Day 305: Trick-or-Treating 2012

The big day (Halloween) finally came today, and the kids were very excited, to put it mildly, to dress up in their costumes and to go out trick-or-treating earlier tonight. When I say "kids," of course, I include myself among that group, because Halloween is one of those holidays that certainly brings out the kid in me - which is really not that difficult of a task.

At any rate, I again dressed up as Bane, Batman's nemesis in the summer blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises, while Kylee (zombie), McKenna (ghost), Dallin (Boy Scout who has been attacked by a bear - pretty clever, really), and Jackson (Batman), along with one of the kids' cousins, joined me in this group photo out front, as well as some closeups of their costumes:

Since Jackson and I were characters from the same movie franchise, we took a few other photos together . . . and I was more than happy to let Batman triumph again in a mock fistfight:

And so, the post-Halloween doldrums may set in once again tomorrow morning, but at least for the next few minutes, it's still Halloween. I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday.

Day 304: Carving Pumpkins

One of the best parts of Halloween is carving up pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, and for last night's FHE, I joined with Mike, Jana, and the kids in doing just that. I am by no means a great jack-o'-lantern-carving artist, but it is nevertheless a fun activity in which to engage. The kids, above all of the rest, had a blast making their creations as we all listened to Michael Jackson's "Thriller," Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching me," and other seasonal favorites.

Jack, "the pumpkin king," posed with his and Mike's pumpkin:

Dallin showed off his two-headed creation:

And Kylee stood for a photo behind our combined pumpkin patch:

Jackson then picked up my camera and got a shot of Jana doing some carving work:

. . . and of me with my pumpkin:

With the many seeds we took out of our pumpkins, we put them into the oven and baked them. I had never tried roasted pumpkin seeds before last night, and as it turns out, they're quite delicious and taste something like popcorn.

Good times were had by all.

Day 303: Kuma and Saru Dress Up

One of the most pleasant surprises about yesterday's family dinner was seeing Ben's and Adi's puppies, Kuma and Saru - in their costumes.

Kuma's costume is a lion, while Saru's is a hippo. It's their first Halloween as a family, and they're definitely enjoying things.

Day 302: That's No Moon . . .

Jackson was fiddling around with my camera last night and captured this photo:

As Obi-Wan Kenobi observed in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, it most certainly isn't a moon you're looking at; it's my shiny-white head. As you might have gathered from yesterday's photos, I have shaved my head for Halloween. Why? It's a complicated answer with more than one reason behind it. Mainly, I wanted to give it a try and to see what the results would be. So far, most of the ladies are diggin' it.

Mom, however, was none too happy about it.

Day 301: The Improvables' Halloween Extravaganza 2012

Last night marked the Improvables' fourth annual Halloween show - it's hard to believe we've been together that long - as well as our first anniversary of performing at the Davis Center for the Performing Arts (aka CenterPoint Legacy Theatre). As always, we pulled out all of the stops to put on the best show possible, including such seasonal favorites as "Oxygen Deprivation," "Death Pendulum," "Campfire Tale," and "Nightmare."

Several audience members dressed up in costume to receive a half-price discount to the show. Not to be outdone, our cast and crew also dressed up for the occasion. Scott appeared as one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

. . . while Andrea (Black Widow), Ryan, Parker (Walter White of "Breaking Bad"), Bryan (the Green Goblin), Willis (Officer Dangle), Keenan (Venom), and yours truly (Bane) represented a heavily superhero-influenced motif:

You may notice from the photo that I underwent a significant haircut for my character (no, that's not a cap). It's something I've been wanting to try for some time now, and Halloween gave me a good opportunity for it.

Day 300: Angry Boy

Jackson is definitely getting into the Halloween spirit, and the other day he tried on a potential costume, featuring one of the Angry Birds, which his Aunt Amy gave him as a gift.

Though he enjoyed the costume a great deal, I think he is going to stick with his original choice of Batman. He also wants me to dress up as Robin and accompany him trick-or-treating. We'll have to see about that.

Day 299: Gary's Dance Break

Following last night's weekly mid-singles Institute class, Ben joined Cathy, Gary, Jon, Julie, and me at Yogurt Stop for . . . well, frozen yogurt. As it turns out, when Gary gets a little bit of sugar in his body, he begins to dance:

Well, the photo doesn't capture it all that well, now that I look at it. I guess you'll have to take my word for it. But it was very funny watching him bust a move.

Day 298: Early Voting

I am proudly now 0-2 in voting for failed presidents named "Barack."

This is Disconcertingly Choppy, and I approve this message.

Day 297: Cuddle Bear, the Pirate

The other night, I stumbled across Kenna's beloved Cuddle Bear stuffed animal in the living room. He looked a little bit different than I'm used to seeing him:

As you may well have gathered, she dressed him up as a pirate. Clever girl, that one.

Day 296: Groceries

When I returned home from a trip to the grocery store earlier tonight, Jackson was there to greet me at the door and kindly offered to help me bring in one of my plastic bags full of goodies.

His method, as you can see in the above photo, was to drag the bag along the ground, as it was too heavy for this four-year-old to lift. Eventually, it broke open, and I had to help him carry its contents inside. I wasn't in the least bit upset; moreover, I was grateful for his offer to help and for the good heart he frequently shows me that he has.

Day 295: Jared's Kayak

Last night, Ben and I made a trip out to Riverton for our friend Jared's monthly Rock Band party. With a handful of others, we took turns singing and playing bass/drums/guitar on both Beatles Rock Band and Rock Band 3 and spent an enjoyable evening together.

Jared also took some time out to show us his new kayak - which he carved himself. I must admit that it's quite the impressive work of craftsmanship.

Day 294: Saturday Afternoon at the Pumpkin Patch, Part 2

This morning, I joined several members of the family and made my first trip back to the Pack Pumpkin Farm in Farmington in about four years' time. My first visit in the fall of 2008, incidentally, was also one of my first blog posts made here on Disconcertingly Choppy.

At any rate, lot has changed in our clan over that time. For one thing, four-year-old Kira was just a baby on that initial visit to the farm. She and her six-year-old brother Luke were good enough to pose for some pictures with me:

One thing that hasn't changed is that the Pack Pumpkin Farm is still one of Davis County's lesser-known treasures and remains a fun place to hang out for families and for everyone else. I hope I don't wait another four years before going back.

Day 293: The Improvables vs. The Antics . . . Again!

For the second time in three weeks, we had a head-to-head Improvables matchup with The Antics of Logan. This time, it was held on our home turf at the Davis Center for the Performing Arts (aka CenterPoint Legacy Theatre).

Keenan, Steve, and I represented the Improvables, with Scott as M.C. and Willis on the keyboard. My team played a handful of favorites, including "Mega Replay" and "Lounge Lizards," while we also joined The Antics on (new to us) games that included "Heckler Battle" and "Theme Restaurant."

It was a very fun and funny evening, and I look forward to hopefully performing with The Antics again in the future.

Day 292: Soylent Green Is People!

While I was waiting in line for lunch today, I came across this ad on the glass in front of me:

. . . and I couldn't help being reminded of the '70s sci-fi movie classic Soylent Green, in which Charlton Heston (SPOILER ALERT!) makes the shocking discovery that "Soylent Green is people!"

Well, apparently, people is also water . . . or vice-versa.

Day 291: Jackson and Kenna Hijack My Camera

Monday night, Jackson and Kenna teamed up together to take several pictures with my camera. (They did ask for my permission, and I sat back and watched with amusement with what they did. I also kept one eye on "Monday Night Football" and the Broncos' amazing comeback win against the Chargers after falling behind 24-0 at the half - but that's another story.)

Kenna took an extreme closeup of herself:

She also took multiple shots of "Jumping Jack" living up to his nickname:

I can think of worse ways to spend an FHE with the family. (Incidentally, we also ended up playing several races of Mario Kart - so a great evening all in all.)

Day 290: Catman Rises

Jackson, ever the entertainer, keeps experimenting with new Halloween costumes, including this one which he demonstrated to me recently:

He calls it "Cat Man," which I think is a clever variation on both Batman and his nemesis/love interest (depending on whether you've seen The Dark Knight Rises, of course) Catwoman.

Day 289: Jackson's Soccer Medal

Jackson just completed his first season playing recreation soccer, and it was a very successful one. I didn't make it to most of the games, but from what I understand from his weekly reports, he regularly scored multiple goals in each game.

Following Saturday's final game on the schedule, he paraded around both his soccer jersey and his medal, which reads "Winner," that he was given.

He also wore it (the medal) to church yesterday.

Day 288: October Birthday Bash

Earlier tonight, we gathered as a family both for our bi-monthly Sunday dinner together and to celebrate October birthdays. We have quite a few October birthdays in our clan, including those of Ben, Jana, Kira, Steve, and *ahem* yours truly.

After another hotly contested game of "Pass the Parcel," now-four-year-old Kira showed off the candy bracelet that was her prize:

Following that, gifts were exchanged, including Steve's Elmo t-shirt:

and Kira's Merida doll (from the Disney/Pixar movie Brave):

Though she is not smiling in the photo, she really did like her gift and told me so more than once.

I did not take photos of the gifts that were given to me, but I am, likewise, grateful to considerate and thoughtful family members for what they shared.

Good times were had by all.

Day 287: "Talk Show"

I had a rare night off from appearing on stage with the Improvables at last night's performance and instead participated by running the music from the tech booth. It's a good view from up there, and I enjoyed watching Bryan, Ian, Jordan, Liz, Parker, Ricky, Steve, and Willis put on a fantastic performance.

One of my favorite moments was the return of "Talk Show," a game that we created together as a troupe and also one we hadn't played since our time at Rodgers Memorial Theatre - nearly two years ago. In the above photo, Jordan, Parker, Ricky, and Willis re-create a scene from Angelina Jolie's newest movie - per audience request, of course.

Day 286: "The Safety Kids"

It was a blast from the past for me the other day when I was at the Bountiful library and by chance came across a copy of my elementary school musical The Safety Kids - which also gave me my first acting role, back in the third grade. It all happened . . . well, many moons ago. I had one of the speaking parts as Gregory, the black boy pictured here on the CD cover:

There were no black kids in my third-grade class, so the part went to me. It was a nice trip down memory lane hearing the songs once again. Ahh, the good old days.

Day 285: Jackson Pumps Up

If I've failed to mention this already, a frequent visitor to my room each day is my four-year-old nephew Jackson.

The other day, he picked up my weights (which I use for physical therapy exercises at home) and proceeded to show off his muscles. There's never a dull moment with him around.

Day 284: The McKenna 500

The other night, I found McKenna involved in a project, cutting up a cardboard box and decorating it. I asked her if this was a school project and was a little surprised to learn that it was not and that she was doing this for fun. In other words, it was basically Kenna being Kenna.

What she created, as you can see in the above picture, was this car that she was also able to wear as a costume. She's really a pretty inventive kid. I must say that I was impressed.

Day 283: Laundry

I did a little laundry today (somewhere my mom is smiling at me), and Jackson offered to lend a hand.

Jackson's version of "lending a hand" is different than many people's, but he's still a walking, talking entertainment machine and photo opportunity at almost any hour of the day.

Day 282: Sticky Business

The other day, I found Jackson outside the front door, holding on to this large stick:

Knock on the door so Kenna comes out, and I'll hit her with this!, he encouraged me. Crafty devil, that one.

Day 281: Jackson in the (Fake) Pumpkin Patch

One of my favorite photos from Jackson's infancy is that of Kylee holding him at the Pack Pumpkin Farm, in the fall of 2008 when he was just six months old. It is also one of the first photos I posted here on my blog.

Flash forward to today, when Jackson took me outside to show me the (fake) pumpkin patch he and the rest of the family set up outside the other day when I was elsewhere. It's amazing how some things come full circle, isn't it?