The morning started with the Annual Halloween Parade. Colorful and Chaotic.

Lindsay with Minnie and Bella.

Her class helped set up for the carnival! They had fun "testing" out the games.

Alison's class had a party after the parade. "Harry" loved tagging along!

Later that night . . . The long anticipated carnival.

These two love the excuse to go crazy with colors.

I found these two with their shades on, trying to win a liter of soda!

The girls clung on to me tight, as they braved the "scary" side of the haunted house this year! We teamed up with the Drews on the cake walk, and won cupcakes to share.

Even later that night . . . we carved our pumpkins.

This is a guy who appreciates a reason to use his knife.

This little guy drilled instead of cut.

Cleaning and drying Tasty seeds

Our "Jacks" Ryan and Lindsay carved their own this year. Alison helped design hers.

From left to right, Ryan (Shades), Alison (Baby), Justin(Drilled), and Lindsay(Kitty).

Ok, I think we're ready now.

Some play hockey, we played hookey. We said "phooey" to all sport practices, and drove out to the Pumpkin Patch. Alan missed a meeting. He is new at this game. Need I say more? Sometimes you need to miss things, so that you don't miss things. Tonight, we took full advantage of our race against the clock. We even made it right in time to watch the sun set. The sky wasn't the only one glowing:)

Cute Lil' Punkins

Oh, there's Ryan!

The entrance to the "Harry Potter maze" made out of haystacks.

As the sun was setting, we took a train out around the Dairy farm. It made me think of the book "The Big Red Barn".

"When the sun went down in the great green field, the big cow lowed, the little pig squealed. . . only the mice were left to play, rustling and squeaking in the hay, while the moon sailed high, in the dark night sky."

Fallish

The last couple of days have actually felt like Fall. It has been breezy, colorful, and cool.

Justin felt well enough to put on his boots and crunch the leaves in the gutter. I just sat and watched new leaves fall, pretending that I was in an orchard somewhere where there are "real seasons". I hope the cool (65 degree) weather doesn't blow away too soon . . .

Wednesday, Alan and I spent the day down at Children's Hospital. Justin had his tonsils and adenoids removed. He is going to be able to breathe much easier once everything heals. It has been a tough few days for our little guy. He whispered to me yesterday, " Mom, the doctor changed my voice." He is mostly pointing and nodding.

When he first woke up, he was in a lot of pain, so we were able to hold him. They administered pain medicine that helped to calm him down. Once he fell back asleep, we put him back into his hospital bed. When he woke up again, we fed him ice cream and ice water with a dropper.

What just happened?

He noticed that I had the camera and flashed me a couple of smiles. I did not request or expect him to do this. I haven't seen that smile since we have been home. We are going on day 4, and have gone from crying to vomiting to waking all through the night, to constipation, etc, etc . . . it can only get better from here, right? . . .

Krispie Kitties

While we were with Justin, Nana distracted the kids by decorating and making fun Halloween treats with them. Alison was particularly worried about her brother, and they all wanted to go to the hospital. This helped ease their minds. She even took them to the store for supplies to help fill the time. Thanks Nana!

Gooey Ghosts

Let's squeeze a birthday in, shall we? I turned a huge 37 on Tuesday!

I enjoyed an early lunch with a few friends and dinner with the family. Alan had his annual survey this week at work, which kept him busy. It was nice to get it out of the way before the holidays. . . I am trying to think positively, you know, be optimistic, after all, a whole new year has just started for me. . .

So when we went to Ryan's Court of Honor right after dinner, I went smiling. I knew there was cake at home waiting, that helped.

On Thursday, Lindsay participated in a race at Mt. Carmel High School. It was offered through the Elementary school as an optional activity for grades 3 - 5. There were separate races for each grade and gender. They were able to check out of school early to attend. It was a mile long run, that started on the football field, went off the track, up a hill to a mountain trail above, and then back down to the field to finish. She competed with 93 other fourth grade girls from three different schools. She ran hard and placed 19th! We had fun cheering for all of the girls!

Lindsay with Ali and Minnie

Ready, set,

Go!!

Coming through the finish line! After coming through, she started to cry. She said that her shoe came untied twice and she stopped to tie it. Part of her crying was because she said that it was really hard. She really pushed herself. In the car she told me, "It feels good to do something really hard. Next year I will double knot my shoes." Look at those pink cheeks:)