Once again, it's been way too long since I've updated. And somehow, Thanksgiving is only a bit more than a week away. When did that happen? Scary.

Anyway, all is going well over here. Jack continues to adore preschool, practically waving me away each time. People told me that he might start to be clingy at drop-off after the second or third time, but so far that hasn't happened yet. Today was his fifth time at preschool, and as I said goodbye to him, he said, "OK, bye, Mommy," and then rushed over to his teacher and said, "See, Ms. Stacy, a train!" But, he is always delighted to see me at pick-up time and regales me with stories about what he ate for a snack and what he painted. Fun!

Derek keeps right on growing. He's not a heavy baby, but he's very long and keeps outgrowing his clothes lengthwise at an alarming rate. He's full of smiles and giggles (most of the time), and continues to sleep well at night. His daytime routine is more of a puzzle, but that's probably my fault, because I just don't have the time (or the peace and quiet) to schedule him to a T like I did with Jack.

Aaaah! Just look at him!

Jack is very much in love with his little brother

Looks like they're whispering conspiratorially, right?

Derek enjoys his new exersaucer

My dad's back from Taiwan for a visit, so I snapped this rare picture of him and my mom with the two boys:

Derek takes this all very seriously

And of course, what would an entry be without a picture of Jack being silly?

You see train tracks? I see a hat.

On Sunday, we went to our niece Maddy's second birthday party. It was so much fun! Chris and Victoria hosted it at an awesome park near their house. They had a balloon lady who made some amazing creations, and Victoria's brother Max dressed up like a clown. (Good intentions, but I think the kids were frightened. The adults were certainly amused, though.) It's hard to believe Maddy is two! Seems like she was just born yesterday.

Maddy and Jack pull at the strings of a toddler-friendly pinata

Max entertains Maddy

Derek was a bit fussy at the party, unfortunately

Jack and his Thomas the Tank Engine balloon

Family pic

I'll leave you with this hilarious video of Jack trying to kiss Maddy and getting rebuffed.

Good luck getting ready for Thanksgiving, everyone!

Happy November, everyone! How were your Halloweens? I hope everyone got great candy. I've broken into the leftover candy we were handing out as well as the candy Jack got trick-or-treating. I figure that's my right as a mom of a toddler!

We took Jack trick-or-treating last night after Derek went to bed. It was pretty exciting because it's our first Halloween in our first house -- in previous years, we couldn't even hand out candy because no one went trick-or-treating in an apartment complex. We put some decorations up, Johnny carved a jack-o-lantern, and we headed out. My mom snapped this family pic of us in front of our place.

Happy Halloween!

I've already posted pictures of Johnny and Jack in their trick-or-treating costumes, so I won't bore you with any more of those. Jack loved trick-or-treating. He's learned the ultimate life lesson: Candy is found "uphill." While we were going around the neighborhood, Jack kept saying, "Uphill. Candy! Uphill. Candy!" and kept begging us to go "uphill." We had no idea what he was talking about until we realized that the path to most people's front doors slants a bit upward (unless you're in our house, where the lawn slopes slightly downward toward our door). Cute! By the end of our neighborhood trek, Jack had gotten the hang of saying "Trick-or-treat" and "Happy Halloween!" From Jack's mouth, though, it sounded more like "Happy Ween," but we'll take what we can get.

I can't wait to take both boys next year. To be fair to Derek, who didn't go this year, here's a really adorable picture of him that Johnny took yesterday.

Hello! My mom secretly thinks I may be an even cuter baby than my older brother was, but shhhh! Don't tell anyone!

After we got back with Jack and got him to bed (and lived through a huge meltdown ... he hadn't even had any candy! He just wanted to keep trick-or-treating), we got ready to go to an adults-only Halloween party, hosted by one of Johnny's coworkers (and coincidentally, one of my high school classmates). Johnny dressed up as Johnny Angel, and I was the devil. (We did this for Halloween 2005, too, but honestly just couldn't think of better ideas!)

A common scenario in our relationship (just kidding!)

The party was a lot of fun. There were a ton of people there, a DJ, lots of cool props and the obligatory fog machines. We stayed and socialized for a few hours. Definitely lots of fun costumes to gawk at.

Of course we had to take a picture with a "priest" (this was actually the host's dad)

Johnny saves some souls

No comment (Johnny works with this person!)

Here I am with one of my relatives from hell (ha)

Good times, good times.

We were really afraid that the kids would wake up at 5 a.m. thanks to Daylight Savings Time ending, but lo and behold ... they slept in (I use that term loosely) until 7 a.m. this morning! Hallelujah! This was definitely a blessing for me, since I had a few too many Jello shots. Oops.

After getting up this morning, we all got ready, then headed out to see our friend from college, Rena, who was in town for a family wedding. We got to meet her baby girl, who's only a couple of weeks older than Derek. We had a great time! Her daughter is adorable, and once again I got a bit of "girl baby envy."

Here we all are!

And tonight is catch-up for all the things I neglected to do this weekend. I need to go running and do our laundry. But first, up to read everyone's Halloween entries!

Saturday, we visited our friends Karthika and Peter, and their baby, Logan. We had a great time!

Peter, Karthika, a sleepy Logan, and us (all pictures courtesy of Peter and his awesome camera!)

Karthika had made delicious tea sandwiches and set out some other yummy snacks. We chowed down while catching up and admiring the babies. Logan was born at 31 weeks back in June. He's a champ, though -- he never once needed extra oxygen, despite being born nine weeks early, and now, he doesn't seem much different than Derek in terms of his "skills," like looking around and holding his head up. Logan was adorable. It is amazing how much he's grown!

Derek and Logan

Jack also made himself quite at home, lounging on Karthika and Peter's couch and stuffing brownie bites into his mouth.

Mmmmm, brownies!

The little imp also kept asking Karthika's mom for "Moh apple juice pwease!" Oh, he knows how to take advantage when he's not at home!

Jack and Johnny also had fun playing outside with Peter while Karthika and I chatted.

Even Atari, who came long for the visit, got in on the fun with Karthika and Peter's dog, Maui.

Despite what it looks like, this was a friendly confrontation. Meanwhile Jack's like, "How can I get in on this?"

Cute pooches (Maui on left, Atari on right)

So we all had a fantastic time and are looking forward to having Karthika, Peter and Logan come visit us in three weeks. Oh, they also took this picture of us. I'm posting it because we so rarely have family pics!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Halloween is in just five days ... what's everyone dressing up as?