Halloween

Halloween was very fun, of course!! We experienced a first....a Halloween parade at school. The boys were pumped. I watched them all parade around the school and then went back to their rooms for Halloween parties, complete with Halloween decor and the word Halloween!!!! Crazy, huh? After we got home from school and ate dinner, we met up with a few kids from Garrett's class and a couple from Gavin's and trick or treated around the neighborhood. Garrett got cold after a while and didn't want to cover up his costume with a coat, so he and Darin headed home. Kierstin didn't want to go home, she wanted to keep going. She was dressed as a bunny and she walked the whole way. She also insisted on carrying her 2000 pound pink pumpkin bucket by herself. Finally towards the end, when the bucket was honestly causing her to tip over, cutting the circulation off to her fingers, she let me tote it. Gavin and Kierstin and I got home about 45 minutes after Garrett. Garrett had arranged all his candy in piles of like types. He was handing out candy...I'm not exactly sure of his thoughts, but it seems like cute girls received the comment, "Here's some candy for you, you get extra candy because you're extra awesome."

October 22-28

Kierstin decided Daddy would look better with a few stickers on his head!


Kierstin likes to dance!!! Two girls with curls!

We had parent teacher conferences on Thursday. Both the boys are doing well. Gavin's teacher was very impressed by how bright he is, the principal has even commented on how well he reads. She has been doing a great job giving him extra work and challenging him. Garrett is also doing great. He has a little problem doing things he doesn't want to do, but he's making big strides. He's learning to read and is an amazing little artist.

Friday night, Darin took the boys on a Halloween "night hike" at Cheyenne Mountain State Park just south of us. They learned about bats, owls, and other night creatures.

Saturday, my parents came to town. We saw Garrett's last soccer game on Saturday.

The Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestra had a Halloween concert on Sunday. The boys, my mom and I went. It was very fun. The boys wore their costumes for some pre-concert fun. They had a costume contest and Gavin won first place!!! He was so proud and excited. He got to sit on the stage and watch the orchestra up close, as you can imagine he thought that was pretty cool. He said he could tell which instrument was going to start playing because you could see them getting ready. He described the harp in great detail to Garrett. At first, Garrett was a little upset he didn't win. But as soon as the costume contest was over, Garrett's name was drawn from a hat of a ton of names. There were probably over 100 kids there and their parents. He walked up on the stage (well ran is probably a more accurate description). The conductor gave him an envelope with some tickets in it (he announced what the prize was, but Garrett was so excited he couldn't even hear him). Garrett comes running back down to the audience and says, "I can't believe I won. (pause) What did I win?" I said, "Tickets to the Nutcracker!" He responds, "Oh, yea!! Like the movie, I like that movie!" I said, "Yes, like the movie but it's the ballet." He disappointedly said, "The ballet, oh man." The man in front of us was laughing (out loud). Garrett finally decided that it was an alright win. They played some of the boys favorite songs like Bald Mountain, Danse Macabre, Jurassic Park, and Star Wars.

We also carved pumpkins. The kids get to take them to school for a pumpkin carving contest. Gavin went with school spirit and carved a cute little alien with a CME (Cheyenne Mountain Elem) sign and Garrett had his own fantastic idea that he drew all by himself and helped Darin carve. He decided to add some flags to the top for a patriotic theme.

Garrettisms

On Tuesday, Garrett slept in. He got up just in time to take Gavin to school with Kierstin and me. When we got back he wanted to start carving his pumpkin...this is Daddy territory. I told him we'd need to wait for Daddy. He said, "Geez, is Daddy ever going to wake up?" I laughed and told him Daddy was already at work. He said, "Man, that's what stinks about sleeping in."

Later that day, Kierstin had a friend over for a playdate. She and Garrett were eating lunch and Garrett told her, "I'm glad I'm not a girl. Then I don't have to have my stomach cut open to have a baby when I grow up." Not sure where he got that info, but it was pretty funny!

Boo at the Zoo

On Friday, Oct. 19, we went to the Boo at the Zoo. We trick-or-treated our way around the zoo, went in a haunted house, and saw a magic show. Lots of fun! The kids, especially Gavin, received all kinds of wonderful comments on their costumes. Gavin is a lego mini-figure, Garrett is a skeleton hippie, and Kierstin went to the zoo as a witch....temperature dependent she may be a rabbit on Halloween.

Funnies

If this is going to work, I'm going to have to be a little more consistent!! Garrett, of course, has had a few funny things fall out of his mouth in the past couple of weeks. Here it goes....

He was driving with Darin and told Darin he loved him. Then he goes on to say, "You know, Daddy, love is the most important thing in your heart." Darin agrees with him and then Garrett says, "If you don't have love in your heart, God will strike you down with lightning, right?"

Garrett's skin, including his bum, has been miserably dry since we moved to Colorado. A combination of dry bum and a little constipation led to him not wanting to poop for a couple days because it hurt, which of course made matters worse. Well, finally he pooped. I was sitting in the other room during this miraculous act. He was in the bathroom mumbling to himself, "Oh, that feels good. Oh, that was a big poopie. Man, it feel good to have my bum back." I was laughing so hard!!!

Gavin is staying busy with school and a chess class he's taking. In school they had to do a science project, which was one of three choices, a seed collection, a flower model or a bee model. He chose the bee model. He did a wonderful job. He made two bees, one looked just like a bee the other was silver and became robo-bee. He wrote a book about the adventures of these two bees. The regular bee was Tommy who's DNA got morphed and turned into Commander Bee and had to fight Robo-bee. I will post some pictures of the bees later. They're at school and I forgot to take a picture before they went in!

Kierstin is a crazy 2 year old. She's talking up a storm and wants to do everything the boys do...climb on things, jump on the trampoline, color, do her homework. The boys come home from school and Kierstin gets out a notebook and crayons and says, "I do my homework."