You can probably guess where I spent most of this first Saturday since I got my new recliner. In the chair, that’s where. It occurred to me as I sat there that I should get up and do some work, or at least get up long enough to write a journal entry. It then occurred to me that what I need next is a laptop, so that I don’t ever have to get out of the chair again. That’s a long way from happening, but it makes my heart beat a little faster just to think about it.

So in other words, I’ve started my weekend the usual way, by not leaving the house. My Friday evening was another story, though. I did venture out, for a visit to the House of Many Children. It wasn’t exactly a Halloween party, but at that house there’s a kind of party every day, if you know what I mean. Something is always going on.

Last night it was pumpkin carving that was going on. Or, as Dakota told us with his announcer’s voice, “Pumpkins must be carved.” By the time we got around to doing it, D.J. had already left for his grandmother’s house, where for a few precious hours he could be a little more the center of attention than normal. Maybe that’s why he got so upset earlier when he thought it wasn’t going to happen.

But there were still three children, and several childlike adults, ready and eager for pumpkin carving. Kylie was content to draw on hers with a marking pen, but Aiden dug right in with the child-safe carving implement. He didn’t much care for the part where you have to ream all the guts out of the pumpkin, because that takes time away from the actual wielding of sharp tools. He managed to mangle his pumpkin pretty well, but that just made it appropriately frightening.

Dakota drew the face on the pumpkin he and I worked on together, and then he let me carve out the features. He was very specific about wanting round eyes and a triangle nose. The mouth he drew was a little more freeform, but I did my best to carve it to his specification. At any rate, he seemed satisfied, and after the job was done he was no longer interested, so he let me bring the pumpkin home. I think he meant me to have it, since he also wrote my name on it.

Earlier in the evening, Aiden invented a game. I think he’s going to be the next athlete in the family, because he fashioned a bat out of Lego’s and had me tossing a small, stuffed pumpkin to him. He hit it most of the time, at least when I threw it right. Sometimes I missed his bat, but he would always cheerfully cry, “One more time!” (It was one more time over and over until his mom saw what we were doing and busted us.)

Kylie joined in the pumpkin tossing, too. She seemed to have the idea of how to position herself to catch it, but she’s still working on getting her hands to grab it instead of just watching it hit and fall on the floor. She didn’t mind, though. She would just pick it up and toss it back to me for another go.