School Party

 The boys got to wear their costumes to school on Friday.  Before their class party, they went to sing at a retirement community nearby that had the word "Woods" in the name.  (James later reported, "That was not at all what I expected.  I thought we would be out in the woods!")

Happy Halloween

 The pumpkins are ready!

School Pictures

Not the greatest, but we decided not to risk worse ones on retake day.

Night of Fall Fun

 Friday night was the fall carnival at the boys' school.  Of course, the thing that James was most excited about was playing on the playground!  (I think they've had outside recess all of three times since school has started -- it's ridiculous.)  They met up with their friend J and had fun doing the carnival games with him.  Matthew and J also enjoyed the storytime with the librarian, Mrs. W.  (As you can see, Mrs. W had lots of fans!)

They also did face painting -- James just wanted polka dots and orange triangles.  (The polka dots were for the red Angry Bird, and the triangles were for Chuck, the yellow Angry Bird.)  Matthew got a blue jack o'lantern on one hand and a tiger on the other.

Spooky Farmer

The first graders have a farmer who comes in every month with different animals.  In honor of Halloween, this month's animals were a little spookier -- the lizard shown here, the baby tarantula (not pictured out of respect for Mike), and a cane toad (yuck).

Unity Day

 The boys' school had "Unity Day" on Wednesday.  Apparently this was some kind of friendship/anti-bullying celebration, but the big attraction for the boys was that everyone was supposed to wear orange.  ("Maybe we should call it Matthew Day!")  They also placed decorated pumpkins to spell out the word Unity.  James couldn't remember where their class had put their pumpkins, so the photos are just of random ones.  :)

(And only James is in the photos because I was picking him up for an audiology appointment.  The appointment was quick and he was hungry afterwards, so we stopped by Wegmans -- and James ate two whole garlic rolls!  Woo-hoo!)

Football Weekend

 We had nice football afternoon with friends last weekend (although the boys were more interested in playing on the iPad and in Matthew's case, with his toy cars).  Our friends are Michigan State fans, and the finish of the Michigan-MSU game was crazy -- in the final seconds, the Michigan punter fumbled the ball, and it bounced into the hands of an MSU player who ran into the end zone for a game-winning touchdown.  It was fun to celebrate the crazy victory with true fans!  (As an added bonus, the true fans also make delicious chili.)

Sleep Study Number Two

Mattie-bear had his sleep study on Friday night.  (It was supposed to be last weekend, but he was sick.)  He was a little worried about it, but he was very good once we were there, and everything went smoothly.  (It was the same room and even the same technician as for James's study.) We won't know the results for another week or so.  Hopefully we don't have another tonsil operation in our future!

Back to the Bug

 Sometimes when we drive by Doodlebugs, the boys mention wanting to go back to the playground there. So, when DoodleBugs had an open house the other week, we seized the opportunity.  :)  The boys were glad to see their big turtles (Flumpy and Lumpy). Mattie was also excited about all the crafts.  We saw one of their teachers from the summer before last -- I was amazed that she remembered them! Fun evening all around.  :)