In our annual quest to get as much wear as possible out of the Halloween costumes, we wore them to Baby Billy’s birthday party, the YMCA Halloween party, Pam & Ted’s spooky soiree (Brutus and Popeye only), preschool & day care, and trick-or-treating with the Fahys and Lewenbergs. Adlani missed out on the T-or-T’ing because he was sent home for unecessary roughness, and Norah stole the show by blowing kisses at each house. We got lucky with the weather and it was a great night to beg for chocolate.

Here’s an assortment of pics (Email me if you’d like copies of the spooky soiree photos that are inappropriate for a family blog.).

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I spent 3 days this week in Indianapolis, preparing for and teaching a 2-day class on building code requirements for doors (Woohoo!!). Even though it took me HOURS to create the presentation, something similar to an NFL playbook to keep the household running while I was gone, and a refill on my public speaking / flying prescription, it was almost like a mini-vacation for me. None of my students needed to be wiped, force-fed, or repeatedly told to do anything. My coteacher dressed himself, made it to breakfast on time without bribery or threats, and packed his own backpack without going to time-out. I only had 6 cubic feet of stuff with me so my room was always neat, and nobody left poop in the toilet or toothpaste in the sink. I went to bed between 10 and 11 p.m. instead of 2 and 3 a.m., with no feet in my face and nobody wetting my bed. I can’t remember the last time I had an hour to dress myself and get to breakfast. I did my hair, put on makeup, and wore clothes that nobody had wiped their nose on. And several times a day I heard how wonderful I was and people actually THANKED me for my time and effort.

I did miss my peeps but it was a nice change of pace.

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Aliya started ice skating lessons today with the Park & Rec Department (a bargain at $30 for 6 lessons!). I wasn’t sure how it was going to go since she had never been on skates before and had a steep learning curve. She looked so cute out there on her skinny legs. She LOVED skating and was really proud of herself for improving so much in one lesson.

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