The s'mores family

 

October's always been a month jam-packed with events, and one reason for this is the slew of birthdays that all seem to cluster around this time of year. On Friday night, I paid a visit to the Eagle's Lodge to join in Jenny and Lisa's birthday jam. On Saturday afternoon. Vivian and I dropped by her old neighbor Toni's house for a fun outdoor birthday barbecue (bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers, anyone?)

That evening, Hannah got to experience dressing up for Jenny's annual birthday costume party. This was our first chance to dress up as a family, so we decided to come as a s'more. I got to squeeze myself between two large piece of cardboard graham cracker, Vivian wore a Hershey Bar apron, and Hannah got herself stuffed with a couple extra onesies to be our little marshmallow. Our collection of costumes took third prize at the party, coming in second to Paul and Leane as a couple of Spartans and Heather was a shower scrub. We had several other noteworthy costumers in our ranks, including Tamra and Ryan as Aesop's Tortoise and Hare, Libby as a bamboo-wielding kung-fu person, and Jon Paper and his (malfunctioning) duct-tape pants of the future.

 

Of course, no autumn would be complete with a hayrack ride, so on Sunday afternoon we took Hannah on her very first. The Halls at Twin Valley Church host an annual potluck dinner at their ranch south of Omaha, so we dropped by with a couple dozen other church members and got toted around a couple square miles of countryside. The weather was darn near perfect for this time of year — around 80 degrees and quite cozy (at least until the clouds and wind started rolling in later in the day). We finished off the day evening with a roaring campfire and s'mores once the sun went down. We also had chili and soup for dinner with such treats as Donna's miniature Ghost Cookies for dessert.