Boy, it's nice to be home with my family.  Ben and Jack still have colds, but I still enjoy their company.  I don't know how I missed the cold, considering Jack gave me two sneezes in my face at point blank range, and I give him kisses all over every night.  Luck of the draw.

After the fun of Halloween we didn't do much.  I knocked a few major items off my To Do list.  I printed some photos.  I planned meals and bought groceries.  I gave Jack a long overdue haircut.  It did not go well.  Here's a screen shot my folks took when we were done.  I had a movie on the iPad, grandparents on the iPhone, and a lollipop for both hands, but he still cried like I was torturing him.  But the biggest check-off on my list was cleaning out my dryer according to these instructions.  I pulled fistfuls of lint out the vent.  My bathrooms may still be filthy, but my dryer vents are gorgeous!

Last night Amanda came over and we worked on Christmas ornaments, as she posted.  It was cozy, quiet work, but really fun.  I might even call her to do it again today.  Maybe while Jack naps, so we can claim the TV to watch QI.

I have come to accept the fact that I'm the Safeco Insurance Lady.  Better just embrace it.

Here's what we ate today that didn't come out of a bucket.  Pumpkin pancakes with Jack O' Lantern faces for breakfast. 

 The Fancy Tiger blog showed me that there was a new pie shop in Denver.  What what? I immediately called Brian and invoked him on an exploration excursion. 


 Jack and I shared a banana cream pie while Brian ordered a breakfast burrito pie slice.  The review from Jack in the above image is pretty much my reaction too.  I bought a savory beef pie to eat later. 

It was a super long, fun day.  Jack was a real trooper, considering his cold.  By the time we got to Chipotle for their $2 burrito-if-you-are-in-costume deal, he was wearing out.
After dinner and neighborhood trick-or-treating I curled up with him under a quilt and we watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  He thought Snoopy was hilarious.  A good teeth brushing, and then I tucked him in bed.  I could hear him over the monitor recounting the night as he fell asleep, "Rocket....candy....pumpkin...rocket...."  That pretty much sums it up.

The boys took a break to ride the kiddie Merry Go Round

 And to watch a spooky railroad set.

This image captures the moment Jack realized Wolfie was EATING a piece of bucket candy.
 (I love Amanda's Formal Complaint costume)

Doesn't this image sum it up?  Suckers in mouth, Wolfie checking out his friend's bucket.

Once the suckers came out, it was hard to keep the boys focused on the task of acquiring more.  They are a "live for the moment" type of creature.  

Luckily we were almost done.

 Our pumpkins at home.

I took Jack out to a few friendly neighbors on our block.  We ran into the Larsons!  April did an amazing job on all their costumes. 


Still zooming.

Brian's house was super spooky, as expected.  Organ music, strobe lights, a fog machine, and lots of decorations.  A great way to end the night. 

Jack has been talking about rockets a lot this month, so that's what I made for his costume this year.

I struggled with the attached wings and booster rocket rig.  I should have attached the rocket pack directly to the shirt so the straps didn't pull up his shirt all day.  By the end of the night I clipped the wings off so the straps could fit backpack style.  That would have been a good fix too.  Oh well, live and learn. 

Pictures were tricky because he looks down when walking through leaves.  Also he has a cold:
So his energy was low all day.  But we got a few good shots :-)


Ben dressed as the Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time.  I was a plain old witch. 




After some launches, Jack wanted to play hide and seek.  We played one round, then got ready to trick-or-treat.

Here is Jack on Sunday, pointing out the pumpkins.  (I love that the sweater I made is fitting for two seasons).

Today we invited Brian over to carve!  They were really cold inside from the snow fall last week.