happy halloween

i thought halloween would never, ever end this year. once we pulled out the box of decor that was it. jack was scared of everything, and ben would only wear old costumes. every day. for all of october.

just hanging out..with a couple of dogs.

a tight fitting cow costume turned PJs

the new walk of shame. for mothers who didn't win that morning.

yup...day, night, whatever.

no, ben, the hat costume makes you a cowboy!

 the three of them were so spooked at the real halloween store we had to leave. i looked like a mama jerk because i was laughing so hard but boy it was funny. every time we drove by the little ones would cry to go to the "pooky store" so we did. and every time they left in tears.

officer matt

 super man.

batman. arrrr. (he growled as batman)

 heading out to trick or treat.

 matthew followed all the rules, "trick-or-treat"ing and "thank you"ing. ben ran to the candy bowl and grabbed as much as he could. one man scolded him. jack needed a little encouraging. some folks in the 'hood really go all out with the decor.

wish i could say i threw away all the old costumes in preparation for next year...but i just couldn't.

sweet six

birthday month is over. he still doesn't really know if mom is 29 or 35, and still just says dad is "old as dirt," and after nine months of calculating "how many days until my birthday again?" it was finally time.

 we had a birthday party last saturday with his friends.

jack and our new friend, jack.

guess who the party pooper was?

   last year we celebrated with a birthday snowstorm and this year we had hurricane sandy.
and although i get an F for preparedness with a couple jugs of water and a broken flashlight...

 ...we survived and woke up to anooother canceled school day!

and many presents.

 so we baked and sampled the birthday cake...

(i know, i know, my worst one ever. a "camoflouged, hurricane cake") 

...and put on our T shirts and shorts and headed outside with scooters and some pals.

(it was in the high 60's and gorgeous on the no-school day birthday)

this little sweetie may have the same sugar addiciton/reaction as his mama.

and this is what the birthday guy requested for dinner. and yes, he ate it all! (harter genes shining bright here)

mr. sweets pulled over a chair and snuck into the cake when no one was looking..

it's hard to believe my biggest guy is six.

he has real friends, and plays sports, and goes to a school with his own locker. and water fountains. and a classroom flag with the pledge of allegiance pasted just underneath.

he's impatient and inquisitive. he asks ten thousand questions a day. and wants to know how to spell everything we see. every. thing. we. see. he loves his mama's jokes and even makes up his own. cries a little, torments ben a lot, and is just my bestest buddy.

one down

we finally have a kindergartener. he got very nervous in the car so mama walked him alone to the class line.

 he was so stinkin' nervous, but so excited too.

 here he is finding his name tag. all by himself.

sniff, sniff.

 i saved the waterworks for this. all the big guys from preschool are now the babies again.

his teacher is mrs. bender and he loves her and loves school. his favorite parts are "recess, snack, gym, art, choice time, library and music class". and i've learned two things

1. he's super wiped out from all the learning

2. we should sign up for another art class.

 it rained on the first day so these guys broke in their new raincoats. and boots. lots of tears. one guy doesn't like socks or zippers. handful.

 they have started a pre-pre-school class. lots of art, and story time and run around time.

(don't get excited...it's not drop off)

painting flowers.

 but we also had orientation for their real pre-school which they will start on january 4.

 its the same school matt spent the last year. so they have been dying to get in and play. no worry they will suffer from separation anxiety.

 post-orientation walk with some familiar faces. 

 we had a great, long, hot, fun summer. light on blog pictures, but heavy on making memories. will try to catch up soon.



vacation

we made our annual trek to the white mountains way back in august. story land park, red jacket resort, mt. washington, honky tonk...sounds lovely, no? we may try something new next summer.

kids loved it. and popsicles at the pool every afternoon was nice.

and beer.

especially since one guy hung on me all day.

matt can finally swim. he spent hours in the pool.

jack was skeptical of everything at storyland.

 while matthew dove right in.

ben had fun. running away from us all day.

 it's nice how we always manage to book storyland during a heat wave. thankfully it offers relief. for the kids.

a couple of night-tetherball games near the sweltering bonfire...

then we rode on an old fashioned railway..

  and three little boys slept the whole way home.