Happy Halloween!

It must be a Des Moines thing, but every year, the kids trick or treat the day before Halloween. It's called Beggar's Night, and the kids absolutely LOVE it, regardless of the actual day it falls on. Tonight before the kids scoured the neighborhood for their annual loot, we had a pizza party at the Jacovin's house (one of our neighbors) and the kids got to show off their costumes and play in the backyard together before they got wrapped up in the candy frenzy. Oh and what a frenzy it was!! Katherine and Caleb returned home with more candy and goodies than they could eat in an entire year -- or more than I'll let them! I'm sure they'd have no problem polishing off the bag in a week or so!! LOL!!

Today was also a big day in another way -- it was Andrew's four week birthday. I was looking at him in amazement today ... my sweet, cuddly, innocent little boy who has filled my heart with love and joy in ways I never know possible. He's such a wonderful baby.... so content.... so sweet ... so happy. In some ways, it seems like this past four weeks flew by and he's growing so quickly, and in others, it's hard to remember life without him. It's as if he was with us all along.

Katherine's dance studio is right next to the Hospice where my Grandma stayed the last weeks of her life. When we were on our way home from class last night, she mentioned that she missed Grandma Krekow and wanted to bring doughnuts for the people who were in there now. (Isn't she sweet and thoughtful)???? She started talking about Heaven and Grandma being there and then asked if she got to hold and play with Andrew before we did. Wow... Just wow... What a complex concept for a little 5 year old girl.

Katherine and I picked out this little pumpkin costume for Andrew and I couldn't wait to put him in it today. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best fitting costume in the world, but it's still cute anyway!

Happy birthday to my baby boy!!

The costume wasn't working out too well, so I took it off and got a few in his regular clothes. Oh, and do you notice anything that all of these pictures have in common??? If you said, "he's sleeping" you win!! That's right, my little Sleeping Beauty is getting lots of rest so he can play with his Mommy all night long! LOL!

Not to be outdone by their baby brother, here's the Halloween costumes!

Katherine as Shawn Johnson. Oh, and a little funny... She sat me down today after school and needed to have a *serious* conversation. She was all concerned that her friends wouldn't recognize her. That's right... she honestly believed that everyone would really think she was Shawn. AAAAHHHH, only my Katherine would be truly concerned about that....

Gotta show off the gold baby!! Isn't that medal adorable????

Caleb -- our little Hawkeye. When we were over at Rick and Danyel's house last weekend, they gave him this uniform as they are die hard Cyclone fans, and have no use for anything black and gold. Caleb was more than happy to take if off their hands for them!!

I have to laugh when I look at this next picture of Caleb. It's so him ... such a little charmer, a total showoff, and a complete ham. Oh, and tonight instead of yelling "CHEEEEEZZZE" every time he saw the camera, he started yelling, "I looooove you, Mommy"! totally out of the blue. Man, do I love that kid! He's so stinkin' sweet!!

Katherine just couldn't help herself - she had to start tickling Caleb!

Morgan, my sister's little girl, also came over to trick or treat with us. It was hilarious -- Caleb was terrified of her face paint, and really didn't believe it was Morgan. He wouldn't stand close to her for the longest time! Actually, he really didn't get the whole costume thing at all. Instead of calling someone by their name, he'd only call them the name of their costume. So instead of saying, "Collin and I ......." he'd say, "the lion and I .......". It really freaked him out. It was like he didn't get that all of his friends were dressed up as something else. Thankfully, Katherine wore a leotard, so he had at least one "safe" person tonight! LOL!!

If you look closely, that's Caleb's head behind Katherine. He wasn't warming up to the costume thing very quickly!

A group shot of the kids after we ate pizza. Too fun!! Let the trick or treating begin!!

Oh, and if you're still reading -- my medical mystery is solved! My lovely rash was getting out of control and literally getting worse every time I looked at it. So, I had to make the trip to the doctor today. After blood work and strep culture I finally have an answer.... Remember when I had mastitis? Evidently the good doc thinks that I was allergic to that antibiotic, as it really couldn't be anything else. So yea, fun times! Oh, and yet another drug I can't take or am allergic to!