A Big 'Ol Pile of Money

Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but this year was different for us. Tyler was at an all day band festival (got all Superiors - go WaRu Band!) so he didn't dress up or go Trick-or-Treating. Ryan wasn't going to dress up either, but at the last minute (literally) before we left for the Ward Trunk-or-Treat party, he threw together bits of past costumes. He's a nut.

He calls it SanNinjaPotterLizardStein on Crutches.

On the other hand, Justin has been planning this costume since last year. He loved an investment company's commercial showing a guy going through his day with his pile of money following him around. Justin immediately decided that that was an awesome idea for a Halloween costume. Unfortunately, we couldn't find affordable play money in time for Halloween 2008. But he reminded me early this year that he still wanted to be a pile of money. So $10 for 1500 pieces of play money + $7 for electrical cable + $4 for spray paint + $3 for glue sticks + free old sheet + free hula hoop + 10 burned fingertips =

1 Happy Boy in a Pile of Money costume.
Priceless.


He even won the Most Creative Award at the party!

At one point during the handing out of the candy, Todd was tossing candies to Justin. Justin stumbled backwards and fell. He just laid there on the ground with his costume up over his head. (I busted up laughing and wondered if it would be bad to take a picture.) Then in typical Justin fashion, he moans, "I'm OK." This is the funniest kid. Everyone in the parking lot was watching to see if he was getting up alright and Sis. Hansen said, "Uh-oh. It's the collapse of the financial market!" I almost lost it.

After the party the boys went through the nieghborhood with their buddies and Todd & I went home to pass out candy. It was weird and we kept thinking how the boys are really growing up. Halloween is still fun, but in a different way than when the boys were little. We didn't even carve a single pumpkin this year! One things the same - Candy, candy, candy!

Friday Night Lights

Last Friday night was Tyler's Marching Band's last football game of the year. I think he's a little sad that it's over. I'm proud that he did so well. I tried all season to get a good picture of Tyler in his band uniform and never got one.

It was impossible to find him in this group. There are 215 kids in our band!

He's up there somewhere. Earlier in the season, I videoed their whole show focusing on Tyler. He was doing so great and I was so happy I found him and we were sitting in the perfect spot to see him during the whole show. Then when they were done, I realized it wasn't Tyler. It wasn't even a trumpet player. Anyone out there have a tromboner they want a 15 minute video of? Duh.

This is the band at the top getting ready to take the field as soon as those dancers get out of the way. I have no idea where Tyler is. I did video this time (still can't get video onto my blog) and I watched another wrong kid the whole time. They just don't stand still long enough!

And we froze in the stands. Fortunately, it was a short night for the band so we left at halftime. I'm glad they are done for the year - it's just too cold! It was really cool to see how the band improved over a few months and watching Tyler grow into it. He's glad for a break - 2 hrs. of marching every day is hard work! - and he's already talking about next year!

Farmer's Market & Fall Color

A few weeks ago, Todd was in China and we needed something to do. So we went to the Farmer's Market. It's been several years since I've gone and we didn't know what they'd have so late in the year. We bought 2 huge bunches of broccoli, 2 garlic bulbs, 10 fresh warm tortillas, 1 butternut squash, 1 Amish cheese bread, 1 Waterfall Restaurant cinnamon roll, and 12 apple cider doughnuts. We obviously gravitate towards the yummy baked goods. So much for healthy eating! But it was a good outing and I'll definitely be back next summer for the fresh produce!

On the way there, we kept pointing out all the beautiful trees that were finally changing colors. All those gorgeous leaves are gone now, but look how pretty they were for a few days!