Chicago, Halloween and More Halloween

Ever since I started working at good old PB&L, October has been my busiest month every year. This October was no exception. I billed around 230, which may not mean much to any of you, but it means a heck of alot of work for me and Amy. At one point, I billed for about thirty-six straight hours, which means Amy was picking up all of the slack with everything else. She really is the best, and I definitely couldn't do everything I do at work without her. She runs the house, runs the primary, runs the ballet program at her studio, and still manages to find time to about 1000 other things as well--pretty amazing.

Anyway, working at PB&L has some definite perks. For example, on Thursday-Saturday, I went to a conference in Chicago on the firm's dime, and because Josh and Jake got to go on a boys' trip to NYC in August, we decided to make this one a girls' trip plus Dad. The girls were nice enough to let me tag along to most of their stuff, and it was a blast.

Lucy was in a posing mood by the Chicago River.

Chicago really is a beautiful city, as this photo shows. Here is Lucy with her new dog, Penny. She is obsessed with plush dog toys.

Posing again across the street from the Wrigley Building.

We went to see Wicked. Lucy loved it, and Amy and I were excited to see it again.

The age limit to get into see Wicked was five. So we told Lucy she could be five years old in Chicago. By the way, I was supposed to be in this picture. You can see my knee in the lower left, but I guess Amy thought I was just to darn ugly to merit a spot in the photo.

Ever since we went to Chicago for the same seminar two years ago, Amy has wanted to take Lucy for a tea party at the American Girl Place. So we went. Again, they were nice enough to let me tag along. It was really fun.

Lucy brought her American Girl doll, Elizabeth, to the tea party. Here is Elizabeth getting a drink. Yes, the dolls get their own special seats that are mounted to the table.

The three girls at the tea party.

At the American Girl store, Lucy fell in love with this baby carriage. This sad face is her attempt to con us into getting her the stroller. We didn't cave. However, I have a feeling Santa may be bringing one for Christmas, along with a little baby to go with it.
I do have to brag about Lucy. She is the best girl. She is always happy; whether it was on a three-hour flight, walking all over the city, or sitting through Wicked for nearly three hours, she was always happy and never complained. Everywhere we went she made friends because she is always happy and smiling. Such a good girl. (And yes, I just used the word "happy" about thirteen times in the last two sentences. Happy?)

Before we went to Chicago, it was Halloween. We had a party with the Droubay family on Saturday, and then some of the Hollands came over on Halloween night.

Here are Kate, Uncle Dave, and Lucy getting ready for trick or treating.

Snow White and Cinderella.

A really bad, blurry picture of the trick-or-treaters.

Me and Bri at the Droubay party. We were the only two adults who dressed up. I was Massive Headwound Harry and Bri was a tatooed carny.

Cinderalla and Ga-Linda (aka Lucy and Meg)

Two vampires, Jake and Maddy.

Before the Droubay party.

Kate and Lucy and Kate's birthday party.