Halloween

John was excited about Halloween this year, but I think that is just because he gets excited easily.  He didn't remember trick or treating until we told him about it and he didn't seem to have a preference as to what he would be.  My mom sent me several Halloween costumes that she had made for my brother and me long, long ago.  John was just the right age for the scarecrow.  So, that is what John was, a scarecrow.

This is my brother and I in 1985.  I knew I was Dorothy one year for Halloween and I thought it was the same year that Mark was a scarecrow, but pictures don't lie.  Isn't Mark so cute?

My little scarecrow.

John came with me on Friday to the preschool and Kindergarten's Halloween party.  He has only been to school a couple of times, but he remembers everyone and couldn't wait to go.  He had a wonderful time and was bouncing off the walls.

sad scarecrow

Dancing

John loves to dance so it didn't take him long to bust a move.

Musical Chairs

 

  He played musical chairs this summer at VBS so he knew what to do but he kept running around and around after the music stopped.  To my surprise he made it three rounds.

Making Mummies.

 

John loved the chance to unroll toilet paper and not get yelled at.  He did a lot of unrolling, but I'm not sure how much he actually helped to wrap it around the mummy.

Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin

They blindfolded him, but didn't spin him around.  I'd say he did pretty good, how about you?

Rosie

Miss Muffet from the Butterfly Pavilion came out to teach us about spiders.  At the end of her talk the kids could hold the tarantula named Rosie.  John was very excited and didn't hesitate to take his turn.  When he held her he started laughing and said Rosie tickled him.

At lunch time the kids has a special lunch of octopus (hot dog cut in such a way that is had legs), monster snot (applesauce with green food coloring), and bloody fingers (french fries with ketchup).  Miss Renee just got finished telling the kids what was on their plate and John, who was still for the first time that day, threw up.  The two kids sitting next to him were very grossed out.

On Saturday night we went over to the Melius' house to trick or treat.  All of the kids were just so excited. It was hard to get a good pictures with them all bouncing off the walls.

Getting ready to go out trick or treating.

Checking out all of their candy.

Seriously!!!  So far we've been lucky because I put all the candy in a bowl and put in a cupboard and John has not asked about it.

After trick or treating, every time the doorbell rang, John would run up to the trick or treaters, stick out his bag and say "Trick or treat".

John and Rachel.  My mom made the Dorothy costume for me a long, long, long time ago.  Even though Mark and I weren't the scarecrow and Dorothy the same year I'm glad it worked out that these two pulled it off.

John had a great night and was bouncing off the walls by the end of the evening.  We were just thinking about heading home when John started doing a dance I'm all to familiar with, the throw up dance.  That's right, two days in a row!  No more candy or parties for this kid.

Great Grandma's Hat

A couple of years ago, out of the blue, we got a package from Great Grandma Fiene with a nice blue hat inside.  The hat was too big for John at the time, I know, it's hard to believe.  So, we packed it away until it could be put to good use.  A few weeks ago I was changing out our spring hats and coats with our winter hats and coats, and not moment too soon.  It gets pretty cold in the house so one day John just walked around the house with his hat on...as you can see he also had a sweatshirt, but as usual no pants.  You know it is frigid in the house if John wears pants.  Anyway, a few days later we had a lady from church watch Gus while Hans and I went to work, when I came home Gus was wearing the hat.  So, it took a couple of years, but the hat has been put to good use by both boys.  This is yet another example of how big Gus' head is.

 

Put some pants on!

 

Thank you Great Grandma Fiene for the wonderful hat.

Snow, Snow, Snow

Oh the snow.  We woke up to snow on Wednesday morning and I don't think it stopped until Thursday night.  Now the snow is melting away and soon everyone will be back to raking their leaves.

See that purple recycling bin?  That is holding down a corner of a tarp with a huge pile of leaves underneath.  I think we raked a bit too soon.

There was no way this little car was going to drive on the roads.  We just let it pile up with snow until we absolutely had to drive it.

This tree did just fine with all of the snow.  We had one tree with branches that were almost on the ground.  We'll see if that tree survives the winter.