HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

What a day...sunny and 70+ degrees on October 31st in Indiana. Halloween just doesn't get better than this.

Today, the kids had a great day. We went out to lunch at McDonald's (kids choice), played in the leaves at the park, went trick-or-treating, and ended the evening at the neighbors house around a good ole camp fire while eating hotdogs and chili.

Tonight, Maya discovered her love for trick-or-treating with her friends. She always seemed to be 2 houses in front of us and didn't want anything to do with mommy and daddy as she sprinted from house to house with her friends with a smile plastered across her face. Kai on the othber hand, liked it a bit slower pace (very suiting for a turtle don't you think?). Between Dom, my mom, and myself, I think he got carried around more than half of the neighborhood, walking long enough to reach the front doors of the houses from the street to retrive his prized candy.

When their heads hit the pillow tonight, they were both asleep within seconds. Always a sign of a great Halloween.

"Mommy, I Don't LIke That!"

Maya's frined Kenzie asked us to go to a halloween haunted house. It was a fundraiser for our local boys and girls club and was equipped with games for the kids, refreshments, and of course the "haunted house" ,which was really "unhaunted" between the hours of 3:00 and 5:00. This was the time for young children to give it a try since all or most of the lights would be on and the "jump out in front of you and try to scare you tactic" would be strongly discouraged. We meandered through the maze of dragons, creepy bridges, finger butchershops, and haunted living rooms. Even though all of the participants were really down playing their parts and giving out candy around every corner, there was definately a scare in the air. As we rounded one of the corners, Kai took one glimpse of the painted white face ahead, stopped dead in his tracks, and said, "Mommy, I don't like that. Up, Mommy, Up!". As we safely left the building, all three kids declared that they "didn't like that" but were ever so happy to open the blue suckers that the white-masked man had given them.

We decided to head to the town's central park only blocks away for some unstructured play time. We played duck duck goose, monster tag, and had a blast throwing leaves at one another.

Thank You Julia!

Dear Julia,

I was so excited to get your package today. When I opened it and saw the overalls, I had to try them on right away. I like the fall ones the best. I even let Shao Shao wear the Scarecrow ones since he wanted to be just like me. I can't wait to wear the Halloween ones to school next week. Me and Shao Shao played outside and acted so silly in our new overalls.

Thank you so much.

Love, Maya

A Package From Nanny!

Thank you Nanny for our new Halloween shirts. We really like them!

Have a great time in England...

Love Maya and Kai.

Coulter's Pumpkin Patch!

Today, Maya went on a fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch with her class. It was a perfect fall day for running through corn mazes, playing on the "Trick or Treat Express" school bus, driving the train, and searching for the perfect pumpkin.

Maya's favorite thing to do at school is to play with her friend Kadin. They seem to be inseparable. Maya and Kadin are usually always hanging out, sitting next to each other at snack, and playing together. Today on the fieldtrip was no different. Kadin is featured in almost every one of my snapshots.

It is wonderful and sad all at the same time to see such a grown-up Maya interacting with her friends. Although not often, she still takes an occasional quick glimpse around just to make sure her Mommy is still lurking in the croud. My how times have changed from needing to hold her mommy's hand each step of the way.