Saturday, November 19, 2011

Halloween and Munkin Boys

Time to get caught up! Halloween was extra fun this year. We didn't have a ward Halloween party (weird) but we had lots of fun visiting with Grandma, watching Bennett participate in his pre-school's costume parade, baking pumpkin pies and bread and going trick or treating. This was the first year we really went trick or treating, every other year we've just done the "trunk or treat" thing (when every one at our church Halloween party hands out candy out of their trunks and you go around to every car in the parking lot and trick or treat). I'm so proud of how polite Bennett was he always said his please and thank yous and Happy Halloween.  One of the highlights of Halloween this year was Casey's word for jack-o-lanterns: Munkin Boys.  He had to say "Hi Munkin Boy" to every one we passed.  Whenever went to Target he'd ask to go see the Munkin Boys.  Then we went just a couple days ago and they had Christmas decorations up and Casey was very disappointed. He was running around where they kept the Halloween decor and was saying "Where Munkin Boys?" He wasn't impressed at all with the Christmas trees and lit up snowmen. He wanted his Munking Boys and "Giant Spiders".
Right before trick or treating, Wild Thing #2 is already grouchy.

At Bennett's preschool. They are having indoor recess.

Trick or treating

Grandma came to see his costume parade.


Casey making himself at home in Bennett's classroom.

All the little girls were so sweet in their princess, butterfly, and bumble bee costume. My favorite was a Mermaid that is Bennett's little friend Nicky. She was A-DOR-A-BLE! (Didn't get her picture though.)









Bennett has such a great teacher, Mrs. Samples. She was the Cat in the Hat . I had contemplated having the boys be Wild Things 1 and 2. I should have done that, it would have been perfect for school.


This year Ben wanted to be the same thing he was last year, Captain America. While we were trick or treating there were some dads dressed up as soldiers (and little boys) and the dads commented that they loved his costume. Only I was sad this year he didn't have his AWESOME shield I made him. Someone stepped on it and it broke. :( We had it displayed on Bennett's shelf headboard forever. I was pretty bummed. But he got a plastic one from the store.
Casey went as a dinosaur or dragon.  His tummy roared if you pushed it. He was really tired that day but had fun participating in Ben's school costume parade and sitting in his stroller while we trick or treated. It was cute because Bennett would ask people to give him candy for his little brother. It reminded me of The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown special.
I just love this time of year. When I say that though I think of how much I love spring when the weather starts getting warmer or the 4th of July. I guess I just love when the seasons change. It's refreshing. I'm so excited for Christmas this year, to celebrate it with out any fear or sadness. And we're all looking forward to 2012 I have a feeling it will be a great year for us.

My current obsession

Raising Cain, The Emotional Lives of Boys. Read it, just do it. It's only 258 pages long and it will change how you view and interact with boys. If you have a boy in your life, whether you're a parent, teacher, mentor or friend, you need to read this.
"...But as their manuscript progressed, Kindlon and Thompson realized a simple "how-to" would not do. "In the end," they write, "we found that the best advice we had to offer was simply to understand boys as they truly are ­ rather than as they appear or as we wish them to be. Our deepest wish is to pull aside the curtain boys so tenaciously draw around themselves and offer you a look inside their hearts and minds. If we succeed, we hope that you will see more clearly the ways in which our culture conspires to limit and undermine their emotional lives. We hope you will understand boys better, and above all, we hope you will enjoy them more"
Read an interview with one of the authors, Dan Kindlon, PH.D. here.