It was a very busy weekend!

Friday afternoon Leanne picked up their friend Rhyder and brought him to our house for a play date. After they played their games, ran around, and had fun, she took the three boys over to Rhyder's grandparents where I met them. They trick-or-treated at their house as well a few of their friends/family members. The boys liked being in their costumes (monkeys), and liked getting candy, they just weren’t so sure about trick-or-treating! We got home around 6:15 and the trick-or-treaters begun. Jurgen came over and we stood out in our driveway, drinking beer (hee hee hee) while the boys had a blast handing out play-doh to all of the kids (we didn't want the candy in the house.) The boys didn’t like the kids in masks, but the parents were very accommodating and would take the masks off – then when they left, our kids would yell out, “BYE MASK!” The boys trick or treated to a couple of houses in our neighborhood, but really weren't into it. We finally went in around 8:15 and had our last trick or treaters around 8:30 - one of the kids was definitely over 21. The kids went to bed at 9 and Carter was up 5x between 10-11 - too much candy or too much excitement?

Grayson wasn't too sure about trick-or-treating

Carter really did like his monkey costume - I swear

Here are our monkeys with Leanne, the zoo keeper

Doing what they loved best, handing out the Play-doh

Saturday we headed to Northern Virginia bright an early to be at Cox Farms at 10am. Rainbow Families was hosting us. We spent 4 hours running around there. The kids had a blast climbing on everything and crawling through the tunnels. Someone should have warned us that aliens and trolls chase us on the hayride and that you have to go through the "party barn." The kids were terrified. Grayson cried and cried while clinging to Leanne and Carter buried himself in my lap. They also didn't want to go down the slides, but once I took them (with them clinging onto me for dear life) they laughed and said they had fun. Goofy boys. They were both asleep before we got out of the parking lot. When we got home we played outside (it was so beautiful out!) Our 10 year old next door neighbor, Mac (who the boys adore!) came over and played with them while we raked leaves. My plan to keep them up late (for day light savings) was thwarted by 2 exhausted kids at 8:00. That was okay. We were exhausted too.

They had a blast climbing through tunnels

Signing songs on the "American Idol Stage"

And climbing on bales of hay

This is our 3rd year at Cox Farms - here is our progression - we've come a long way, baby!

2006

2007

2008

Sunday I convinced the kids to stay in bed till 6:15 (7:15 old time! I was just happy to make it into the 6 o’clock hour!) Leanne and I so wanted to spend the day in bed, but we have 2 kids, who have no interest in lounging all day, so we went to breakfast and then to Costco. Leanne wasn't feeling well when we got back so I took the kids to play at the playground and put them down for a nap. After nap we took the kids to see their first stage production - Richard Scarry's BusyTown. It was geared for kids 2-6 and while it started off rocky (kids scared by dark, costumes, etc) it was okay by the end. By the end they where still both sitting in our laps, but were participating (clapping, cheering, etc.) We'd planned on going for dinner, but the kids had eaten their weight in snacks during intermission, so we went to got pizza and headed home. The kids were asleep by 8:15 and I was out by 9:30. Good thing, since Carter woke at 5:40am and was up for the day. Grayson and I weren’t pleased.