Happy Turkey Day!

We had a fun Thanksgiving today. We started off this morning at the parade downtown, where we met up with Dan, Anuta and Dominik. The kids seemed to like all the marching bands, horses, and big balloons (although Josie seemed a little scared of the balloons, even though she saw some characters she really loves, like Super Grover and Elmo).

Later we had our meal at Mom's, then played a find-the-turkey game. We hid a little turkey doll in the house, then someone had to find it based off our clues. Instead of telling that person they were "hot" or "cold" we had to say "gobble, gobble" softly or loudly. It's pretty silly, as the vid shows, but a lot of fun.

Jos the Builder

Josie has been getting really interested in building things lately. She loves stacking blocks to make towers, and one morning we found Josie building a whole town on the playroom slide. the video shows Josie and Jimmy playing with marble runs. The video is hilarious--watch Josie and Jimmy do a dance that shows their excitement as they watch the marbles go down the chutes. It's really cute.

A Few Halloween Pics . . . More to Come

Here are a few of our pics from yesterday . . . just to get them out there! I'll add more, and tell more, later. We had a very busy day, and by the end of the night we were all exhausted. We had a ton of fun, though . . .

Some explanation may be needed for Jim's costume, for those of you who don't have a toddler. Jim's DJ Lance Rock costume was by far the hottest. A driver pulled over at some point to ask excitedly if that's who Jim was, and many of the dads stopped Jim (one to say that Jim had stolen his costume idea). And little tykes along our route continually did a double take, then asked, "Yo Gabba?"

Pumpkin Update

Here is a link to several photos from Jimmy's school, including pix of him with the other kids who won prizes for their pumpkin designs. That's right: Jimmy got first place for his grade for his cupcake pumpkin! He was really excited . . .

Is It Wishlist Time Already?

Our gang's wishlists (links on the right) have been updated for the holiday season. You'll see mostly little things on the kids' lists . . . cheap little things! Josie just likes playing with her kitchen, but she'll be asking for a dollhouse from Santa that has inexpensive accessory items. Jimmy always wants a wooden Metra engine (the new version), but nobody makes it. Oh, well. Times are tough, of course--they'd be happy with a box of markers :-)

Carving Frenzy

We got our pumpkins done tonight. Jimmy had fun carving his own with really no help from us--he was done in a flash! Jim, of course, drew out a plan before carving as he always does, and his cool sunglass-wearing pumpkin has an "LK" carved into the back for Larry. I think my pumpkin was the best I've ever done, and I thank a book I saw at the store over the weekend, which had a picture for a "cannibal pumpkin" that Jimmy and I thought was really cool. So I gave it a try, and it turned out wonderful. Josie wasn't too thrilled to see the pumpkins, but she liked Jimmy's happy one . . .

Jimmy's Pumpkin for School

Jimmy came up with a list of ideas for his pumpkin contest at school, and decided he wanted to make the world's biggest cupcake. So here's his pumpkin. He rolled most of the clay, glued on the sprinkles, and helped crease the cupcake liner. I had to use the glue gun to attach the liner for him.

Ghouly Concert

Jimmy got his first chance to wear his Halloween costume yesterday at his music school's concert at Barnes and Noble. His ghost costume was so much easier to make than last year's Tin Man! Jimmy thought having spooky makeup on was pretty cool, and he had fun seeing the other kids from his group class all dressed up. They played a bunch of songs together, including "Go Tell Aunt Rhody."

Pickin' Punkins

We took the kids to The Farm this morning to pick our pumpkins for Halloween. Josie enjoyed the tractor ride (her first) and went crazy once she saw all the horses behind the barn. Jimmy had fun picking out our pumpkins--although we had to leave some of them behind so as not to break the Bundy bank.

Grand Rapids Marathon

Jim ran the marathon last weekend in Grand Rapids. Grammy came with us, and we all really enjoyed the fall color display on the car ride there. We stayed in a nice suite that gave the kids lots of room to play. The kids did great during the race, too, since Grammy and I were both there with them; they had fun looking for Dad and playing with sticks and leaves.

First Fall Concert

Jimmy had the first of two Fall concerts this past weekend. He played "Long, Long Ago." A couple of the kids from his group class were there, too, including Mikey. Jimmy was excited to get a picture with him.

Josie was a good girl during the concert. She sat quietly through many songs. She was excited to hear Jimmy--listen for her in the middle of Jimmy's solo!

Pumpkin Fun

This weekend we joined Dan, Anuta and Dominik West of St. Charles for the Kuiper Farms Scarecrow Fest. Jos had fun at the petting zoo, while the rest of the gang picked apples. Later Jim and Jimmy went into the corn maze, and completed it about 30 minutes later.

Fall Shenanigans

You know I'm back at work when the blog goes ignored . . . Here I am to get you all caught up with some of the hijinks going on with the T.P. Bundys. Josie's been interested in trying to roller skate, as you can see. Jimmy lost his first tooth, and big Jim nearly lost it one day when his GPS running watch went missing. Just like Pop, Jim has trouble locating things. He was nearly in tears and full of anger at himself, but some hours later found his watch--tucked into one of his shoes. D'oh!

Our Wet Weekend

As you may have heard, we got record rainfall this weekend. Here are some photos of our little lake--the retention lake near our home.

Jimmy's Science Experiment

Last Saturday Jimmy wanted to do some experiments, so he picked this one on surface tension. It's pretty cool. He had fun doing another one where we poured oil into a glass of water, then added a little soap to cause the oil and water to mix temporarily . . . Just try to ignore Josie screaming in the background--Jimmy definitely wasn't fazed!

Back to School

Jimmy started 1st grade today, and he was so excited! We went to the open house last night, where he got to see his room all set up for today. He was happy to see that he recognized some of the kids who would be in his class.

Of course taking him this morning was chaotic, mostly because of Josie. Strongheaded as she is, she of course didn't want to walk up to the school--she wanted to go to the park instead. She settled for the smaller play area near the playground, and I decided to leave her there while I helped Jimmy find his line. Even though I kept checking for her (and she, rarely, for me), she managed to take off from that spot and head for the park. I had to go grab her just so we could have enough time to say goodbye to Jimmy. Then I stuffed her back in the car only to hear her wailing after she realized we weren't going home, but to Miss Jan's instead. Looks like it will take her a while to get used to our new routines!

Concert at Pritzker Pavillion

Last Friday we took Jimmy downtown to see a concert at Pritzker Pavillion. They Sinfonietta was doing Holst's "The Planets," which Jimmy had been learning about recently, so we thought he'd like that. He'd also never seen a symphony (and I think, neither had I), so we knew he'd be interested in that, too. As you can see in the photo of Jimmy they had a big screen above the musicians. (The other photo is from the Millennium Mark website.) While they played each of the pieces (Holst did a piece for each planet to capture its personality), they had images of the planets and so on. It was very cool, and Jimmy loved watching the violinists play in sync. He was excited that there were about 20 violinists there!

The Last Birthday Party for Josie

Because of our summer traveling, our kids end up celebrating birthdays over and over . . . and over. We had Josie's birthday party with Grammy, Uncle Danny, Auntie Anuta and Dominik this weekend, and it was a wonderful time. The kids played in the water and had fun with Grammy and Uncle Danny making big bubbles. Later we had a burger buffet--yum! Josie got a hippo cake, which she was thrilled about, and then she got some nice gifts from her relatives--a pizza set like Millie's, pots and pans and dishes, and finally, her new kitchen from Mommy, Daddy and Jimmy. She was in heaven. Then we went for a walk to the park, where all three kids had fun on the slides and swings (and Dominik and Josie rode in the wagon after Josie asked her cousin to join her: "Domik, pease!").
















When she got up the next day she remembered the new kitchen and food and said "kitchen!" before she could even eat breakfast. She made a beeline for the playroom and started cooking.

Director-in-the-Making

This video is so hilarious. This was Jimmy's first attempt to make his very own movie. What's cute about it is how he films it--and you'll see how it occurs to him to change the camera angle, and so on, which I think is just so interesting because you see a kind of thought process there, and a kind of thinking about how an audience might experience the image. You have to watch the whole thing! Anyway, here it is:

Weekend at the Lake

We spent another weekend at the lake, and the kids had lots of fun. On Saturday Jimmy and I went out to the middle of the lake for a swim with Auntie Jeannie, Mark, Dee and Lauren. Jimmy loved jumping off the boat and swimming in the deep water. Later Dee got Josie to play in the water, ride in a float with Jimmy and even climb up onto the raft. Josie was beaming.

The next day our friends Jim and Erika and their girls Anna and Caroline came for a visit, where we did more swimming. The kids really spent a lot of time playing in the sand; they were busy building, pouring and protecting their creations!

Trains Until You're Sick of Them

I took Jimmy out last week for a dream-filled day of trains. We took the Metra to LaSalle Street Station, then walked over to Union Station, where Jimmy "finally!" got to see some Amtrak trains. I was surprised that we could walk so close up to the terminal, but we saw plenty. We also saw the Great Hall, something I'd always wanted to see anyway.

Then we walked back across the river to the Sears Tower and its sky deck, where Jimmy spent a lot of time sitting next to the windows, looking of course for trains. He spotted the Amtraks heading into Union Station, the Metras making their way to LaSalle Street station, and plenty of El trains. Oh, yeah--freight trains too. Then we headed back to LaSalle Street station, where we walked along the terminals to see the striped engines. I told Jimmy that I was sick of trains after that. "Forever?" he wondered. "No," I said. "Not forever. But definitely for today."