new library

ever since we moved to allegan we have frequented the library.  they always have a bunch of great books for kids and some good programs for younger kids, including storytime and crafts.  recently the library had limited its events and activities due to construction, but its over now and allegan now had a library 4 times the size of what it used to be! 
we decided to make the trek over to check it out after its grand reopening and we were so impressed!  they've got an even better selection of books, a bunch of areas for kids to play, a children's robotics lab, and so much more!  ledge was positively pumped about the whole thing and wanted to stay forever!  i know for a fact we will be back regularly to take advantage of such a great library- way to go allegan!

halloween night!

ledger's favorite day of the year is finally here: halloween!  he got home from school and was immediately itchin' to go trick or treating!  they don't want kids to start until 5pm here in allegan, so we had a couple hours to kill...  the town's high school had a special treat activity at 4, so i brought him there for a bit as we waited for the main event.
we went home and picked up diana, she had put her tiara on (so she was dressed like a princess), and i put my captain america hoodie on (which is what i've done for my costume for the past three years...) and we were off! 
we started, as has been our tradition, at the 'scary house', the house that ledger says is the scariest one of all.  that way he can build up his bravery quickly and be set for the rest of the spooky night.  we spent the next two hours wandering the streets of allegan in search of candy.  that little boy was in heaven!  he was disappointed that we had to stop when the sun went down, but he was thrilled with what a fun time he had!
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making the costume

ledger has known since last halloween what he wanted to be this year.  at the end of the night last year he confided in us that he liked being a pac-man ghost, but next time he wanted to be a classic ghostie.  'you know, a white sheet with eyes cut out!'  all right, we can make that happen!
so this year we got ourselves a white bed sheet and dug right in!  he wanted it to be simple, but i knew it would look better, and he would be happier with it, if i made it a little more special than that.  i cut out the eyes extra wide and sewed on two big black eyes, and then let ledger take the sharpie and draw in a mouth for it!  we rigged up a special contraption that worked like a hat for him, otherwise the eye holes would move all around- leaving him unable to see!  now that's no way to get candy!
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carving the pumpkins

now that we've got the pumpkins picked out and home, it's time to get carving!  ledge always talks a big game, about how he's going to carve it himself this year, but when it actually comes time to scoop out all the seeds and guts, all i get a big 'no way!' from him!  i talked him into trying at least one scoopful with his hand, but that didn't get very far... 
we had gotten three pumpkins, but decided that we were only going to carve two of them, the other one we would display in the house and he could just draw a face on that one.  on the other two he drew the face and then i carved it for him.  once they were done we put a light in each of them and put them out on the deck for the whole town to enjoy!
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gene the pumpkin man

autumn is filled with traditions in our family.  with halloween being ledger's favorite holiday, he has some expectations for celebrating it.  chief among those is that we must get pumpkins to carve!  last year we checked out the local pumpkin legend: gene the pumpkin man!  i had been told about him from a friend at work who grew up just south of town.  he asked if we'd ever gone to see gene.  we hadn't.  well, we quickly corrected that mistake!  and this year we made our way back to see him.
gene has a huge pumpkin patch and quite a variety to choose from.  ledge took his time, doing down all the different rows of pumpkins, making sure he found just the right one!  we ended up getting a few of them, as well as a couple extra treats from the gift shop.  now it time to get carving!
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jump and roll

diana and i have been looking for quite awhile now for some organized activities for ledger to get involved in to help him direct his energy and get that body movin!  well, i recently discovered that there is a children's gymnastic place about 15 minutes away.  we would love to get him involved, but i kind of want to make sure he likes it before we pay for a 6 week class.  i gave them a call and it turns out that they have an open gym time every friday evening.  i took him the next friday we had the chance, and it turns out that he loved it!  they spend the two hours playing games and going through obstacle courses, or just running around and playing.  ledge was all about it!  he loved it so much he was talking about it all weekend long!  i'm pretty sure he will be joining the 'rough and tumble' boys class soon!
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the orchard with papa

an old tradition in my family was to go to robinette's orchard every fall.  wanting to pass that tradition on for ledger and i, papa and i made plans to bring the boy there!  it's changed a bit since we last went there, but we still made the most of it and had a nice time.  we wandered around the orchard building a bit, seeing what they had to offer, and then chowed down on some homemade donuts and apple cider!  ledge took a minute to play on the giant apple out front and before we knew it, it was time to get going.
thanks again papa for coming with on our annual visit!
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dads and donuts

one of the fun activities that ledger's school has every year is something called 'dads and donuts'.  it's a special morning were all the dads are invited to come with their kids an hour before school starts to check out their classrooms, meet their teachers, let them show off the work they've been up to, and also get some yummy donuts!  last year we went and i had a great time, so we were looking forward to doing it again this year.  it was really neat and gave ledger a chance to show off his school, and also show off his daddy to his friends.  another nice thing they do is give away free books.  last year ledger randomly picked a book that turned out to be one of my favorites 'the yes'.  this year we found a book to read enjoy as well.  we had a great time and got to spend a little extra time together, and that's what it's all about anyway, right?
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halloween decor

since halloween is ledger's favorite holiday, we try to make a big deal of it.  one way we do that is to make sure decorate the place up nice for it.  well, it just so happens that moonlight jack showed up, so you know what that means: time to get them halloween decorations up!  ledge, as always, was thrilled to get the halloween season going.
we were coming home from school when he asked about putting up our decorations.  i reminded him that moonlight jack hadn't yet showed up, we had to wait for him to give us the kick-off.  well, we arrive home and who was waiting for us? why, moonlight jack, of course!  so the two of us headed down to the garage to get our halloween decor and beautify our place for the season!  we pulled out all the decorations we had from last year and go the place looking nice and properly spooky.  we even went to the dollar store to see if they had any new decorations we could use to fill in the places that weren't halloweeny enough.  fortunately we got it all decked out and ready for the fun halloween spirit of the season!
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car fixing

the car has been doing a pretty wicked shimmy when i hit the breaks, so that means it's time to call in a favor.  i gave aaron a call and asked if he would be able to give the brakes a look and change them out.  he was totally up for it, so i made sure to bring him a six-pack of his favorite beer, which he surprisingly didn't refuse.
it went really quickly, he was able to change out the two front brakes in about and hour and a half!  with that behind us, we were able to enjoy the rest of the night without worry!  we went to the local brewery and chowed down on nachos and had a chance to catch up.  i'm always thankful for such good friends- and so is my car!

tavish's visit

alanna and tavish came to visit, so of course ledger wanted to go and see them!  unfortunately i had to work, so diana and ledger had to go down without me.  they got to spend a couple days down with ledger's favorite cousin!  those two boys are always able to find some trouble to get themselves into!

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losing a best friend

there's no way to be prepared for something like this.  i was at work covering for someone else when jon called me with the devastating news.  he was gone.  my best friend, the guy who was the best man at my wedding, the guy i had spent so many late nights watching crappy movies with, or having deep and life changing conversations with, was gone.
he had lost control of his car the night before and hit a tree.  and now he's gone.  i'll never be able to call him, we'll never be able to laugh at our inside jokes, i'll never be able to go over and play with his transformers while he tells me how he's figured out life's grand puzzles.  he'll never be able to tell me all about his next project that he's got planned that will sit in in basement untouched, i'll never get to bribe him with beer to fix my car, he'll never again get to hear my boy repeat our inside jokes as if he actually understands them.  he's never going to show up late for our cabin trip and be the one to get the fireplace roaring.  there's so much he will never get to do. 
i miss him so much. 
but at least i got him for a while, and even though it wasn't enough, it was something.  and boy, was it something!  i will miss you and think about you for the rest of my life, jeff.
static brothers forever!

allegan code orange game

we've been living in allegan for a while now, so we thought it was probably time to partake in one of the special events here in our town: the code orange football game!  for the first football game of the season the high school has a special tradition where they make special shirts and make a big deal of it.  hundreds of people in town come to celebrate and cheer on the home team!  they even had a few special things for the kids: a bouncey house or two and someone doing face painting.  ledge was all about that!
we had a nice time and even watched the game for a little while.  it was getting a bit late, so we didn't stay too long- i've got work in the morning, after all!
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allegan county fair

there were a bunch of fairs i went to this summer, helping out at the hearing store booth for my father-in-law, but there was still one more to help at: the allegan county fair!  of all of them i attended, this was by far the easiest for me- i only had to drive five minutes away!  on one of the days i helped diana brought ledger down to see me.  it was just as i was finishing my shift, so he and i got to go and check out the fair together, which ledge is always up for!
we wandered around the games and rides, checking it all out, even getting a fair treat or two.  i got him a pass so he could go on as many rides as he wanted, which ended up being all of them!  we spent about three hours going around and riding everything at least twice (or twenty times...)!
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member day at work

i had a couple guests come and join me at work!  every year my job has a special 'member appreciation day' event in the corporate parking lot.  they go all out, tons of food, games, music, and even bouncy houses for the kids.  ledger always looks forward to it, so he and diana come down and joined me for an hour.  i was actually working that day, so i was able to take my lunch break to spend time with them there.  ledge had a blast and the two of them stayed long after i had to go back to work.  poor me...

two front teeth

now there's a look!  it finally happened: he lost both front teeth!  he was super excited about it and loved the how it looked.  he was really looking forward to getting his 'big boy' teeth, so now he's one step closer.  oh, and he's excited that the tooth fairy is going to stop by...

first day of first grade

here it is.  the day ledger has been looking forward to all summer (yes, he's young enough that he gets excited about it...): the first day of first grade!  he was super excited about it last night, but he wasn't so excited about it in the morning when he realized he had to get up so early...  eventually we coaxed him out of bed with the promise of waffles, but it was still pretty hard going.  diana and i were really excited about it too: we were going to be getting our mornings and afternoons back to ourselves! 
we got him ready and talked with him, he was telling us all about what he was most excited about (seeing his friends) and what he was not looking forward to (typing in computer class).  he was really glad to hear that he wasn't going to be subjected to nap time like he was in kindergarten- easily his most hated part of school last year!
all dressed, backpack on, he was ready to get going!  diana and i took him to school and brought him to his new classroom.  it wasn't nearly as hard to see him go this year.  we've been used to it now for the past couple years, so it a bit easier.  sure, we still get a bit misty eyed, but our confidence that he will be able to take care of himself and have a good time quickly push that fear away.
as is our tradition, after we dropped him off, diana and i went out for breakfast together- just the two of us! 
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third handprint

it's time to get crafty again.  my nostalgic tendencies got the best of me a couple years ago when i saw an idea online about measuring our son as he grows.  its a six foot board that he makes a handprint on every year as he goes to school and it shows how he gets bigger and bigger.  i was pretty excited about it because i found the idea before he started preschool, so we were able to start right at the beginning!  well, it's time for another school year to start, so that means it's time for another handprint!  he loves doing this each year because he gets to play with paint and make a good old fashioned mess!  this year he picked green while we were at the craft store, so we poured some out on a plate and had him stick his hand in it and put it firmly on the board- handprint number three!  after we did the required print, he went nuts putting paint all over himself, making a fine mess to annoy his mother...  he soon was thrown straight into the bath, but not until he had done a good job of making himself as much of a little green boy as he could!
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