Halloween weekend

Friday was Halloween. The kids in Jack's class got to take costumes and games to play on Friday. He brought the chess set and played with another boy who knew how to play while many of the kids gathered around. As I hoped, the game didn't actually end. One of the children upset the board. He also wore his costume to school and many children keyboarded him on the playground.

Our little party was fun. Soup and other food; family and some friends brought some nice wine to share. The kids played until it was time to trick or treat. Ariel came. We strolled up our block, then down another. I'd say only 1 in 3 houses had any lights on to welcome trick or treaters. Still, the kids loved it and both Jack and Ry were dragging their jack o'lantern buckets filled to the brim with candy. Ry probably only ate candy that day, and he was a holy terror. Cute though. Afterward the kids spread out their loot in the living room and began trading. (Anything with peanuts was confiscated.)

Saturday morning, we had breakfast burritos just before the early polls opened at 10. Ry ate the eggs and bacon and cheese and tortilla heartily, and for the rest of the day the boys forgot about candy. The line to vote looked long, but it was sunny and the process was unbeleivably smooth. The boys got to go to the booths with us to watch us fill the ballots out. Afterward, there were some errands and a birthday party that didn't quite pan out. Cyndi and Ariel went out that night for Indian food.

The weather was so beautiful and warm the entire weekend. We got up early Sunday morning and discovered it was even earlier than we thought. After we changed the clocks, we went to church. I sat in with Jackson at the children's eulogy, so he could get used to going with the other children. The children knew all the answers and Jack just took it in. One question was, "Do you want to be a saint?" He turned to his friend and asked, "What's a saint?" It was a donut Sunday, and afterwards we got some more shelving for the garage. I spent the afternoon re-reorganizing the garage and mowing the backyard while Ry got all the baseball gear out onto the front lawn. Nicki came over (she's at UNM) and she and the boys played a little baseball. We grilled some chicken and ate that with some salad and sweet potato fries outside. It was just a beautiful evening.