Check out the link to The House Fairy in my link list. She's Santa Claus' sister & checks to make sure kids are keeping their rooms clean. If they are she'll occasionally leave a note or prize or something. If they're not, she leaves a bit of fairy dust (glitter) to let them know Santa will be getting a report that their room wasn't picked up. We've introduced her to Brandon & it works pretty well.

Mom & Dad drove down with the airsteam this week in preparation for Mark's big move. We went out to Maumelle Park to have dinner with them on Tuesday night. It was cold outside, but the boys went out to have a bonfire while the girls stayed inside. It wasn't long until the boys saw the folly of being outside & came back into warm up!
Jennifer came out to visit too. She's been making fabulous progress on a new diet program, so she didn't join us for dinner. Dad made a new chicken recipe that involves those French's fried onion things. Brandon loved it so much he ate TWO helpings - every last crumb. We also had noodles (Stroganoff I think) and peas. Laedyn watched all the proceedings from her Bumbo seat. Don't worry, my leg was in front of it so there was no danger of her toppling off onto the floor...(yes we've heard about the recall)
Papa was entertaining the kids ... successfully at that!
Mamo brought along a couple of books. Brandon was happy to let Papa read to him ...and he was quick to add his 2 cents to the story.After storytime, we needed to get ready to go home. Laedyn needed a change, so Nick had to crawl under the table to get past everyone. Brandon thought it was pretty funny. Any of you who have been in the Airstream know how crowded it can get. Nick managed to get out eventually, Laedyn got a clean diaper AND her jammies, and we subsequently headed back to the house. Brandon ended up sleeping in his clothes that night - it was close to 10pm by the time we got home & we didn't have the heart to wake him up. The next night he asked if he could sleep in his clothes again! Silly boy.

Trick or Treat! We took Brandon the green ghost to Rich & Regina's house to go trick or treating with Jackson the ninja. The boys had a blast! I've never seen so much candy - it was rather excessive. Brandon's bag got so heavy after doing just one street he had to unload into a grocery bag before heading back out to do another street.

I thought these luminaries looked nice lining someone's sidewalk.

The boys did a great job of saying "trick or treat" and thanking all the nice folks handing out candy. As the night wore on, Brandon became more & more creative. Nick said he even told some people he loved them! He told other people "sweet dreams" and "don't let the bed bugs bite" ... That boy is NOT shy!

Here's Rich holding Jackson's cousin Luke. Luke goes to the same daycare/preschool as Brandon & Laedyn.


Laedyn stayed at the house with the grown-ups handing out candy. She slept thru most of the evening in her stroller.

Brandon's preschool had their Halloween party last week and all the kids dressed up & had their pictures taken. They were all really cute. After pictures, all the kids sat down to have thier party food which, unsurprisingly, contained bright orange cheese puffs. They make it to EVERY preschool party - even most of the private birthday parties. In addition, all the kids got a goody bag to bring home - full of candy & Halloween themed trinkets. Brandon got a mini glow-in-the-dark rubber mummy ducky. Cute.

Kaleb's Daddy brought this skeleton head in a ball. It moved around & made noise (talked maybe???). The kids were fascinated of course.

Meet the Green Ghost...Brandon & I had a little photo shoot in the preschool playground before their Halloween Party started. He thought he was a pretty scary ghost ... Charming ghost...
Silly ghost...


Hard to find ghost ...

Last Sunday Nick & I painted my new office. The green was a touch mintier than the paint chip, but it's not too far off that I felt compelled to go back to Home Depot & complain.