We had a last minute gathering at our house today.  I quickly put together some snacks before 10am to await for our guests.  Logan was excited and was our watching guard at the window.  Finally both the Merons and the Gopals arrived at the same time.  Rohan, Bar and Raz all went upstairs to find Logan and Connor, and they all started playing together.  The adults gathered at the kitchen to chat and eat, and later we migrated to the dining room.  The kids stopped by to grab some snacks once in awhile, then back upstairs doing whatever they were doing.  Then Stuart and Nanda went out to pick up the carryout for lunch, and the kids gathered at the table to eat.  Rohan initially wanted to sit next to Logan, and Connor wanted to sit next to Bar.  But once Logan turned on the TV, the kids did not really mind where they sat anymore.  Most of them ate ok before I cleared their plates so they could return to play.  Most of the time we did not see the kids, and we had once gotten a complaint that Connor said the word “poo poo” to someone.  Another hour or so of playing and chatting, our guests got ready to go home, so we resumed our usual for the rest of the leisure Sunday.

     We attended Tyler and Tyson’s 5th birthday party at the AVAC on Saturday afternoon.  Our boys did not quite remember the place (where they used to take swim lessons) until we dropped into the area.  Shortly after we arrived at the party, all the kids got ready to enter to pool area.  Both Logan and Connor were hesitant to go in the water initially, but once Logan realized the water was nice and warm, he was happy to sit at the stairs.  Connor later followed his lead.  After a few photos taken at poolside, Tyler, Tyson and Marcus started swimming around.  Logan discovered that the entire area was quite shallow, so he let his guard down and started enjoying his time.  Connor was comfortable too, but he preferred walking along the pool side holding on to the edge.  He explored all the way to the far ends of each side, and he seemed to be making friends with the lifeguards on both ends too.  Logan was comfortable putting his head in the water and did not mind going down to fish out the diving toys.  I once encouraged Connor to try to do the same; he tried a couple of times but ended up drinking water.  Then he suddenly used his foot to fish out the ring and brought it up to the surface, and said “Here, mommy!”.  He was proud of what he did and he made me laughed!

   The rest of the hour, all the kids had a great time in the pool.  Both Logan and Connor spent quite a bit of time playing and collecting the floating toys.  Before the end of the swim time, Stuart took both kids out for a quick shower and dry off as Logan wanted to return to water after eating.  The boys had good appetite; Logan ate three thin slices of pizza along with many tiny egg rolls while Connor ate a couple slices of pizza and quite a bit of fruits.  After having a full stomach, Logan decided not to return to the water, so Stuart changed both boys out of their trunks.  We hung out at the table until it was time for the birthday song for the twins and the cake.  Connor loved the cake and almost ate the whole slice, but Logan only took a bite and passed.  A few more minutes later, it was time for us to go home, so we wrapped up and said goodbyes to everyone.

    On Halloween day, I picked Logan up at end of school day and we played a couple games of chess where he beat me in both.  Then I went to pick up Connor much earlier than usual.  We had an early dinner as well so we could get ready for the most anticipated trick or treating.  The boys got into the ninjas costumes and we took a few pictures at the front door.  Luckily the rain had stopped.  It was not completely dark yet by then, however we had a family trick or treat at our house, so we decided to begin our fun outing too.  Logan, Connor and I took off while Stuart stayed home to pass out candy.  We went to our next door neighbor first and the boys were delighted to receive a giant candy bar each where they had specially prepared for them.  The boys were motivated to walk along the houses, even if we had to climb up multiple steps.  They rushed to get to the front doors and took turns ringing the doorbells.  They said “Trick or Treat” and “Happy Halloween” sometimes, and they followed by “Thank you”.  We had to rush back home in less than half an hour as Connor needed the potty.  He quickly got ready again and could not wait to get back out; Logan had considered staying home, but agreed to go with us.  We hit the opposite direction and collected more candies.  We also saw some houses with cool decorations and some that made the boys a bit nervous too.  After an hour total, Logan was done and was happy to be home, but Connor was not finished and wanted me to take him out a little bit longer.  By then, the rain started to come down gently.  Connor and I made another block before returning home for good.  Logan had been helping Stuart passing out candies and enjoyed one of his candies too.  As soon as we were home, Connor could not wait to pass out candies.  He basically was in charge giving out candies the remaining hour until our last trick or treater at close to 9pm. 

     Halloween was finally over.  We kept reminding Connor with that at bedtime so he could have a closure.  It was definitely a fun one this year.

    Everything worked out perfectly yesterday.  I had taken the day off for all the festivities, but the boys ended up having conflicting times for their school parades, so for the first time Stuart and I had to divide and conquer.  Since the ninjas costumes are difficulty to get on and off, we convinced the boys to choose something else for school.  Logan finally agreed to wear the police outfit and Connor changed his mind to be a doctor on the last day.   For Halloween day, initially there was a 50/50 chance of rain in the morning which would lead to cancelling the parades; fortunately everything was on schedule. Stuart and Logan took off to his school, and I accompanied Connor to his.  According Stuart’s text, Logan’s parade initiated as planned at 9am and Logan went with the flow and seemed to have fun.  I hung out at Connor’s until the parade started at 9:30am.  All the cute characters lined up outside their classroom and waited patiently for their turn.  Connor wanted me to go over to give him a hand squeeze twice, then the rest of the time he was intrigued with the event.  All the kids went on a walk around the school and they were all proud in their costumes.  After the parade, three classes of preschool children entered a classroom for a skit by the teachers.  The kids all sat on the rug nicely and sang with the teachers initially too.  Then they enjoyed a short skit about a witch and the children all paid close attention.  After the show, the parents were dismissed and I threw Connor a kiss before I left.

    I immediately went to Logan’s school for his classroom party.  I had signed up to be a helper only for the second half but I was able to show up for the entire one.  The children were still at recess, so the other helpers and I were trying to set things up.  The party was for an hour and a half and in which the kids would divide into three groups to rotate through the three activities, arts and crafts, Bingo and “hot pumpkin”.  One of the moms and I were assigned to be in charge of the Bingo.  When Logan and the whole class came back from recess, Logan waved to me and later gave me a hug.  After the teacher informed the kids of the rotations, the party began.  Logan wanted to start with my group but I directed him to stay with his assigned group to make a skeleton with Q-tips.  The other mom and I were busy at Bingo and we had to talk loudly so our 10 kids could hear us well in the loud classroom.  I went around the kids to ensure that they were marking correctly and cheering them on.  The kids were excited and we made sure all the kids got Bingo at the end to get a little prize.  Logan and the 2nd group came to us; we proceeded to do the same with them and they had fun.  Then Logan moved onto “Hot Pumpkin”.  I looked at him briefly initially and he seemed to be engaged.  Later on he came over to give me a hug and that when he told me that he was out.  After the three group rotations, the party was coming to an end.  The children returned to their seats and we helped the boys out of their costumes while the teachers took the girls to another room to change.  We said goodbyes and the helpers were dismissed.

     I finally returned home around lunch time.  I was tired for all the instruction and cheering.  But I was happy that the timing worked well that I could be there for both boys at their school events.