Quick Successions: New Mexico Edition

Hannah reprised her costume as Dorothy. She brought her little dog too, to Trick or Treat. All week we had great warm weather and then today it never got higher than 45 degrees. Brian's camera wasn't set right for the dark so the pictures during candy gathering are not very clear. When we got home I showed Hannah the joys of counting and sorting her candy. She took to it like a duck to water. It made me so proud. Her favorite treat was actually a bag of pumpkin and bat shaped pretzels. While we made dinner spooks came to our house and we gave them treats. Hannah actually took up the job of answering the door and giving out the treats. She liked that just as well as collecting them herself.

This was Hannah's birthday weekend. On Friday we went to the local Trunk or Treat. I made Hannah a little blue and white checked jumper and braided her hair. She wore her ruby red shoes to complete her Dorothy outfit. She has little little dog that she carries around all the time and since we live in Kansas it really seemed like such a fun costume. We taught Hannah how to say "There's no place like home" before we went out. The people giving candy really thought she was cute.  Hannah trick or treats with an agenda, however. She walked along collecting candy and then tell me to whom she planed to give it. "This one's for mommy; this one's for grand mommy" and so forth. When she got to the end of her list, she looked up at me and announced. "Mommy, I'm done; let's go home." So we did. She only got one sucker for herself. The rest she hasn't touched.  Here's Brian with Batman. His real name is Joe. On Saturday we...

As a graduate student bring married and then having a small child has been really convenient because everyone forgives you for not being a social animal. But Saturday, I did not one, but two social things.  First was the Lawrence Color Run 2014. I had done one in May with my sister and her family and posted pictures of it on Facebook and so my Bishop invited me to sign up with him so that we all could get a discount price. He also invited several other people, including another woman in our ward that I have run with on occasion. Brian sat this one out, except to take pictures. Hannah was the most enthusiastic.   Where's Waldo?  We had rolling starts, so we finally got going after about a half hour. There were just over 4 thousand runners. Here we are all done. I wore my BYU beanie and so my hair did better. Last time I was washing green cornstarch out of it for a week.  We came home afterword and ate a hamburger and put Hanna...

We got out the box of Halloween decorations on Wednesday. Hannah dove right for the witch's hat and the treat buckets. We even took turns knocking on the door and saying Trick or Treat. She woke up the other day and wanted to color eggs. So, she has the holiday spirit, but for the wrong holiday. Hopefully a few items of fall decor will help.

Our semester, like all have been so far, is pretty busy. Hannah especially. She goes running down the sidewalk with me on occasion. I like how she will hold my hand then. Usually she tries to get away so she can explore.  Brian had his birthday. Hannah and I brought him lunch and we played at a park near campus for about 30 minutes. He teaches a class on Wednesday (his birthday). Thursdays we have a class together and I brought cupcakes. Friday, we went out to dinner at the Mexican restaurant by our house. Hannah has a cupboard in our kitchen. She has always played in it and stored stuff. It was the only one down low we didn't child proof. Lately she goes in there to watch Peppa Pig episodes on YouTube. I am home with Hannah all day on Wednesdays and we are all home together on Fridays. On Wednesdays we clean the house and do the grocery shopping and then we play. Sometimes we color, sometimes we play with the Little People and sometimes we play with Legos. Hannah...

One of the tough things about graduate school for us is that we don't have a regular daily schedule. Every day, when classes are in session, we do a different thing. We have a different wake-up time. We leave at different times. Sometimes I leave; sometimes Brian does; sometimes we all do. Our return times vary. The only steadiness comes on Sunday when we go to church.  But school starting again also means that we see our friends and have good times. On Saturday we went to the department picnic for grad students and professors. They have two a year: one in the fall and one in the spring. They are always at a park.  We always hit up the swings. This park had a giant cement turtle. The turtle was very unusual for playground equipment, but it made for good photo ops. Here are all of us who came. My major professor is very sweet to Hannah. Here she is pushing Hannah in the swing. I saw Hannah come up to hug her by the picnic tables, and then they were...

Friday was my birthday. It's a hard time a year to have a birthday if you revolve around school. We started class this week and we were tired and stressed from trying to get used to a new schedule. My boss made me a chocolate cake and I ate it with my colleagues. Brian and Hannah brought me flowers at work. Brian and Hannah also made me a mint ice cream brownie. I was able to talk to my sister and my friend in Utah on the phone. While I was talking, Brian and Hannah went to sleep and didn't wake up until about 8 p.m. That was too late to go to dinner so we finished the pot roast I made earlier in the week, ate the brownie and called it good. Brian ordered me several pairs of shoes online and let me pick the ones I wanted to keep. The best was a pair of black sandals. I wore out my old ones this summer. I had them for three years, so they had a good life. On Saturday, we returned the rejected shoes and then went to a birthday party for a 2-year old in Hannah's nursery clas...