Halloween and Cool Birthday parties

This year, Halloween was a bit of a bust. Sonia got sick. Jack is freaked out by people in Halloween costumes. The big event was trick or treating at Ryan's workplace. Jack would not put his costume on until both Ryan and I explained (separately, several times) that if you don't wear a costume, no one is going to give you candy. So he put on his super-cool NASA astronaut costume that, clearly, mom loved more than he did. He agreed to the costume initially then told me he wanted to be the Space Needle again. Too late! Sonia was supposed to be a dog.

Last weekend, we went to a creative birthday party. The family lived in a small home (900 sq feet) They shared a backyard with their neighbors. One of the neighbors had built a wood-fired oven. The mom projected circus movies onto the wall of the neighboring building. She created a photo booth - using a closet, her digital camera, a bench placed near the camera and some masks and costumes. We each got to make a pizza. Then we had cupcakes topped with cotton candy. The dad served stout beer from a keg and mexican coke. The party took place in the back yard at dinner time. There were at least 20 kids there. Lots of fun!