The boys were thrilled about Friday as they had the school Halloween celebration.  They both decided to wear their ninja costumes from last year.  I had taken the day off, so we all got ready in the morning and walked to school.  It was quite crowded and we saw lots of cool costumes when we arrived.  Stuart and I split up and stayed with one of them while lining up.  Since I could tell that Logan’s class was preparing to take a group picture, I quickly said bye to Connor to go over to Logan’s to snap a shot.  Then Stuart and I, along with all the parents, waited around at the blacktop until all the classes marched back out to get ready for the parade.  Each grade was announced and took turns to do their rounds.  We did our best to spot our kids and take pictures.  Both Connor and Logan did not really see us as they were busy looking around the circle of students while they marched.  Afterward, Stuart returned to work and I hung out with Connor while his class took the group picture.  Then I said goodbye to Connor and headed to Logan’s as I had signed up to help at this classroom’s party.  The kids were in recess, and when they returned, the party started.  They made a spider and a monster hand filled with popcorn, then we headed out in the playground to play a pumpkin relay.  At the end, the kids enjoyed a snack while watching a movie.  The parents helped the kids during the party if they need help and I also tried to take pictures when I could.  They had a good time.

    At the end of the day, Connor told me that he had fun at his party too and many parents were there to help out.  They made a spider, decorated a cookie, and played some games.  After this big day at school, Connor switched gears and prepared for the actual Halloween at home.  He helped me put up all the cut out shapes of bats and pumpkins that he and Logan had been cutting over the week, and we hung them up in the house.  Possibly because of the weather or I did not clean out the pumpkins well, our carved pumpkins all turned moldy and yucky after a few days, and they had to be discarded.  But with or without decorations, the boys were ready for Halloween.

     I left work at a good time on Wednesday; by the time I drove to the neighborhood, Stuart was still at the library with the boys, so I met up with them there.  When we were driving home at 5 something pm, we noticed part of the Expressway near our house was blocked with many emergency vehicles and some traffic lights were out.  When we arrived home, we confirmed that we did not have power.  The boys and I quickly did their homework with the remaining daylight while Stuart listened to the scanner radio to get any updates.  It turned out that a car hit a pole and knocked out the power line.  We went out for dinner afterward homework and the boys were happy to pick pizza.  We enjoyed watching an NBA game while we ate and stayed until the game was over.  Unfortunately when we went home, the power had not returned.  We had to shower and read with flashlights and candle light, but the boys had a ball with it. 

    At the end, the electricity returned possibly around 1am when both Stuart and I awoke briefly noticing a light in the hallway.  The next morning we had to discard and purchase most of our perishable in the fridge.

     Connor was the Star Student of his class last week; each student rotates into this spotlight throughout the year.  On Monday, Connor brought in the poster that he had put together at home a couple of weeks ago.  When I picked him after school, he was beaming wearing the Star Student crown and told me that he shared the poster with everyone in front of the class.  For the rest of the week, Connor made sure that he wore the crown every morning, and he was happy to bring in something each day to share, ie. favorite book, favorite stuffed animals and something from the family.  He loves being the center of attention. 

    We carved our pumpkins today, and the boys were interested to help out.  Since we had four pumpkins, I would need all the help I could get.  The boys were actually quite helpful this year.  After I drew the simple patterns, the boys cut them out.  Then they helped take out the seeds and strings inside the pumpkins.  They did not mind the gooeyness, and got their hands and arms deep into the pumpkins.  Afterward, they assisted me tracing the patterns onto the pumpkins, and I had them do one on their own.  They were focused to do their best.  The rest of the carving unfortunately I had to do without their help.  The boys were in a helping mood, and moved on to cleaning up the backyard while I continued to work.  Here are our superhero pumpkins.

    It was the school’s Pumpkin Bust event on Friday, and the boys were excited.  They were happy to wear the event shirts to school, and as soon as I returned from work at the end the day, they were ready to head back to school.  When we arrived at the blacktop, the event was in full swing.  We walked quickly around to check out the food offering; the boys decided on pizza and I waited in line at a hotdog truck.  We all then met up at a long picnic table with some of Connor’s kindergarten families to have our dinner.  Soon after the boys had a full tummies, they were ready to check out the activities.  They started with the book fair and came back to show me the cool books they bought.  Then we played some carnival games, and afterward Connor and I took off on our own to try the Cake Walk that Connor was looking forward to.  Connor wanted me to play with him and since there were a few adults too, both of us waited in line.  It was our turn and Connor was happily marching while the music played.  When the music stopped, I was left with no spot to stand on, so I had to separate with Connor as I was directed to move to a free spot.  I was just hanging out there and not paying attention, and it turned out I was standing in the winning spot.  I was a bit embarrassed winning a kid game, so I hurried over to grab Connor to cheer for our winning.  We then selected a yummy looking small double chocolate cake for our reward.  Connor was so thrilled to share the great news with Stuart and Logan.  I was feeling great that I was lucky to win the Cake Walk two years in a row too.  The boys played a few more games and buy a few small toys until our tickets were used up.  Then we started our trek home with a full bag of goodies.

    We made a video with photos from our last ten years for keepsake.  The boys really enjoyed watching it and had a great laugh seeing themselves as babies.  After the first time watching it, Connor told me quietly that he really liked it and that he almost cried while watching it.  Connor is our sensitive boy.