The Annual Candy Celebration

This year the weather was not cooperating with walking through Mesick for the Halloween Parade. Instead, the businesses came to us and we paraded through the big gym. This year we had Bat-Girl (complete with Bat-Dust), Luigi, and Darth Vader. After the parade and classroom parties, we went home and had a special spooky dinner--Mummies on a Stick and Halloween eggs. We capped off the night with trick-or-treating at a few favorite houses, then sorting out the obscene amount of candy.

Trick or Treat!

The annual parade through Mesick went off without a hitch this year.   We were blessed with ideal weather--sunshine and 50+ degrees!  WOW!

Princess Lucy in her Preschool Room before the big parade.

Lucy protesting the camera and Mom's kisses.

Lucy and her best preschool peeps.

 Lucy showing off some of her candy treasures.

Batman Owen ready for the parade.

Batman Owen and his candy bag.

Batman Mitchell and his 3rd grade peeps.

Batman Mitchell on the return trip from the parade.

Mitchell in party mode with his class.

Later that night we headed out to hit a few houses for trick-or-treating.  The kids were excited for this day of candy celebration. 

The Rogers' Crew at Papa Denny's.

  

The candy haul.

Boo-tiful!

Here are pix from the pumpkin carving and the actual jack-o-lanterns. They sure are boo-tiful... too bad they will come crashing to their demise at the 3rd Annual Rogers' Pumpkin Chucking.   :)

Mom's

Owen's

Mitchell's "Dementor", with assistance from Mom.

Lucy's PINK pumpkin.

 

Trick or Treat!

WOW! Halloween has brought a bounty of candy into this Boon household.  Festivities began Friday at school.  We are still fortunate enough to be allowed time during the school day to parade the students around Mesick and all the businesses pass out goodies to the kids.  Lucy went around town with her daycare friends and Mommy (a big perk of not having a gen ed classroom), and the boys went with their classrooms.  We could have and should have stopped there if it were determined by candy weight alone.

Today we took the kids on the Trick or Treating rounds...  Off to Jon and Linda's and Grammy B's in Cadillac, then Grammy Rogers and Tonia's daycare in Mesick, and finally a few houses "near" home, including our final stop at Papa Denny's.  As the day/trip unfolded, our role as parental chauffeurs shifted to that of sugar-regulators.  The amount of candy that sits on our counter is obscene, and the kids LOVED every second of collecting it.  :)

Pumpkins!

We finally got to carve into our pumpkins the other day--what fun!  Lucy worked with Ken and did a nice job scooping out the innerds.  The boys worked with me.  Mitchell got right into it, and cleared out all the pumpkin guts and seeds very meticulously.  Owen reached inside of his pumpkin and squealed.  He was definitely not a fan of how the insides felt... so, he asked me to gut his pumpkin.  Yay!  When all was cleared out the boys did help carve their shapes with me.  I think they turned out great.

 

Trick or Treat: Version 2009

The cherubs were eager and excited as usual for the annual sugar celebration. It is still hard for me to get used to having trick-or-treating be a car-based activity, but the boys have it down. This was Lucy's first real go at it, and boy did she like it! She kept saying "more can-ny" as we went from house to house. They made out like bandits; you could see the sugar levels start glazing over their eyes as we progressed.

H1N1 vs. Mesick

Oy.... What a whirlwind these last few weeks have been. Last week was unusually stressful at work, as I was notified that very soon (exactly TBA) I will be switching to teach Special Education students at least half of the day at school because of my previous training. Not ideal in timing or situation, but we will roll with it. My brain though, is having a virtual field day with stressing/wondering/ coordinating worry about all the unknowns in the upcoming switch. With that has come much less sleep than normal. Combine that with the influx of germs at school... you get the picture. Last week the absentee numbers in the district were up; up enough to have canceled school for Monday. I came down with whatever bug this is Saturday, and wound up calling in sick today. Apparently so did over 40% of the elementary school! There were only 9 of 24 students in my class today. The middle school and high school also had high numbers of sick kids, so they called off school for the rest of the week. Let's hope that allows me to recover more fully and help our kids avoid the bug.

All that being said, we had a brief stretch of dry weather today so the kids actually got outside for a bit.
Mitchell: reading nicely, doing well on spelling tests, and enjoying swimming lessons with Miss Mary. He will be a character from Star Wars: the Clone Wars for Halloween.

Owen: Also enjoying swimming lessons with Miss Mary, who is super neat and awesome according to Mr. Owen. He will be a ninja turtle for Halloween. He is also prepping for his upcoming puppy party for his 4th birthday.


Lucy: Favorite words/phrases lately--"by my self", "backwards" (as she walks backwards), and "trouble". She loves dragging chairs or the step stool around to get into whatever she wants. She is also able to reach things off of the counter.... hence, the aforementioned "trouble". She will be a monkey for Halloween.

Trick or Sneeze.....

These past few weeks have seemed like a whirlwind. With parent teacher conferences this week, it is not likely to let up just yet. Some of the recent happenings:

LUCY:

1. Is now officially walking! YAY Lucy!
2. Is currently protesting her morning nap... DARN that time change and how it throws all the sleep schedules off!
3. Was in for her 1 year "well-child" visit, at which she was diagnosed as being not-so-well, therefore she did not receive her shots.
4. She weighed in at 20 lbs 8 oz, 30 inches tall, with an 18 and 3/4 inch head.
5. Is in love with monkeys. Big time. Sooo.... we got her in Owen's monkey costume for the big Halloween festivities.

OWEN:

1. Celebrated his 3rd birthday with a party yesterday. BIG FUN!
2. Also is the proud owner of a cough and congestion. Not so much fun.
3. Looked very handsome has Thomas the Train in the Mesick Halloween Parade with Mommy's class.
   
4. Is currently playing one of his new Leapster games as received yesterday. :)

MITCHELL:

1. Had a field trip to the pumpkin patch this past week. He was allowed to pick out a pumpkin to bring home, and then said "I got a pumpkin for Lucy, because Owen and I have 2, and she only has 1." Awww... very considerate big brother!
2. Had a Halloween party with his class.
3. Was the fierce Raphael, the ninja turtle, for Halloween.
4. Is now reading!
5. Also dealing with cough and congestion.
   
6. Is currently trying to barter his way into playing one of Owen's new games.