One final Halloween story...

Last night after we finished "trick or treating" I stuck around a little while longer while the kids ate some of their treats. About 7:15 I took off to catch the last half of class, right about the same time the sugar was putting the devil into my two children.

I can imagine them now, little Tasmanian devils spinning around the house while Colette was trying to get pajamas on. Running around like a crazed drug addicts looking for their next fix, except my children were probably looking for any treats that mommy and daddy had inadvertantly left out.

A few minutes after I left, Lauren was running around and tripped and fell, hitting her head on the post at the bottom of the steps. She didn't just hit it on the post, but the corner of the post. The worst place possible. Well, as you can see by the picture she cut her little forehead open. Colette took her into the living room and was trying to clean up the wound and put some steri strips on her head. Lauren was not exactly cooperating though. I imagine any 18 month old would react the same way.

While Colette was trying bandage up Lauren's head, Brayton was running around the house too and fell down and hit his mouth causing a bloody lip. So poor Colette had two kids bleeding, trying to bandage one and the other trying his hardest to get her attention, screaming "MOMMY I'M BBLLEEDINGGGG TOOOOOO"

Finally after everyting settled down, she got the kids into bed and it took over two hours for them to come down from their sugar highs and fall asleep. What a great Halloween!!!

Halloween Treats

Yesterday was beggers night here in West Des Moines. Colette did a great job getting costumes ready for the kids. They were very excited to go "trick or treating" to the neighbors houses. It was a beautiful night, we couldn't have asked for a better night to go out.

The evening started at supper time. I had class at 6pm but decided I would rather go trick or treating with the kids than go to class. I emailed my professor and told her I was taking the kids "trick or treating" and she told me she was glad to see my priorities were in the right place.

We sat down to eat supper, and Brayton, knowing he was going to get to eat lots of candy that night pretty much refused to eat any supper. I threatened him multiple times with making him stay home if he didn't eat his supper. He didn't seem to really get it until Colette started putting Lauren into her costume. I think at that point he realized I wasn't joking and would have made him stay home. I ended up having to spoon feed him myself, but he did stop refusing to eat and did finish his dinner so he got to go "trick or treating."

This year, Lauren was an angel. She was so pretty in her little white dress with her angel wings and white bow in her hair. She had a little pixy wand, but that ended up getting tossed on the ground and going into dad's back pocket. Brayton was a lion, and we even worked on his "ROAR" but he didn't want to do it when we were ringing peoples doorbells. Colette was a nurse, and gave me a short spell of deja vu when I walked into the house and she was dressed in her old work clothes. I was taken back to a time when she was still working for Dr. Lemon.

We tried to get some pictures together as a family, but the kids weren't having it. They were ready to go and get their treats. It was a wonderful night, and everyone had a great time.

Here's a little video of Brayton ringing the neighbors doorbell and getting some candy. Notice Brayton's tail for his lion suit. That cracked me up, watching that tail wag as he walked up and down the sidewalk.

Lauren was really cute when she was getting her candy too. She was all excited to pick her treats out of the neighbors bowls. Once she figured out what she was doing, she would grab the treat, put it in her bag, and then wouldn't put the bag down when we got home. I could just see it in her face, she thought she was going to get to eat all her treats right there.

It's Fall...

Fall is finally here and Brayton, Lauren, and Colette took some time the other day to play in the leaves that fell in the front yard from the Ash tree. Brayton really likes to play in the leaves, he throws them up in the air and lets them fall down onto his head. His sister on the other hand generally avoids the leaves. Probably because if she joins in the fray, Brayton starts throwing them directly at her, to the dismay of their parents. It's been a really warm fall, so the kids have gotten to do lots of playing outside. I hope we have a mild winter, last winter was so long and cold. It kept us all cooped up too long.

The first frost of the year happened the other day, so now all the flowers are dead and it's time to take down the garden fencing. Brayton has said he will help me with that tomorrow. He really is starting to like to help Dad "work". The weather forecast is supposed to be sunny and 70 degrees. It should be a great day.