Nov 9: Four Crazy Boys at our House

One Wednesday evening, my friend Kari dropped off her boys at our house to play for a little while so she could go tutor. These four boys have been friends almost since they were born, and at this point, they are a rowdy, giddy bunch when they get together. Somehow they all ended up behind the curtains in the living room, entertaining each other and me too. I thought these pictures were hilarious. 

 

Then Jonah and Adler ended up on the slide together. They looked happy sharing the space at first, but then Jonah looked increasingly frustrated and Adler increasingly mischievous. They look like siblings!

Halloween

Halloween was on a Monday this year, and the celebration started at school. The moms and a few dads each chose a spot on the playground to hand out non-candy treats (we brought flashlight sticks). Then the preschoolers, all in costume, filed in and went trick-or-treating in a neat line, using bags they'd decorated the week before.


Teacher Anne dressed as Mrs. Wishy-Washy, a favorite storybook character of the kids.


Benjy was an astronaut.


Louis, one of Isaac's most frequent playmates, was a black widow.




Lulu lives across the street, and Sadie is Isaac's best buddy.


The kids couldn't resist checking out their bags along the way.





And here is the whole group.


Around dinnertime, we put Isaac's costume back on and dressed Jonah up - time for trick-or-treating. Jonah didn't have a clue what we were doing or why our street was full of families and packs of kids in crazy clothes. Isaac was pretty excited though.


We met up with Lulu and her sisters and their mom Erin, and we made it through about three blocks together. It was slow-going, since Jonah was either walking much slower than the others or needing to be carried. When we stopped at Lulu's house, I got a treat too - they give out candy to the kids and wine to the adults!
At one of the last houses, Jonah tried to walk straight into their living room and tripped on the doorstep. I instinctively caught him - saving him from falling on his face on concrete - but I forgot about the half-full cup of wine in my hand. Jonah wasn't hurt, but my wine poured out across the porch, his costume - and turned his hair pink.
Time to go home for the night.
Luckily, Lulu's family invited Isaac to hang out on their front steps and pass out candy with their three girls. I left him happily sitting next to Lulu, sampling possibly as much as he was giving out, while I took Jonah home.


Once we were home, Jonah enjoyed hanging out on the front porch and inspecting what was left in our bowl.


I was sad over his adorable costume. My sweet little lion cub had just become a bloody, hunting lion.


But it was all the same to him.

Oct 29: Trick-or-Treat Street

The Saturday before Halloween, we got the boys into their costumes and headed 2 blocks to our trick-or-treat street (one of at least three along different commercial strips in our neighborhood).

Below, our house was decorated for Halloween, thanks to Isaac's enthusiasm. On Wednesday mornings ever since mid-October, Jonah has been in school and Isaac and I have a few hours to ourselves. On Jonah's first day at school, Isaac's choice of outings was to go buy Halloween decorations for our house. So we went to the Halloween store and had a great time picking out spider lights (which didn't work; oh well), cobwebs with lots of black spiders, and bats and a big skeleton to hang from the porch. Though you can't see them that well in this photo, it's the most Halloween decorating I've ever done, and it was so much fun. Thanks to our excited four-year-old, we grinned every time we drove up and saw the decorations we'd picked out together.


There was still snow on the ground, but hardy flowers like this local weed were still blooming.


Jonah was pretty unsure about his costume until we showed him a mirror and made a big deal over our scary lion. Then he did lots of growls for us and seemed to like wearing it.


Isaac was a Tiger. The costumes were both low-budget (hand-me-down, ebay, and paws from a 2010 Christmas present), but the boys were happy.

Oct 27: First snow of the season

One Thursday morning in late October, we woke up to a beautiful snowfall. Adam, since he is now a business owner, decided that it would be a perfect morning for the 3-person firm to meet at our local sledding hill instead of the office. He emailed his assistant and the other attorney who had recently joined him, we packed up the boys and the sleds, called Jonah's preschool teacher to say that he'd be absent this morning, and we all went sledding.


Adam's assistant, Jill, loves kids and is great with them, and Isaac is a bit smitten. He only wanted to ride down the hill with Jill, not us.


Adam took Jonah down the hill, but he wasn't so sure about it, so then he just pulled him instead.


That was more fun.


The sun came out, and the snow started was melting fast, but it didn't matter. It was a great way to spend a Thursday morning.

Oct 24: Preschool Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Isaac's preschool went to the pumpkin patch at Berry Patch Farms this year and last. This time, we met for a picnic lunch and then took a hayride out to a pile of pumpkins and a maze made of hay bales.

Above, Isaac sat next to his good friend Sadie. Below, the kids made it through the maze pretty well.


There's Isaac, between his other two favorites, Colton and Louis.


Jonah is a master of imitation, and when he saw the other kids picking out their pumpkins to take home, he went straight to work picking out his pumpkin too.


Here's Isaac's choice. He wanted to make pumpkin pie with it.



Poor Jonah couldn't have a pumpkin, as they were only for the preschoolers. But I let him carry it as long as possible until we got back on the truck.








Before we left for naps, the boys stopped to pet the enormous pig who roams around the picnic tables.