Blast Off

So we were coming out of a week of Swine Flu, and both kids were pretty depleted. Nevertheless, after spending 3 weeks on the costumes, we were definitely going to trick or treat. At least at 3 or 4 houses. But let's rewind the clock:

At the beginning we made the engines of the rockets. Max calls these "baga-boosters." This video is of us paining the pipe cleaners for Olin's -- Olin's rocket is horizontal, so the fire needs a little wiriness:

Then, finally, we try them on outside earlier today. When the kids are still sane.

And last but not least. They trick-or-treated at maybe 6 houses, and each got to eat one piece of candy on the trip - a gummy life saver -- calling them "gummy bobos." Olin started by putting it in his hair.

A few minutes of getting freaked out by skeletons on the street, and then, clearly, it is time to go home. Olin at the end repeated what he would for the rest of the night -- "scary robot man" -- referring to a kid dressed as a storm trooper. Later, Olin kept thinking scary robot man was in our house.

Both kids were asleep in their beds, fully clothed, by 7:30. Success.

The Halloween House

This morning Max and I were drawing and he drew this:

It was the story that went with it that I loved:

Me: Who is that guy?
Max:
He's the scarecrow. Those lines hold him up.
He's in the Halloween house.
First you have to get past him and he's scary.
Then you get in the elevator, and it takes you up (sound effect)
(thinking)
Somebody got in an escalator and got up to the highest shelf.
Then they went through all of those scary vines (to the left), until they got to the stairs.
That the end up step by step, then they swinged over stop signs, one then the other.
Then they put on suction cup shoes,
and climbed to the highest path.
They went all the way down the path to the other side.
Then they stepped over a stair,
and went down the highest slide.
And then they were done and then they went home.

A Brother's Love

There are moments that Maxwell is sweet.

When he was younger, he liked the book "Guess How Much I Love You," and sometimes he describes his love in distances, like between two outstretched hands.

Today he said to me, "Daddy, I love you all the way around the world and back." I told him that meant a lot to me. But he wasn't finished. "I love Mommy to outer space and back." Yeah? I said, that she loves you to outer space and back, too!

"And Daddy... I love Olin around the house and back."

Nice.

Value of money

This morning we were running late to school and Olin was crying because he didn't want Max to go. Max turned to him and said, Olin, I have to go to school so I can raise money for you to have toys. Olin, stopped crying, looked up at Max and said, "oh."

Binky Madness

To say that Olin is attached to his binky is an understatement. If he had his way he'd have 3 on hand and two in his mouth at all times. Last week he had a bad fall in his stroller which hurt his mouth so much that when he saw the binky he just screamed "NOOOO.!!! He also walked around with his fingers in his mouth saying, "crawly bug." A stock phrase for sore teeth, mouth, gums, and too much food in the mouth... The dentist said this was our window to get rid of the binky and we did...or so we thought. This week Olin appeared in the kitchen binky in mouth, smiling and proclaiming, "BINKY"..reuniting with his old friend. Then we were all driving in the mini this weekend and Olin had his binky in his mouth. I asked him "Olin, why do you have your binky in your mouth?" and he responded "why not?" Note to self: time to get rid of the binky.