Thursday, October 31, 2024

Halloween 2024

Another season of costumes and candy was upon us! The Halloween school day started out with Storybook Character Parade (for elementary) and a werewolf (for middle).


Nothing like the last minute to purchase and carve pumpkins.

Puppers tried to offer her expertise.


Finished products:

Peanut butter/banana jack-o'-lanterns for Halloween dinner!

Mommy's 2 biggest areas of pride for the festive evening:

And then we were off! We had some baseball players, a moose, Harry Potter, a werewolf, Gator enthusiast, and a couple of superheroes. Ethan was especially proud of his Shohei Ohtani costume, especially on the heels of the Dodgers very recent World Series championship.





Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Misc. October 2024

I read a meme this month about how being an adult is just repeating "But after this week, things will slow down a bit again" to yourself until you die. I have been keeping this blog alive for almost 12 full years (!), and I think I start every month's miscellaneous post with "we had a busy month..." Between cousin birthdays, Jewish holidays, sports, living and enjoying life, and keeping humans and animals alive, we had a busy month.

Starting the Jewish New Year in style:



Other congregants appreciated how Ethan styled his hair for Kol Nidre services. Nothing says "Yom Kippur" quite like spikes.

Ethan finished out a great Fall Ball season with the Rockies. He gained great experience as a starting pitcher and loved his time with Coach John and the players.


Spencer finished his season with Man City soccer team with a great roundup of kiddos from his school.




Spencer joined 2nd grade on a field trip to Inner Space Caverns, and Mommy got to chaperone!


We had many opportunities for special family time this month. We all went to a high school production of Hadestown one night:


I took Gabi to enjoy the wonders of a leashless hike at Walnut Creek. (There wasn't much of a creek, but we had enough to explore.)



Older 2 got to see "Little Shop of Horrors."

We enjoyed Zayde's extended stay in Texas.

Spencer and Mommy went out for a special sweet treat together while big kids were at a show with Daddy:


Special time with cousins in October celebrated Joey AND Shay's birthdays!




Austin didn't figure out that it's supposed to cool off in October, so we had to find ways to do it ourselves.






More fun with CohGils:

Another full month as a three-cat family, and we're doing just fine.


1 kitty sticks mostly close to Mommy during the day.


2 kitties seem to stick to each other more.

All 5 Cohens participated in Gabi's middle school's Ranger Run. While we only did the optional 1 mile option, Ethan and Daddy have a goal to do the full 5K next year.


We were told Reggie was the first 4-legged participant to cross the finish line!

Spencer had a lot of fun at a friend's rock-climbing party.

Just before Halloween, Gabi had her very first Orchestra concert, where they played Twinkle Twinkle 6 ways.


Not a horrible place to live - pretty views from walks around our neighborhood, both at the beginning and end of the day:

The miscellaneous portion of the miscellaneous post:

I voted y'all.

just some third borns reading some Torah


And lastly, if my phone goes missing, you can bet what I'll find when I get it back.