Dancin', Swingin', Beheading...

I'm getting BAD at updating this. I completely spaced posting Halloween pictures. Starting with Halloween with the cousins, here's a bunch of random stuff.

Henry was a GI Joe and Violet was a mouse...

Here's a couple shots from a late summer wedding. Henry and Violet seized the dance floor to show off what formal dance instruction infused with their own personal flair can do. All of Henry's moves would have been completely acceptable at an underground rave party circa 1992.

Violet, on the other hand, had more of an experimental free form, Haight-Ashbury in the late 60s feel. Between her rhythmic movements and fun dress, she managed to capture the essence of music. I believe they were listening to "Pump up the Jam" here...

Both of the kids like to swing and it's too much work to drive the kids all the way to a park or school for swinging. So I figured we should put up our own. It's pretty sweet...

Swingin' at sundown...

A couple nights back I told Violet to pick up a bin of toys she had dumped out to which she replied, "Daddy, I don't like your tone." She is about 90% sweetness, 10% fiestiness, and maybe 4% skulduggery.

Bachman and Dan were found guilty of crimes against humanity. For these crimes they were sentenced to die. They were featured as the main course for Thanksgiving dinner this year. I don't think I ever got around to posting pictures of these guys. This is Bachman and Dan:

Henry creates a disco inferno in Bachman and Dan's makeshift pen.

A while back I figured I would explain to Henry that we were going to butcher the turkeys and maybe two uppity roosters. He seemed curious about it and only said that he wanted me to show him their guts at the moment of truth. So, I let Henry kind of take part in / basically just watch the beheading and carnage. The chickens went first. I basically just went into the coop and grabbed one at a time and walked them over to the beheading stump. I had a couple nails in it the stump I would wedge their head between. After that I just gave a little whack with an axe. It is true what they say about chickens with their heads cut off -- they hop and flip around like crazy for a few minutes. Henry was a little mesmerized by the aftermath and at one point he was checking out the heads in the wheelbarrow and suggested that we try to "glue them back on with a glue stick". I guess he's pretty handy with a glue stick at preschool. This is when Violet arrived on the scene. I was worried about her seeing gore and whatnot since she is actually very terrified of the chickens but she just glanced at the lifeless carcasses and said "Let's just eat 'em Dada."

I had been a little concerned that the turkeys were going to be more difficult if only because they were so much larger. They seemed resigned to their fate and really weren't any more trouble than the chickens. After beheading, I dipped them in hot water for about 30 seconds which makes plucking super easy. The last step is gutting and cleaning them and sticking them in freezer. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezie.

Vince is evolving into a gentle and inquisitive little guy. We have three goats currently.

I have the old Q-Bert game downstairs that I inherited years ago from a college friend and the kids seem to like playing. They still have some fine tuning before my high score is in jeopardy.

Violet tries on a wig...

Henry and Violet at Grandma Sue's dance class for the Halloween Dance Revue. Henry is making serious advances in his technique and Violet seems to be really throwing herself into the dance. I think they are doing a shuffle step here but Henry insists it's a "shovel' step.

This is pretty much how I roll now. I'm still fighting the good fight, but getting pressure from multiple fronts to shave the beard. I'm going to keep riding this one out for a while a see what happens.