Oh boy!  What a fun-filled, busy, exciting day.  The boys did phenomenal, particularly when you consider that Jack started a sore throat yesterday and got a froggy voice today, and Sam sprouted a molar yesterday and is still pushing it up.

They had SO much fun.  Let me just share photos to recount the day.

Driving Jack home from preschool (taken in a parked position, Betty).  His lap loaded with goodies from their party.  The most common costume I saw at his school was Elsa by a landslide. 



Sam after lunch with a lollipop dessert.



Luminary crafts (thank you Target!) I had squirreled away to help pass the afternoon.  Glad I had done that when he started chanting "I'm bored, what should we doooo?"





Trying to keep them up until proper nap time, we took a ride around the block and looked at Jack-o-lanterns.



Apparently it's tradition now for me to make hot dog mummies.  I didn't bother with faces, they were too quickly devoured.  The quesadillas were special request from Jack, after I made them this way last week. 





Costume pictures!  At first Ben and I took them of each other.  Then we tried to get Jack to take one of us together.  This was the best:


The rest look like this:


Ben with the boys:




First, don't our pumpkins look great?  Sam couldn't really contribute this year.  Unless you count dramatically flinging goop onto the floor.  He did that twice before we removed him from the arena.  Jack couldn't work the knives yet and refused to help scoop.  So I had him draw all the faces and I traced them.  If you comment to him, please remember that they are SCARY, not silly or cute. He will get mad.

Second, note him eating the hot dog.  We couldn't get the boys to stop eating for photos.  After reviewing my camera, I found that Jack left a hilarious series in my portrait with him.  I provided zoom to guide the narrative.





 








 
  

I took the boys together to a few houses.  Sam still has no idea what's going on.  Jack was easily spooked by the decorations at our neighbors.  I worried how the night would go later, since he has declared that he will do the whole neighborhood. 

Mike and Ellis showed up and we finally got a picture of the four of us. 



The dads and older sons took off and I put Sam down after more wandering and snacking - true hobbit behavior. 








He dropped to sleep instantly.  I set up the dog guard so I could answer the door without her butting in or escaping and sat back.  We had a decent amount of trick or treaters.  I bought much more candy than we needed, but I'm sure I'll find a place to put it ;-) 



Over an hour later, the boys came back exhausted.  Ben said Jack was very brave and even went in the haunted garage that a family does every year.  He said they used flashlights and made it very friendly for him, but that's still a big deal considering the hanging ghosts scared him earlier.  They both got buckets of candy and Ben met many more neighbors of ours.

Ellis and Jack were hungry and thirsty and chilled, so we indulged them in youtube Halloween videos while they rested.



 

Ellis is Felix and Mike was Wreck it Ralph - a really great set of costumes, they looked perfect!

Exhausted, we insisted on bedtime at 9pm for both.  Ben just shut off our porch lights.  I took a tally out of curiosity so we can plan for next year.  32 kids came.  Not a lot, not too few.  Mostly princesses, ninjas, and vampires.  One teenage girl with a lightsaber and a grocery sack.  Her mom was with her though, so I'm not sure what to make of that.  My favorite costume was a gypsy.  Most of the parents I spied on the sidewalk were dressed up too - so fun!

What a great year!

A knight, a dragon, and I got relegated to squire.

I love going to Zumba. This week I've gone three days in a row. I feel great. I get to dance! I'm losing weight! And it's a great stress relief after being with whining, crying boys all day. I'll say it. It makes me feel sexy.

Finally we got our first snow of the season.  

Jack has a lot of aspirations. In order to help him when he is 20 and facing his future, I'm cataloging his ideas now.  

• Teacher (like Aunt Amanda!)
• Farmer
• Computer Programmer (like Dad!)
• Doctor (like Grandpa!)
• Nurse (like Mom!)
• Baker
• Paperboy (like in Curious George!)
• Ikea Worker

He didn't tell me where the last one came from.  During breakfast this morning he announced that he wanted to work in that place where they wear blue and yellow and you get stuff for your house.  Ikea, I offered?  Yes, Ikea.  I want to be an Ikea worker. 

Hmm.

Sam has learned to blow his nose!  This is the best thing for a parent with a sick kid.  Unfortunately, he doesn't do it anymore when I wipe his nose.  No, he takes a tissue of his own, puts it on his cheek, and walks around huffing his nose, getting snot down his chin.  It looks a lot like when he pretends to talk on toy phones, but he's pretending to blow his nose instead.  Hilarious AND gross.  That sums up toddlers, doesn't it?

The snowfall hasn't stopped.  We have about four inches now and it's absolutely cold outside.  Sam loves wearing boots and gloves because he could explore the snow more.  Letting him walk to and from the building was impossible because he was so distracted.  Jack immediately tried to throw a snowball at me.  I deflected and scolded him.  He pelted Sam with four before I got him to stop.  Sam was having too much fun to care.

Frozen hopped, skipped, and jumped across the year.  From release through the winter, DVD sales in the summer, Elsas galore at Halloween, and now Christmas tie-ins.  Like Ben said, "Disney has ALL the money."  Probably true.  Jack sang this non-stop for an hour, and started to add dance moves.  I asked him to do it on tape.

Sam makes the weirdest noises.  He's grunter, happy or sad.  He does this gruff, staccato laugh sometimes, usually in response to cute animals.  Here we are browsing cute internet dog pictures. 

When we were reading a book on kittens last week, his laugh sounded like we were reading dirty jokes.  My baby is a coarse old man ;-)

JACK DAJR MASON
(Self taught spelling of his middle name)

For marshmallows!  This years they are dark chocolate and cherry vanilla.  

Today is a classically bad day. Not quite awake yet, I reached above my head for a tissue to blow my congested nose. Instead, I knocked my iPad off the shelf and it landed square on the bridge of my nose.  I cried out in pain and Ben leapt up to give me a bandage for the bleeding.