Getting in the Spirit

I was talked into getting the Christmas tree out yesterday because Ben wanted to investigate the faulty lights.  We never did figure out the problem, but we solved it by throwing an extra string of lights over the broken string.  Naturally, the next request was to decorate the tree, so that's how the boys and I spent a fun afternoon.

Ben carefully added all of his ornaments to the front of the tree.

Alex chose to put all of his on the same poor branch, which now hangs to the floor.

Sweet boys enjoying the lights and talking about how much they love the Christmas tree.  Turns out I'm pretty happy they talked me into it, even though I won't bring out everything else until after Thanksgiving.  Might as well enjoy this for an extra week, right?

Naturally, someone else got to enjoy the tree, too!  Blue actually seemed to enjoy the lights.  Or maybe he was terrified.  Either way, it made for a cute picture and lots of giggles.

The boys also asked to paint more ornaments and I'm always up for any craft they request.  They each got two frosted glass balls to decorate.

Ben did a great snowman and a "tree".  Alex picked a "tree" and a "snowflake".  So out of the bunch, we have some very colorful treasures to add to the tree and I imagine we'll have some laughs when we pull them out years down the road.  Luckily, they labeled them so well we'll remember they were done at 5:30 on November 20th, 2013 when Ben was 7.  Making memories here...

Trick or Treat!

I'm a little behind on the pictures, but I don't want to forget what a fun halloween we had this year.  Ben was super excited to wear a t-shirt of his costume to school, since they don't allow the kids to wear costumes.

 

 And just a few short hours later, we had our own Darth Vader in search of treats!

 

We also had an adorable Mario, who suffered through the mustache for about 30 seconds to humor me.

The boys never asked to carve pumpkins this year, so I thought we were home free.  Then about 5pm on Halloween, they decided they were ready.  Uh, no.  Instead, I gave them paint markers to decorate them and we got some very cute zombies and ghosts.  I wish I'd gotten a close-up of those.

 We left a big bucket of candy by the door and started meeting up with the other kids on the street to start the trick or treating madness.

This picture says it all - Alex is blurry because he was running so fast.  That kid never slowed down the entire evening!

I love, love our street and the circle outside our culdesac.  It seems like everyone was outside enjoying the beautiful night and watching the kids have a blast.

Towards the end of the night, Alex was laden with loot.

When we got home, he wasn't ready for the fun to end, so he pulled out his chair and handed out the rest of the candy.

I have found this unbelievable for the past two years - as soon as the kids get home, they eat a couple pieces of candy, then they're done with it!  They absolutely love trick or treating but they quickly forget all about the treats.  That just leaves more for me!