Our Halloween jack o'lanterns.  James carved the one on the right all by himself.  Dad carved the other two.  yes, we cheat and use a pattern.

James went as Frankenstein, Jacob was Thomas the Tank Engine and Julia was a pink kitty.  Unfortunately, they wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a good picture of everyone together in their costumes.  I made James' costume and we received a fair amount of compliments on it at his class party.  The hardest part was the green face paint (I ended up making some).

Jacob was so funny.  He didn't want to wait for people to offer candy.  As soon as the door opened and he saw the candy bowl, he lunged for it.  Julia loved having candy dropped into her bucket and was quite upset when it was time for her to go home. 

An amazing sight, isn't it, all that candy, but wait there's more . . .

Dad organized all the candy.

Goofy Faces!!!

Just sharing some of the many goofy "Calvin" expressions James has!

But is just wouldn't be fair to not include Jacob!

In case you were not aware, James adores Calvin & Hobbes.

The Worm

We were playing outside yesterday afternoon, when all of a sudden we see a worm wriggling right out of the ground onto the sidewalk.  The kids loved watching it and playing with it.

Julia was so goofy with it.  She kept looking at it, making this devious laughing sound.  She didn't try to pick it up, though she did touch it once.  She was very intrigued to say the least.

Cub Scouts

James officially starts Cub Scouts this week.  We had a brief introductory meeting last week.  Tomorrow he gets to start working toward his first badge.  He seems really excited, though he was disappointed that we opted to do scouts at church instead of school.  I picked up his uniform and patches yesterday.  When I was in the scout shop I asked about the patches and assumed they were iron on patches.  Unfortunately, they are not!!!  I have to sew them all on myself.  I already about half done with the first (and largest) one.  It's only taken me about 30 mintues so far. . .

Well, several hours later, I've gotten two patches sewn on and am really struggling with the number patches.  Perhaps I'll take it to my mother-in-law for help . . .

Happy Birthday to Dad!

Yesterday was Matt's birthday.  He always asks for the same thing every year--peace and quiet.  I don't know that we ever get peace and quiet in our house.  He took the kids on a nice bike ride in the afternoon and I took everybody to church in the morning.  I get him something edible every year.  Some years it's a box of Reese's peanut butter cup cereal.  This year it was steak.  We had a nice dinner followed by cake (supposed to look like a pumpkin patch).

Thomas the Tank Engine

Jacob has his new Halloween costume!!  Our Thomas the Tank guy won't take it off!

When it rains, it pours!

So last week, we had to get new tires put on the van.  Apparently, amidst the road construction on park Center, we picked up a nail.  Yesterday, I was cleaning my glasses and there were some weird spots that just wouldn't come off and no matter what I did, it got worse!  In my efforts to clean them (I couldn't see anything through them the way they were), I decided to use my dish sponge and dish soap.  Well, I succeeded in getting the gunk off (which we have now determined to be the scratch resistant coating peeling off), as well as putting some very wonderful scratches on my 2 year old lenses.  So, now I need to buy new lenses.  I can't buy new lenses without leaving my glasses at the optomotrist office (which leaves me blind and absolutely not an option).  So I have to buy a new pair of glasses, which I now cannot do without having an entire exam because eye prescriptions expire 1 year after they are given!!!!!  GRRR . . .

On the upside, James scored a 100% on his spelling test yesterday and I love high speed internet!