Happy Halloween

I know I've only been at this parenting thing for two years BUT I truly believe Halloween is the longest day of the year.  Thank goodness it is relatively fun and there is candy along the way.  I passed out at 9 pm right after shutting off the front porch light to trick-or-treaters and pouring a glass of wine.     

I shall now reminisce via pictures…

Charlie painted his pumpkins this year, made popcorn balls and ate M&M's the day before Halloween.  He just might have had a sugar high for 24 hours straight.

Real focus

Sugar high off of M&M's…and we had just gotten started

Of course, Charlie only wanted to eat the candy…

Then came the big day.  Woke Charlie up, bathed him and quickly explained that he had to wear his Tow Mater costume to school if he wanted to eat some treats.  He whipped that costume on and even wore the hat…WHAT????  Up until that morning, he had refused to wear it.  

When being dropped off, he was pretty excited to see that his teacher had dressed up as a PACKER and chanted "Go Pack Go" as he got out of the car.  It was a great start to the morning.    

Ben and I dropped back by the school an hour later to watch Charlie's Halloween concert in the gym…Charlie was excited to see us.  However…as the line of 2 year olds were being marched into the gym, Charlie took one look at the 40 other adults in the audience and collapsed in tears.  He is definitely like his Mom when it comes to stage fright.  Poor guy.  

The teacher picked him up and brought him to me…

The music teacher then informed me that I should just go sit with him on stage so that he could participate with his classmates.  SURE…so up we go with Ben in the Baby Bjorn to sit on a kiddie stool. Charlie took a while to warm up to the crowd... 

Charlie scanned the crowd for a while. 

When I thought he was comfortable…I walked back off the stage and snuck a nice little picture in.  

So cute.

 But Charlie soon realized what was going on…and down he went again. 

And that's where he stayed for the most of the performance.  

Still cute.

Good thing for parties though…Charlie was the first one in his seat for cookies and juice when we got back to his room. 

And the first to find the open package of Oreo's on the big table…and sneak a few extras. 

How do you eat your Oreo??  

OK…full day already in my book BUT as soon as nap time was over, we were off to Joe's office for trick-or-treating.  Finally Ben gets to participate.  Whether or not he was happy about it…we will never know. 

"Cheeeeese!"

Little Ben didn't make a sound nor did he really crack a smile the entire time we were at the office.  Either he was afraid or he was really HOT.     

Packed the boys up…headed home and not ten minutes after landing in the garage the door bell started to ring with trick-or-treaters.  Charlie LOVED this part the best.  He was on cloud nine as he picked out candy bars and dropped them in the kid's pillow cases.

The last part of the day was to take the boys out to ring some doorbells…or "ding bells" according to Charlie.  They were real troopers…and happy until the end (even in the rain.) 

  
In an effort not to make this post terribly long, I'll try to be a bit more concise. We had a few firsts this week.  Ben sat in the big high chair for the first time and Charlie had his first brain freeze. 

Little guy in a big chair

ouch.

We had a quick visit from Mimi and Bubba on Saturday, which made everyone SO HAPPY!  A lot of hugs with Joe.  A lot of smiles from Ben.  And we raked some leaves this morning.  

A perfect morning for these boys.

Nice job Joe...

the things you'll do for a Ben smile are endless

heck yeah...

Hope everyone had a great week.  We are busy working on some projects in the house…the goal is to be finished with decorating our front "formal" living room in two weeks when new visitors arrive. IKEA here we come!  

My workers...