Happy Halloween!

I have to start this post by explaining Ryan's eye. I think we all grew up hearing that we were going to poke our eye out with something and it actually almost happened here Friday night. In our case, it was the tip of a model airplane that caught Ryan... an airplane I bought him (guilt!). Luckily it was right below his eye, but it caused quite a shiner. Too bad he wasn't going to dress up as Rocky! In all seriousness, it was very scary, but he is ok.

Yesterday we enjoyed a beautiful day at the Genesee Country Museum with Grandma and Grandpa C. They had a trick or treat event so we had to check it out.

It was a chilly day despite the sun.

I discovered that it is really hard to get a decent trick or treat picture. I always get their backs. This will have to do.

Pretty day.

The village did a really neat job with the event. Each home was staffed by someone in period dress and they were all great with the kids.

In addition to treats, there was a house where you could roast a marshmallow inside, another where your fortune was told by counting the seeds in an apple, a schoolhouse where you could play the magic pumpkin and another house where Jack told the spooky story of the Jack-O-Lantern. Fun!!

Overall, it was a beautiful day with family.

Today I took the afternoon off to attend Tyler's school party and parade. I'm really glad I did. The room moms did a nice job planning the party. They had candy corn bingo...

Decorate (and eat) a cookie.

And, check this out... a mummy with openings where you could feel eyes (grapes), guts (spaghetti), bones (celery), teeth (candy corn), nails (pumpkin seeds), and toes (hot dogs). Very cool!

Here is the whole class. Tyler's teacher was dressed up as Mr. Smarty Pants with smarties taped to his pants... that is my kind of costume... simple!

Here he is waiting for the parade to start.

The parade itself was absolute chaos so we won't share any pictures of that.

On the way out, I snapped this picture of Tyler's locker. Tyler had to describe himself on the ghost and I think he did well... except for "tall" and "fast." The rest is right on... cool, smart, lucky and talkative. Funny stuff.

We picked Ryan up on the way home to get ready for tonight and wait for Aunt Donna to join us. Upon arrival we had a bit of a tragedy... Tyler's front zipper on his costume broke!! It is a long zipper right up the front and it was completely non-functional!! I still haven't figured out how it broke (according to Ty the rug broke the zipper pull in half... that darn rug!), but it caused quite a stir. Dan reminded me that these costumes aren't made for durability and tonight was our 5th Halloween event. I guess I can't complain.

Tyler didn't want me to pin him in his costume so he was looking at other options. His plan to be a vampire didn't pan out so we started going through the dress up bin. Unfortunately Ryan then decided that he didn't want to be a race car driver. Aaaaahhhh! Madness!

In the end, Ty allowed me to pin him up and Ryan selected a train conductor costume. It wasn't the plan, but he's a cute conductor!

Here is the crew, anxious to get started.

Bruiser. This is our rough and tumble boy for sure!

Trick or Treat!

This picture is blurry, but it tells a story. Pure joy.

Two hours of trolling the streets and it was time to check out the loot!

Both boys brought in a large haul. We'll be bouncing off walls for quite a while.