Halloween & Birthday

First we start with a photo from a few days before Halloween.  Evan's cousin was over playing and they were doing such a great job just entertaining themselves and coming up with fun and creative things to do.  Evan came up and asked me if we had any white fabric so they could make ghosts.  I pulled out a white sheet and some washable markers so they could draw ghost faces on it.  When he wanted to cut it in half so both of them could have their own ghost sheets, I decided we'd better try something else.  White t-shirts.  Of course, Maren had to get in on it, too.  All three of them walked around for the longest time with their shirts over their heads.  They also drew all kinds of fun stuff on their shirt ghosts.  It was pretty cute.

See what I mean about Maren?  She always looks like a miserable child.  In reality she is fun, silly and happy, with a smile on her face more often than not.  Maybe I need to be more entertaining when I'm taking pictures or something.  Who knows!

This is Evan with the four presents he wrapped for me after his nap (he doesn't like to wear anything but his underwear when he naps!).  He spent about an hour doing it, wrapping every edge to make sure none of what was under the packaging was sticking out.  It really meant a lot to me.  This wasn't something Michael put him up to or a thought anyone else placed in his head.  Just doing something nice for his mom on her birthday.  It really helped make my day.  For some reason it was a hard day.  Am I the only one who has apparently unrealistic expectations for their birthdays?  Add to that heightened birthday feelings and then a day that everyone else celebrates for something completely NOT your birthday, and you get me...grumpy...on my birthday.  It's the pits.  Anyway, I share that because this little boy brightened my day with his love.  And now I have a new ball, stuffed moose, book and something else from his closet that I can't remember now.  :-)

Evan was Iron Man this year, thanks to his good friend Noah, who got it for him for his birthday.  He was absolutely beside himself (he's quite the super hero lover) with the funniest comments about his "amazing", "awesome", "cool" suit.  Never one to leave a Halloween costume be, Michael added an "arc reactor" to the chest that really lights up.  You know those dot lights that you push on and off?  Yeah, worked great.  Pretty much everyone was in awe of his costume everywhere we went.  Sometimes a bit too much.  Kids would come up and try to push his arc reactor.  They would take his mask from his head and try to put it on his face so they could see him completely decked out.  I literally had to fight one kid off today at the school's fall festival.  He would not leave Evan alone and was completely and entirely invading Evan's personal space trying to get to the arc reactor and the mask.  I was pushing him away, saying, "leave him alone!" and threatening to use my famous karate chop on him (this was after several attempts at keeping my cool and being gentle and kind!).  Ha!  Maren was a ballerina.  Michael said only for one night and that she shouldn't get used to the idea.  Heehee.  She liked to dance around whenever I reminded her that she was a "dancer", though.  What a sweet thing.