Have you come down from the Sugar Rush yet?

Wow, what a weekend! Seems like Halloween was weeks away, not days!

The boys had a great time this year. Sam and I went in to Josh's class and helped with some fun Halloween activities. The kids in his class are fantastic. He's got a wonderful teacher -- but she's been out since mid-September (she had back surgery). Thankfully, the supply teacher is wonderful too! Apparently the teacher expects to be back after Thanksgiving. I know the kids will really miss Ms. Barlow, but it will be good to have Mrs. Waterfall back too!

Anyway, I want to share a few photos...

Here is this year's pumpkin. Since I seem to be the only one willing to carve them, I decided only one this year. Of course the kids picked out the pattern...

Josh and Sam in costume... Red Power Ranger and Spiderman.

I told the kids I was not buying any costumes this year and they had to make do with what we had. A friend gave us the Red Power Ranger suit in exchange for an old Buzz Lightyear we'd loaned her years ago. I got the better end of the deal!

Sam then wanted to be Spiderman so they could be Superheroes together.

And thankfully he was Spiderman because at one point on Halloween night, he looked up at me and said, "It's a good thing I'm Spiderman with muscles so I'm strong enough to carry this bag of candy!"

We went to a friend's house and trick-or-treated with them. Here they are just before the candy fest began.

We were only out for an hour and the kids collected 3 1/2 lbs of candy! Sam had a melt down at 7:30 and Josh was exhausted so we left. I think Trick-or-Treating ended at 8:30 anyway. But there is no way we could have made it out that long! On the way home Josh looked up at me and said, "Man Mom, I feel soooo gooooodddd!!!" At that point I began to wonder how much candy he had eaten enroute. The boys were so excited they were up early on Friday and Sam even asked if it was time to Trick-or-Treat at 7:00 AM!

But they had fun and we have HEAPS of candy!

On Saturday we were lucky enough to discover we needed a new dishwasher! Yea us! Our dishwasher has been producing black junk/mold/disgusting stuff. We clean it off, it comes back. And it's not cleaning or drying properly either.

So this weekend we decided to take it apart to clean it properly -- and the whole thing was gross. We decided if it was broken, it wouldn't be worth it to fix. We checked on line and if the heating element is gone (what we expect) it wouldn't be worth it to replace. What sucks is it's only 4 years old!

So, off we went to the shops and now I'm waiting installation of a new Bosch -- it's a quiet one so I'm quite excited. We have an "open plan" and it's hard to hear the TV when the dish washer is running.

And Saturday was Josh's last baseball game. I forgot to get pictures. Rich wasn't feeling well so I was solo at the game with both boys. And eventhough Rich wasn't feeling well, he had to sort out our garage door. So not only did we just get a new dishwasher, but we may need a new garage door soon too. I know. Lucky us. Don't be jealous, I'm sure you'll have the "everything breaks at once close to Christmas" sooner or later too.

Sunday Josh and Rich were both sick (just keeps getting better doesn't it?). I kept Josh home from school today so he can have ample time to recover. But it threw the whole weekend right out of whack.

And when Sam got in the car after preschool today he said something about making an instrument and I realized today was "Home Made Instrument Day" and I'd forgotten completely and didn't send one in with him! Yeah, I know, my nomination for Mother of the Year is almost a lock!

Both kids are home tomorrow too -- with the election and all. I hope the lines aren't too long. If they are, then God bless those in line around me! Maybe I'll bring the bag of Halloween Candy and pass it out to the others in line.

Don't forget to go out and vote tomorrow!