Halloween.

We had a great Halloween!  Even though Trevor had drill this weekend, it was only two days (a first in a while!) so he was able to be here Friday night until after bedtime.  We didn't do a darn thing for Halloween last year--Myra was so young (and we had pulled all solid foods at the time) and we were in the middle of some other tough, hectic life stuff at the time.  This year was pretty fun, I must say.

We started the day by Myra greeting Trevor in costume which was pretty darn cute.

Then brushing our teeth together, of course.

And off to school!

After that we had just a normal day until it was time to go Trick-or-Treating with some friends.

Myra only got one piece of candy she could actually eat (Smarties), but that was okay since we had a plan.  She was also the lucky recipient of one mustard packet!

The next morning, after removing a few of our favorite candies, we brought Myra's candy to our local hospital.  They offered a really cool program where they would buy the candy for $1.50/lb then send it to troops overseas.  Myra drew on a card for them to send with the candy.  Plus, she got a goodie bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste, bottled water, and a couple other small things.  

I've always liked the idea of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), but decided this year we would actually start celebrating it with Myra.  The poor girl has been to five (at least?) funerals in her short life and we try to talk about loved ones we've lost in regular conversation.  She has pictures of them in her photo album which she thinks is pretty great these days.  Since she's so young, I decided to just head to the library and get some kids books about death and some that would help us talk about loved ones in specific, books about things those people loved.  The heroes book we got included the usual suspects (police, firefighters, ambulance workers) and some others like older siblings, teachers, and friends.  It did not, however, include service members so we had to cover that on our own.  Luckily, we are well equipped with books and photos in that department.

Our library has some pretty cool kids stations as part of a joint effort with the MN Children's Museum, so she loves playing with their market, fishing boat, and tree fort.  

We played outside for a bit, jumped on our mini trampoline, and I made some Myra friendly meatloaf which seemed to be a hit.  

Other important news from this week: I passed my gestational diabetes screening!  With Myra, I was over by 1 point so I had to do the three hour fasting test.  The one hour test was fine, but I felt like I was dying during that three hour test.  A pregnant lady chugging an incredibly sugary drink on an empty stomach then sitting there for three hours with nothing to eat or drink (and a man in the waiting room barfing into a bag) is not cool.  So, I was very excited I didn't have to go through that again...and that I don't have gestational diabetes.  They also checked my iron which was only a tiny bit low, so I just have to go to Timberlodge more often...or eat more spinach.  I had to take iron with Myra, so what all of this tells me is that this baby is already trying to get on my good side.  

Oh, and I also passed what I can only assume is the clinic's official Ebola screening... "Have you been outside the US in the last 21 days?" ... "Nope." ... PASS.  At the risk of getting all political, Ebola is not a joke, but there are so many things about which I am far more concerned than Ebola right now.  

Anyway...we hope you all had a wonderful Halloween, too!  And to all you parents especially, hopefully daylight savings is being gentle on you so far.