Leo Davis-McElhany 1998-2009

Leo as a kitten shortly after we brought him home.

Leo was very cuddly as a kitten. Here he is with my friend Sam.

He slept cuddled up with Travis almost every night, usually under the covers.

Leo and Murphy never got along very well so it was a big deal that they were this close to each other and not fighting.

I had my sports bra on the floor of my bedroom and Leo some how put it on all by himself!

Leo got grumpier and grumpier as the years went on. Here he is playing his favorite game – rub on a person and entice them to pet you. When they reach down to pet you, grab them with your front paws and bite them.

The last photo taken of Leo (September 12, 2009).

Trick or Treating

Last night was the grand finale of a very eventful Halloween week.

The boys had more fun handing out candy to trick or treaters than they did trick or treating themselves. They camped out by the door for quite a while.

Before they went to bed, we put all the unsafe candy out on the back deck for the Peanut Vampire. He eats peanuts instead of sucking blood. He left them the new Funky Mama CD in exchange for the candy.

Happy Halloween

The Neverending Halloween

Cash's preschool Halloween party was yesterday. They kicked of the party by dancing to Shout (You Make Me Wanna).

Then it was craft time:

And then snack time.

I made these little ghosts for the party treats:

Trunk or Treat Part II – Here Comes the Rain

West's Trunk or Treat was moved indoors due to rain. Somehow a circle of moms sitting in folding chairs is not quite the same. Cash had fun helping me hand out candy.

After Folding Chair Trick or Treat, we moved back into the classroom for the party.

Rob Thomas in Kansas City

Travis and I went to see Rob Thomas at the Midland tonight. It was awesome! Most of his songs were from his two solo albums. He also played Dear Joan from his Tabitha's Secret days – one of the most beautiful songs ever – and a cover of I Melt With You by Modern English. Carolina Liar opened for him. I'd never heard of them before but they did a pretty good job.

We had really great seats on the left side about 14 rows back. Our row was one seat longer than all the rows in front of us so there were no seats in front of mine – I was basically sitting in the aisle. Once again, Travis was heckled by the short girls who were stuck behind him for being too tall and not being into the show. I had no sympathy for them because they talked incessantly through Dear Joan. Sorry bitches – you're not a true fan of Rob if you can talk through that song.

This was my second time seeing Rob on a solo tour. The first time was at the Uptown and Anna Nalick opened for him.

I've seen Matchbox Twenty five times. I can't remember where all the shows were but I've seen them with these openers:

Soul Asylum
(the best concert ever – my two favorite bands on one stage!)
Train

Shelby Lynne

Sugar Ray

Mutemath followed by Alanis Morrissette

Trunk or Treat

Yesterday was Trunk or Treat for Cash's class at school. Because the two-year old class only goes Mondays and Wednesdays, the Pre-K classes did Trunk or Treat with them today but will still have their party on Friday. So Cash gets to wear his costume to school two days! Once again, West helped me hand out candy and spent most of his time while we were waiting for it to start sampling all the candy. I found a ton of peanut-free candy this year so I went a little overboard because I wanted to buy a bag of each variety. I bought: Tootsie Rolls, Hershey's Kisses in little packs, Hershey's bars (there is a size slightly bigger than fun size that is peanut free), Junior Carmels, Tootsie Pops and Dum Dums.

Shelf Discovery Challenge

Booking Mama has announced a reading challenge centered around the book Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading by Lizzie Skurnick. The challenge is to pick six books to read and write a "book report" on and runs from November 1, 2009 – April 30, 2010. Looking through the book's table of contents I see a lot of books that I loved and several that I remember hearing about but never getting around to reading. I think it will be fun to remember and discuss these books from days gone by. Here are the six I think I will read for the challenge:

1. The Cat Ate My Gymsuit – my all-time favorite book from my pre-teen years

2. Fifteen – another favorite

3. A Wrinkle In Time – I never read it but I feel like I should

4. My Darling, My Hamburger – never heard of it but sounds intriguing

5. Jacob Have I Loved – read

6. Summer of My German Soldier – never read

The Many Faces of Cash and West

While I was gone scrapbooking Saturday, Travis helped the boys make masks from a book Cash picked out at the library. 

Cash in his Walrus Mask:

Cash in his Monster Mask:

West in his Knight Mask:

And finally, Cash in his Chef Mask:

Teaser Tuesday: October 27

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"The wages of the average American worker have barely kept pace with inflation over the past two decades. Since 1988, the average family's health insurance rates have quadrupled."

-p. 178 The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama