Halloween!

All of the components for a grand Halloween. Pumpkin carving, scooping, and gooping. Don't worry, Shawn's just out of the frame. We didn't just hand them knives and tell them to have at it. Both Shawn and I agreed that we like carving pumpkins at Pat & Blaine's more that doing it on our own. The camaraderie, the mess in someone else's house, the beverages in hand...we can't decide what we missed most... In any case, we all reminisced about those great Halloween parties in St. Paul.

We went trick-or-treating with a big crew of St. Mark's faculty families. Lachen is here with his good buddy Nicolas (Abe Lincoln). We all get together in the dining hall for dinner, then out to the quad for a crazy attempt at a group photo. Then, just as it's starting to get dark, we head out to gather loot. One family of four dressed as the Jolly Green Giant, a cob of corn, and two Lil' Sprouts. I told them how flattered we felt that they were honoring the Minnesota River Valley!

I volunteered in Aksel's classroom to help out with the Halloween party and parade. Aksel and his red-headed friend Shannon, a.k.a. Cleopatra, are so darling. They both have that endearing mix of speaking like grown-ups and then goofy babble. I can barely contain my love of that duo. He has a great kindergarten class. He is young for his grade, and I fret about that sometimes. He's a follower, rather than a leader, and that sort of thing. But, he has made friends, and I can't imagine him in another year of preschool. There's the same sort of thing happening here as in St. Peter with kindergartners being 6 going on 7 instead of 5 going on 6. Aksel is in the right class, but there are lots of older kids. Still, he can tie his shoes, so I'll gloat about that one.