HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

this year drew decided he wanted to hand candy out

alex wanted to find a costume in the basement

he went with venom

and ben put his new hands to use and went as mickey mouse

ben went over to sam's to trick or treat

and i went out with alex, jack, oliver, and deby

they were insistent that our first stop needed to be 'the toy house'

so that they got the best pick

they wanted their next stops to be the town houses behind us

they made out very well there!

5 king size candy bars

and one house that gave them a full size bar AND a dollar bill!

they went strong for a few hours

and were only stopped for 30 seconds by a quick hail storm

that came out of nowhere

alex ended up with 8.2 pounds of candy

over 200 pieces

that included 11 full size bars

and a dollar

not bad for a night's work

march!

typically, our middle school only sends their 8th graders to march in parades

BUT

this year they changed it up and decided to have the 7th graders march

ben was SO excited!

their first stop was the anoka little people big parade

it's a parade of area school kids in their costumes that march down main street

it could not have been a more beautiful day

saturday was a different story

it was anoka's big halloween parade

the place was a zoo

people had been marking their spots for the past 2 days

there were blankets and chairs taped to the ground

all along main street

drew and i decided to go 2 hours early

to try to get a spot

we found a spot on a corner

that seemed like it would be good

but as the parade started

people filled in

and everyone ended up standing out a few feet into the road

it was pure chaos

thankfully this was an odd parade

with a 'candy starts' sign and a 'candy end' sign

alex and friends fought hard for some candy

the 'big kids' did their best to stay warm and dry

and once the 'candy ends' sign came

over half of the people cleared out

and we were able to get a GREAT view of ben and the band

ben ...

you did a fabulous job

and

i LOVED watching you

pre-halloween fun

although halloween doesn't fall on a school day this year

that didn't stop alex and i from having a little bit of fun

it isn't often you are with a rockstar at starbucks

for the second year in a row

i was successful in getting our principal to dress up

a.k.a. bringing him a costume he can't refuse ;)

alex ended the day with a trunk or treat visit to a church down the road

you can never have too much candy, right?!

in disguise

me * ben * the barn

for the past few years

we have gone to williams arena

to see the first 'official' gopher scrimmage of the year

coming off of our trip

and a busy weekend

made it tough for all of us to get there

so ben and i went on a date to the barn

should be a fun season!

our weekend visitor

this weekend

grandma lenore came to visit

what made the visit even more fun 

is that we took the time to go see stacey's brother

just a little resemblance, you think? ;)