Halloween and a Happy Birthday

After finally feeling healthy again, we ended up having a GREAT Halloween. On Halloween "eve" (the 30th) the boys carved their pumpkins, we ate a mummy cake and then snuggled up on the couch and watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown on T.V. On Halloween, the boys got dressed RIGHT after school, we went to McDonalds for supper (which was really fun because there were tons of kids there, all dressed up), then headed to the boys' school for the carnival there. After playing several games there, we took them trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. This year, Mark and I followed them with the truck in case they got cold and wanted to warm up. So we just drove along the curb, while they walked on the sidewalk, and Mark and I were SO entertained - both had these fancy masks that they could hardly see through, but they insisted on wearing them, so they were stumbling around, tripping over bushes, nearly running into mailboxes - at one house, they actually ended up going around the garage to the backyard. It was SO funny - - only because we knew they were safe and we were right there with them. Towards the end of the night we got them to take off the masks so they could see. :) As you can see, Star Wars was the theme this year - Noah being Darth Vader and Jack being a Storm Trooper. Jack was having a hard time remembering the term "Storm Trooper," so on occasion when someone not familiar with Star Wars would ask him what he was, he would say "I'm Darth Vader's people!!" It was so CUTE!

Thursday we had parent/teacher conferences at school. Both kids are doing great - we're so glad we waited until they were 6 to start them - we've found it's making a huge difference. They are both excelling academically, but we did hear some interesting comments from both teachers! We were told (and this wasn't a surprise) that Noah is very quiet and shy - which actually is so contrary to his personality at home! He has his group of friends, but isn't one of the boisterous kids, which is o.k. with us! Jack's teacher surprised us a little more when she said he has two difficulties - 1) he misses Noah (WHAT!?!?) and 2) he's highly competitive. Number 1 was a total shock and number 2, not so much. :) I never expected Jack to miss Noah - Jack's the more independent one so I was blown away. She said he's highly protective and possessive of Noah at recess and lunch (when both classes are together). Last night I asked Jack if it was true that he misses Noah during the day, and he looked at me with big eyes and nodded. Wow! Anyway, she suggested we get Jack involved in some outlet for his competiveness, so we need to get to work on that!

Other big news from yesterday is that it was Mark's birthday - 37!! We had my family over to celebrate last night - and also to celebrate my mom's birthday which was on Oct. 26th. It was a fun night, and Mark got his usual haul of Vikings stuff!

Now we are off to Minnesota today - headed to Willmar first, to see Mark's family - then off to Minneapolis to goof off for a couple of days - then Mark has training in Mpls. on Tuesday, and then we'll head home on Wednesday. We're looking forward to a few days away, and some time with the kids!! Have a great weekend!