Besides Matt's birthday, two other really exciting things happened in October. The first was that Matt's parents (Grandma, and Grandpa with a Mustache as Clara calls them) came for a visit.
The last time they were here, Theo was a newborn and Clara was the sickest she's been all year - which meant that she was extremely, um, strong-willed for their last visit - so it was nice for them to get to know both Theo and Clara a bit better. We had a lovely time with them. Grandma read lots of books and did lots of baby holding. Grandpa also read lots of books with the kids (or at least lots of one book, possibly memorizing "Outside Over There") and drew approximately 48 pictures of dragons with Grady. As always, the visit seemed too short.
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| Dragon drawing |
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| Clara on her perch |
Their visit also dovetailed nicely into the second really exciting thing that happened in October - Halloween. They got to be here for this year's Monster March, a yearly tradition where kids from the neighborhood dress up in their costumes and walk around the neighborhood. This year the march was led by a fire truck and involved tootsie rolls, so the kids were pretty psyched. It's a really sweet event, and always makes me happy to live where we do.
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| Someone had a tootsie roll |
Grady also got to celebrate Halloween at his school this year. I volunteered to bring in a healthy snack. I saw a cute photo online of pumpkins with faces drawn on them and fruit kebabs for hair. Perfect! Healthy, relatively easy. See if you can guess which one Clara made.
We explained hers was too scary to take to the party, and she seemed to accept that.
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| Superman and his friend Zoey/Elsa at school |
I was not very organized this year, so we ended up doing all of the usual Halloween activities on Friday afternoon (Halloween) after picking up Grady from the school party. This meant no nap for Clara, pumpkin patch, jack-o-lanterns, and trick-or-treating. Not the best idea, but I'm glad we got it all in.
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| All of us (except Matt) and a pig |
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| A not-small mud puddle |
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| Seconds before Theo ended up in the dirt (unharmed) |
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| Best I could do |
After the pumpkin patch, it was time to scoop out the pumpkins.
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| Showing Theo how to do it |
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| Theo has a better idea |
Then Daddy came home to help carve. Clara's ended up being pretty scary, with two misshaped eyes, no nose, and a mouth way off to the side. Grady had a more traditional pumpkin.
And then - FINALLY - it was time to trick-or-treat. Well almost. First we had to take 500 pictures.
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| zombies |
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| With their jack-o-lanterns |
Matt got to go with the kids last year, so this year it was my turn to go trick or treating with them. We made it to about 10 houses, which is plenty of candy for these two. They did a good job saying trick or treat and thank you (after being reminded at every house) and had a lot of fun seeing our neighbors and getting their candy.
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| Showing Daddy her "monster candy" (full sized M&Ms) |
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| Matt taking a page from Grady's book |
This post is already long, so I'll just mention we also had a nice 40th birthday party for Matt at our house. About 40-50 people came. Luckily the weather cooperated so we held it outside. It was a relaxed and fun affair.
And here are some pictures of the rest of the stuff that happened this month. Happy Halloween!
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| Theo discovers the monitor |
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| For a few weeks, Theo is Fang |
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| Then two more come in. |
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| Harvesting our own pumpkins |
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| Theo enjoys his first trip in the shopping cart |
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| But not the second |
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| Besa and Clara |
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| First wearing of the costumes |
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| The ever-vigilant Bat Baby |
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| Another bat kid! |
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| Superman sits while Daddy works |
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| Trying on Clara's cowl |
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| Took a few hours, but Clara came around to it |
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| In the boat |
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| Trying to figure out balloons |
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| Resting |
