I know it’s almost Thanksgiving, but it’s never too late to see cute little kiddos dressed up in their Halloween costumes, right???

First up is Ariel.

Then a Clone Trooper- I mean a Shock Trooper.

Then the Pirate

This costume was born on Talk Like  Pirate Day at Krispy Kreme.  It got us a dozen doughnuts for free so he figured it might work with candy too.

Reagan was a Ranger from the book series Ranger’s Apprentice.  His costume has quite the back story.  About five days before Halloween he tells me that he wants to dress up to hand out candy at the door (because I won’t let them trick or treat after 12).  I said ok, but you are paying for the costume yourself.  The day before Halloween he tells me, “Mom, I HAVE to go today to get the stuff for my costume.”  Well, “today” was not possible and since he lucked out and Halloween was on a Saturday this year he had all day to get what he needed.  He led me to believe he only needed a few things so on Halloween I took the boy shopping.  On the way to Goodwill I found out that the “few things” on his list were really about twenty things.   He also informed me that he needed to make a cloak.  With a hood.  “No sweat, Mom, I can totally make it myself in less than four hours even though I don’t know how to use a sewing machine, have no fabric or pattern and don’t know the first thing about making clothing.”  He also informed me that he was planning to climb on the roof and drop the candy down from the roof into the trick or treater’s bags.  You can imagine how that idea went over.  And you can imagine his reaction to my reaction to that idea. 

After three two hours of searching he still had not gotten all the pieces.  Though I will say his boots were a real find.  Perfect, in fact.  He finally managed to get some fabric and brought it home 1.5 hours before it was time for trick or treating and begged me to help him.  We did our best, but the hood was beyond our skill and time constraints.  He was disappointed, but such is life when you spring something like that on mom at the last minute.  Ironically enough, I spent more time getting the non-trick or treater in my house ready than the three who actually went door knocking.  Next year guess who’s going to say no unless it’s at least two weeks ahead of time.  He did end up taking his siblings around the neighborhood, though, so his costume did get some mileage.  And, he fulfilled his Aunt Alli’s dying wish.  Here is her email response at seeing him dressed as a Ranger:

“Oh my gosh! This is the proudest moment of my aunt hood.  Did Reagan really decide to be a ranger, with a cloak and everything?  Did he wear an oak leaf?  My life has met its meaning, my nephew read a series I have been dying to have him read for ages and he loves the books so much he dresses up as a character for Halloween.  Seriously it just can’t get any greater then this, I should die now. “

With our Wesel cousins, Hewey, Dewey and Lewey. 

Good times!

Yes, I know it’s almost Thanksgiving, but it’s never too late to see cute little kiddos and their pumpkins from Halloween, right?

Cade’s plan, drawn free hand.

Two things: 1. I’d smile like that too if I didn’t have to clean out the goopy gunk in the pumpkin.  2. Yup, pretty much nothin on top of  Rock’s head.  Sometimes I’m glad I’m short.   

Can you say, “Hallmark Card”?

We love Fall and the beautiful leaves afire in our back yard. 

The kids start raking them up as soon as the first few fall even if there are only five on the ground!  So once we finally have enough to jump in, mom has to get involved, which I did last week.

Love the airborne shots

Love fall!  Love this face!

That date is significant for most people over 35 because it was the date that Marty McFly/Michael J. Fox went to the “future” in Back to the Future II.  In honor of Reagan’s 13th birthday which happens to be on that same day, we watched the first two movies in the series with the older boys.  We stayed up ON A SCHOOL NIGHT and watched both movies back to back. 

The boys loved them and I was reminded of three things;  1. How good the first movie really is 2. The days when Michael J. Fox was my teenage heartthrob, and 3.  Just how old that makes me.  But really, the fact that I now officially have a teenager is better proof of my age.

Reagan has made some friends at school, so we had them over for a party a few days later.  It made my heart so happy to hear him downstairs laughing and goofing off with friends again.  It has taken a long time for him to find his place here, but I think he’s finally getting there.

Reagan continues to love his new school.  He is really thriving.  They are much more hands on at this school and so he is really enjoying it.  Here is a project he did for his social studies class:

Rather than making them write a paper about the person they were studying, his teacher let them get creative.  Reagan made this rhino out of legos as part of his presentation on the first zooligist.

I went to his parent-teacher conferences last week and was thrilled to hear all of his teachers rave about him.  He’s a good student and a leader in his classes.  The teachers all love his insatiable curiosity.  They told me that he thinks on a higher plane than his peers.  He thinks deeply about things and pushes himself to do better.  His writing teacher said while she is trying to get the other kids to even use commas, Reagan is asking how to improve his sentence structure, word choice and really improve his craft.  I was a bit nervous about sending him to school full time and this school in particular, but listening to those teachers tell me about the one on one experiences they are having with my son as they work to help him learn at his level showed me that we made the right choice.  This is a good fit for him and our family and I’m so glad! 

Keep up the good work, Bud!  We love you.