Happy Halloween!

We're all coming down from a sugar-high this morning...thank God we had an extra hour of sleep.  Norah was the only one who had a Halloween party at school (called an "Orange Party"), but we got lots of use out of the costumes this year (especially since Norah's was Aliya's Dory costume from 4 years ago!).

~ Friday night there was a party at the YMCA, which we usually go to.  I was so wiped out that I took a 3-hour nap while Ben took the kids to the Y.  By 8:30 p.m. I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to work until 3 a.m.

~ Saturday morning we had 2 soccer games - no rain, no mud, WOOHOO!  Aliya is a superstar, Adlani is still heading for the marching band.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

~ Saturday afternoon we went directly from Aliya's game to Pumpkins in the Park, put on by the Park & Rec Dept.  It was a gorgeous fall day, even though it was extremely windy.  I love the smell of fall.  Pumpkins in the Park was an opportunity to choose a pumpkin, paint it, go on a hay ride, play bean bag toss, listen to some live Halloween-themed music, and go on a costume parade.  The kids had a great time with the Funsecas and were very proud of their pumpkins.  Adlani got mad at Ben for making a mustache on his pumpkin so I had to clean it off and start over.  The costumes were completely covered with paint by the end, but it was a small sacrifice in the name of art.

~ We rushed home for a quick nap, and it took them so long to calm down that they finally fell asleep about a half hour before they needed to get back up again to go to a party at Coach Linder's.  I made ice cream cone cupcakes and washed the paint off the costumes while everyone else napped.  Ben woke up from his nap and went right for the cupcakes, then got mad when I wouldn't let him have one.

~ The party at the Linders' was a lot of fun...good food and a "boiling" cauldron of punch followed by trick-or-treating en mass.  We stopped to see Maria (Norah's teacher this year and Adlani's teacher last year) on our way home.  The mobs of middle school kids on her street were a little scary.  Now I know who's buying all of the Ravishing Red Riding Hood and Foxy Firefighter costumes.

Today we're trying to catch up on some work and homework, while getting some leaves raked and hopefully installing two new heating units with Orialis' help.