This week has been a blur… There were days of baking for Halloween parties, parent/teacher conferences, and lots of Halloween parades at school. I’m exhausted, and we haven’t been trick-or-treating yet.

Agnes’ Halloween party and parade was on Wednesday. She was so excited, and dressed as Queen Elsa. Her best friend was dressed as Princess Anna, so that was too cute.

It was a little chilly in the morning.

Yesterday it was party and parade day for the boys. Dylan’s was first thing in the morning, and Thade’s was later in the afternoon.

Both of the parades were absolutely packed with people. Dylan was dressed as Spider-man, he was walking with his best buddy.

It was a great parade filled with lots of fantastic costumes.

Later in the day, the weather warmed up a bit, and we headed over to Thade’s school. We went extra early, and my goodness that school had even more parade watchers.

Thade and his best buddy had the same costume, even though they hadn’t planned it. It cracked me up, those two look like brothers.

It was a great parade!

Today the kids are out of school, and everyone is already anxious to get out of the house. It is only around 8:00 a.m., so I think that is a little too early for trick-or-treating.

Hope you and yours have a safe and very Happy Halloween!

I promised my biggest kid that I wouldn’t even mention the word to him until the month of August. He doesn’t want to go, and I can’t say that I blame him. School is on the way, and I don’t think that we are ready to get back to the routine.

I’m trying to make the transition back into a school routine easier… In a bit of a sneaky fashion.

• I’ve started off by rolling back the Summer bedtime for the kids. A little extra sleep doesn’t hurt, and I appreciate the extra quiet too.

• I’m also making the boys get up, dressed, and get going. Agnes is my early riser, and she wants to get ready as soon as her feet hit the floor. The boys would be content to lounge around in their pj’s for days and days.

• We are sneaking in reading where we can. Dylan is reading to Agnes a few times a day. This is getting her interested in school, sitting still, and improving early reading skills. It also keeps his reading out loud skills up.

• I’m holding off snack times… I’m trying to get their tummies back in sync with school hours. This year our school district is adopting longer school days, so I know the kids are going to be hungry. I’m also hoping that the school will add in afternoon snack time, because I know my boys get a little grumpy when they are hungry.

• Lastly I don’t drag my kids down the school supply aisles. I haven’t asked them about lunch-boxes, backpacks, or water bottles. We’ll get all that we are in need of when school is a little closer. No need to rush off Summer just yet.

I am a little excited about the return of the school-year. Agnes will be going to preschool, and this is the last year at both of the boy’s attendance centers. I hope we can start off the new year stress free, and ready to go.