightly more frustrating...Sitting at the table with her bowl of chocolate truffle ice cream (to illustrate a parallel example only...uhh...no, actually, we do eat too many treats), scooping up the last spoonful she begins to scream, "No! I don't want chocolate! Mom, I don't want chocolate! I want bannila!" At the first hint of a "No" from Mom the tears start flowing and the volume rises with the pitch to a shrill squeal that wakes up baby sister every time.

The new technique has been known to work to get a second bedtime story when Mom is in a generous mood. The second attempt in the same sitting, however, tips the scales the wrong way.

Yoga

Mater has been practicing her yoga recently. We put her to bed, laying her down in what we perceive as a comfortable position and walk out of the room. Obviously her opinion of comfort differs. When we check on her she is in the sitting splits position laying forward on her blankie that she is hugging - aka the Yoga position. It's pretty cute, but we haven't taken a picture of it yet.

We've been pretty busy lately, but not with anything significant. One thing we've just started is some financial planning. Some friends of ours are in the profession, and they gave us an introductory presentation this week. Their specialty is debt consolidation, accelerating of payments to eliminate debt, investing to build a sufficient retirement, etc. Anyway, Sarah and I have wanted to do some serious planning for a while now, and we're excited to do it!