Halloween Happiness part 2

I know, we're way past Halloween, but I've got a couple more photos I meant to share. We did a couple of community Trick or Treat activities, one at the zoo, one in Downtown Hillsboro with Tina's bookstore and Radio Disney and one out in Forest Grove with our friends. The boys were thrilled to wear their costumes so many times! 

Gabe and Ben had a great time at the zoo, even though it rained a bunch. They put togehter a huge floor puzzle of a Tiger, and Gabe made a paper penguin. They got fruit leather in their zoo goodie bag, so they were jazzed, even though there wasn't really any trick or treating or candy.

In the end, even afte we trick or treated so much, they didn't really bring home a lot of candy - nor did they miss it much. Gabe did notice I ate one of his big long skinny tootsie rolls, and he was a little bitter about it - but we got them a whole bag of fat tootsie rolls. Their favorite haul was a Toy Story 3 puzzle from the Radio Disney folks. They each got one...probably left over from promoting the movie, but the boys didn't care.

Max wasn't terribly thrilled with his Wheezy costume, but he did like being wheeled around outside so much, so he didn't complain much once we were out and about.  He's finally getting in the rest of his teeth, so no more jack-o-lantern smile.

It was a lot of fun to run around Forest Grove with Penny, Henry, and Tasha. I hope that even as the kids get bigger we'll all stay friends. It's nice for the boys to have friends they've known since they were babies. With Gabe in preschool every day it's hard to get out there as much as we used to, but it's always a blast!

Henry even got Gabe to wear his Buzz wings with his costume. Every other time Gabe refused to wear the wings. It's was certainly a case of "be careful what you wish for", though. We couldn't get Gabe to agree to push the wings into the folded back position to work his way through the crowds, so he kept bumping folks with his fully extended wings. Gabe claims that next year he wants to be Zurg...because Zurg is his favorite color (purple)! Ben just wants another lollipop. Til next time!

Halloween Happiness Part 1

So it's two days to Halloween and Gabe's already had not one, but two parties. We attended a fabulous bash at the Webber's house in Forest Grove - friends from baby class, yummy snacks, lots of costumes, so much fun! After the party Jen sewed up the boys costumes so they wouldn't trip, since my concoction of double-sided tape and glue dots was not working out...funny, it always works on my scrapbook pages!

The boys are a trio from Toy Story this year, much at the insistence of the oldest bossy boots. He desperately wanted to be Buzz, so naturally he wanted Ben to be Woody. Ben's pretty kick back, so even though given a choice he might choose Nemo or Thomas, he agreed pretty easily to be Buzz's best buddy. We got Max a cute (and warm) penguin costume from eBay, added a microphone, and called him Wheezy - the penguin who sings at the end of Toy Story 2. I mistakenly noted that now they were all in Toy Story 3 costumes, and Gabe corrected me right away, "No, Mom! Wheezy is Toy Story 2!" I could practically hear the "Geez!" in his voice.

Today Gabe got to have a Halloween party at school too. Everyone wore costumes, and they decorated (and ate) sugar cookies. Gabe was so excited about wearing Buzz to school. In the hallway outside his room he complimented Blake on his Transformers costume, though he hasn't the foggiest idea what a Transformer might be. He complimented Siddanth on the utility belt from his Darth Vader costume, mostly because Gabe harbors a long denied wish for a Buzz Lightyear doll with the blue utility belt ala Toy Story 2, and is unfortunate enough to only own way too many Toy Story beltless versions. Poor thing, right? Still these compliments, uttered in full sentences in an audible voice were a huge step forward for Gabe. Yea!

Then he got inside his classroom and kids in costumes started arriving in droves. Teacher Gina asked everyone to sit on the carpet for a group photo - by that point Gabe was shutting down. You could practically see the shades coming down over his eyes as the situation got to be too much for him. All the other little guys are chattering and excited about the Halloween fun going on - Gabe's parked his butt on a purple carpet spot and starts refusing to make eye contact. He said it's because the Batman cosutmes were too scary! I kissed his little purple head and said bye, dragging my Woody-clad two year old away from the lego table with the promise of fruit snacks in the car.

Gabe eventually warmed up to the party and had a super time at school. He's like the hungry caterpillar giving a school report - today he ate 1 frosted cookie with purple sprinkles and gummi bears and 1 cupcake. So he loved the party, as any situation with cake is a-ok in his book. He was upset when I made him take of the Buzz costume after school, but he did share his halloween party goodie bag with Ben. He chose the shiny gold candy for himself (it was a twix, but he didn't care. The wrapper was shiny and gold...only something shiny and purple could've topped that!). He gave plain M&Ms to Ben without a bit of argument. That may be the last sweet thing he did today, since he was so overtired from two days of partying...and only two more to go...