This and that from the past few days

Mosey is obsessed.  Obsessed with duct tape!  You would not believe how much of the stuff he has gone through recently.  He is making all kinds of things-- wallets (duct-tape covered zip-lock bags), boats (raft of skewer sticks covered with duct tape), a rosin case for his violin rosin, not to mention the innumerable things he's used duct tape to construct-- a makeshift dog leash, collars for his stuffed animals, the list goes on.
The stuff is miraculous!  Give him a roll of duct tape and he will keep himself busy for hours and hours.  Mosey is my connoisseur of tape.  He goes through it like candy.  Packing tape, scotch tape, blue painter's tape, and, of course, duct tape.
Another (unrelated to duct tape) funny thing recently: Mosey brought in the mail a few days ago, and I sorted it, giving him the junk mail to throw away.  Somehow we ended up on a mailing list for an American Girl catalog.  I kept it and said, as a joke, "Oh, hey, boys!  I've found the catalog I'm going to order all your Christmas presents from!"  And then I pulled it out to show them, and watched the horrified expressions on their faces.  :-)  The really funny thing, though, is that later on in the day, I caught Mosey sitting on the couch completely immersed in the American Girl catalog.  We've now had the thing for a few days, and it's getting positively dog-eared!  (Seriously, all the stuff they have for those dolls is really amazing!)  Still, I don't think they'd be too thrilled with an American Girl doll for Christmas.
On Monday night we had a family home evening activity at Walmart, trying to get parts to fix the boys' bikes.  We discovered you can buy an entirely new bike for the cost of a new tire and a couple of new innertubes.  So Brigham bought himself a new bike!  This is BIG NEWS because Brigham hardly ever buys ANYTHING.  He's been saving his money since he was old enough to collect pennies for little chores, and he now has over $270.00 (!!!).  Ben has given him the nick-name of "Money Bags," and Mosey especially really loves to call Brigham, "Old money bags Brigham."  :-)  But old money bags Brigham spent $43 of his money on a new bike Monday night.  I was proud of him!  It's good to save, but I think it's also important for him to have the experience of buying something himself, and then being responsible for taking care of it.  He was very diligent, and as soon as he realized the sprinklers were going to get it where he had parked it in the backyard, he ran out and moved it under the back porch. 
Joseph's been my errand-buddy the past couple of days.  Whenever I have errands to run, I ask the boys if they want to come.  Brigham and Mosey always have way better things to do at home (Webkinz World, Civilization, kapla blocks, duct-tape creations), but Joseph likes to come with me.  It's awesome getting to have one-on-one conversations with him. 
Halloween is coming!  The boys are counting down the days in earnest now.  I'm still putting the last touches on Joseph's and Mosey's costumes, and hoping I'll have time to maybe make one for myself this year.  We'll see.  My "Boo" shirt from the Target Halloween line may have to suffice.  :-)
That's it, I think.  Bedtime!