The Leaning Tower of Dallin

At last week's family FHE, Mike taught an object lesson with wooden building blocks. Basically, the lesson was that, together, we can do and make things better than we can on our own.

As part of that object lesson, Dallin and Jackson worked in tandem to create the night's tallest Jenga-like structure, which reached up to the ceiling.

The Little Drummer Boy

Mike, Jana, and the kids recently acquired a drum set from some friends who were moving and didn't have a place to put theirs.

Not too surprisingly, Jackson has now taken up drumming.

Carving Pumpkins

Halloween is, sadly, now over. Still, I have one more photo to post today from recent Halloween-related festivities.

Last Monday night, I joined with Mike, Jana, and their kids to carve up the pumpkins we picked out the week before for FHE. As you can see, we (collectively) made some pretty great jack-o-lanterns.

Ben's Birthday Bash 2013

It was Ben's birthday last Saturday, and to commemorate the occasion, Adi put together an enjoyable birthday party for him at their home in Centerville. It being only five days before Halloween, the event was also organized as a costume party.

Our family seemed to unofficially capture Disney/Pixar as a theme for our costumes, as Ben and Christian, respectively, dressed up as Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story:

Summer and Steve were two Pirates of the Caribbean, yours truly dressed up as Squishy from Monsters University, and Adi portrayed Hamm (also from the Toy Story films). Adi's friends Corinne and Joe were a couple of bank robbers, and Biz and Jeff were a couple of zombie killers from the movie Zombieland.

In one of my favorite photos from the event, five-year-old Kira took a turn holding her three-month-old cousin Christian.

Ben and Adi also brewed up some Butterbeer, which was based on a recipe from the Harry Potter world. It was surprisingly good.

Here's to many more birthdays, Ben.