Last Spider-Man pic, I promise

Can anyone stand one more Tristen-as-Spider-Man pic? This one is from Joelle's birthday party at the zoo, where a professional face painter rounded out Carousel rides and the world's best cake. There's a matching Owen running around, too.

The pic reminds me of  a perplexing conversation I had with Tristen when we were shopping for a sticker book for Joelle.

"She likes princesses," he told me.

"Really?" I asked. "Joelle? Are you saying that because you know Joelle likes princesses or because you think that's what all girls like?"

"Mo-om, all my girls like princesses."

"All your girls?"

"Yeah. All my girls at Interlake [preschool]."

Curious about the expression. He doesn't think of his little boy friends as "his boys." Does the objectification start this young? Or are the girls just already so "other" that they're grouped differently. There's Owen, Aidan, Leo, Soren, and "all the girls at my preschool," shortened to "all my girls"? Let's hope.

Deck progress so far

Who knew, back when we first started, that the deck project would be this hard, take this long, or cost this much? Twelve years of home-repair and remodel projects on two different houses and we STILL haven't learned our lesson? We are a hopeful lot over here at the Marshall-Krumm house.

Hopeful, and proud. And looking forward to actually using this thing by the end of the month, when the door will be cut in. In preparation for that, Chris just tore down drywall in the kitchen, moved some light switches and outlets around, and replaced (with Rico's help!) one of the large kitchen windows. Outside, Chris needs to finish up the railing. Replacing the fence bordering the lower deck will wait until spring.

I'm super impressed by how much Chris has learned, how much work he has done, and how beautiful the product is. At the same time, I'll really be glad to have him back as a life partner and coparent when all this is over.

Washington is a neighbor and friend we hired to help get things started..

Chris and I designed the two-level deck together, over the last year.
Chris did all the engineering work, though. With input from Washington.

Tristen and I laughed our asses off watching Washington and Chris
make the holes.

This is the unwieldy tool they used. It was hard to tell just
who was in control.

Chris insisted on laying the Trex down on the diagonal: labor intensive, but
looks cool!

All framed!

Both lower and upper decks are done. Just the railings to go!

Trick or treat 2010: THE year

This is it. Tristen will never enjoy Halloween more than he is this year. He has been through his candy bag fingering and admiring the shapes and colors 100 times, guessing at what each piece will taste like. Last night I caught him eating candy corn with his eyes closed.

This morning I asked Tristen if he'd be willing to share a piece of Halloween candy. He handed me the wrapper from the Whoppers he ate yesterday and said, "Here, lick this." I no longer feel guilty for stealing the Snickers last night after he went to bed.

Trick-or-treating pix below. That's Tristen as Super Man, best-friend-from-preschool Owen as a transformer, cousin Elana and neighbor Nicole as a princesses, neighbor Andy as a frog, and cousin Liam as a bee. Not pictured: all the parents, baby Sam, Amy, and Dan. :)

Spooks