Halloween and Xander's Panda Party

Halloween has just passed and James couldn't have been more excited.  We were able to put him in his monkey costume from last year without Sarah having to improvise suspenders for him so his monkey pants wouldn't fall down.  Awkward.  Thomas wore James's lion costume from when he was 1.  They were both pretty cute.

Happy Halloween

We took James out for trick or treating for a little while.  It was probably the greatest thing he's ever done.  He was pointing out each and every house that had lights on or decorations out.  After maybe 30 minutes of going a couple blocks up and back down our street his little bucket was nearly full.  Sarah and I have been reaping the benefits for the last few days and James has announced that he really likes candy.  We don't do candy much in our house.  This realization on his part was bound to happen at some time.  He is getting a piece or two each day now, and it always comes with a smile.

I am also proud of the pumpkins this year.  I am by no means a master pumpkin carver.  Anything much more complex than triangle eyes and noses is asking a bit much for me.  We asked James to draw a face for a pumpkin design and I did my best to recreate it.  I decided to try to capture Thomas's brother-adoring face in a smaller pumpkin too.  I think I did alright.

The blueprint

The Result

Pumpkin brothers

We had a pretty good time and I think we'll have a lot of fun for Halloween in the future.

On a different note, we recently got another pretty good book from the Library.  I've probably mentioned before that books in rhyme often get old or annoying pretty quickly.  As much as James likes the Llama Llama books, there is a limit to how frequently I can read them.  Now and then we come across a book in rhyme that is written so well that I truly enjoy.  Xander's Panda Party by Linda Sue Park is a book that I could probably read every day with a smile on my face.  The rhyming is clever and isn't a slave to meter, something that tends to drive me nuts (sorry Anna Dewdney).  There is a meter to the rhyming, but it is broken apart periodically to give you a breath and a break.

Xander is a happy panda looking to plan a party, but the problem is that he's the only panda at the zoo.  He makes his plans and invitations for his party, but has to continue revising them when he realizes that categories and classifications don't necessarily fit preconceptions or are meaningless to begin with.

You get the sense from these three pages the feeling.  I have to include one more, though 'cause I just love the rhyming here (not something you'll hear me say often).  It is also a nice example of the really nice illustrations in the book.

Instead of scanning and posting each and every page of the book, I had to pick and choose.  Though I didn't scan it, one of my favorite illustrations is of Xander standing with a somewhat overwhelmed look on his face, arms down at his sides, surrounded by a flock of penguins in a similar position.

We probably check out six to ten books each trip we make to the library every week or three and some are certainly better than others, but it is only perhaps once every few months that we find a book that I like so much that I would consider going out and buying it.  Xander's Panda Party is one of those books.