Talmage had a great week at school last week. By seven year old standards....it doesn't get much better than this.
He was chosen as the V.I.P. for his class. Being the V.I.P. for Mrs. Tidwell's class entails:
1. Pinning your lovely, royal blue, V.I.P. badge on every morning.
2. Being the first in line and leading your class out to recess, and into the cafeteria for lunch.
3. Creating a super cool, picture filled, poster of yourself to be displayed throughout the week in your classroom.
4. Inviting your parents (and brother and sister too) to come to school and eat hot lunch with you. Yum!
5. Getting to pick the next V.I.P. person for the next week.
As if being chosen to be your class V.I.P. weren't enough, he was also chosen by his principal to receive the "Star Student" recognition.
I packed up old Eric and Maidie and off we went Wednesday morning to see Talmage get his certificate and this blue.....cone......thingy. (A must-have for every child)
He was recognized for his great progress in reading. Nice work Sausage! 
Is There a Star Student in the House?
Trick-or-Treat
We had a great time trick-or-treating with all of the Riley cousin's this year! Talmage and Eric's candy bags were over-flowing. I was amazed as we went through their candy that neither boy had ANY smarties! How does that happen? As a kid I loathed getting smarties thrown in my pillowcase. Lucky kids, they will never know my pain!
I Love a Parade
Is there anything cuter than a parade of children in their Halloween costumes? This was Talmage's 2nd Halloween parade at Westland Elementary. Talmage was unable to wear his mask to school so I had to channel my inner make-up artist and create a zombie-ish face for him. We did this last year too, he loves it! He practiced getting in character before the parade. He would show me his best "dead person" face and ask if it looked real. I of course would shriek, "Ahhhh!!! Talmage!! Are you alright?!! (Talmage would break out of character at this and giggle) Whew Talmage, I thought you might really be dead!"
Talmage was lucky as Grandma Riley, Grandma Gucci and Granny Great were all able to come and watch him show off his best theatrics!
Eric was batman for his pre-school Halloween parade. He wanted to be a zombie, but I thought being batman would be somewhat tamer in a room full of 3 and 4 year olds. Luckily, he was a good sport for this, but he kept wanting to show me his "zombie" face for his pictures, not a batman super-hero face.
It's a Pearson Halloween
I married into a great family whose motto is, "anything worth doing is worth overdoing". This is a motto they live by, ask anyone who knows them! This year's Halloween party was no exception.
Pete and Shellie threw the party early this year as Tyler's sister, Melissa, and her family were here for the weekend from New York. Up went the graveyard on the front lawn, and up went "Mike" and "Harry" by the front door to greet and create mayhem for the children.
The kids have started to wear their costumes to the party so we can all see what the kids are going to be for Halloween. Talmage and Eric of course elect to be something gruesome, and well...not living...for their costumes. Talmage has never wanted to dress up as something cute like Thomas the Train or a Power Ranger. He always wants to be something that will make you shriek and run with fear. Likewise his little brother has followed this trend. This year Talmage is a Zombie, and Eric is a skeleton. 
I still have an influence as to what Maidie will be. She is Princess Leia this year. (No not the skanky Princess Leia that sits by Jabba the Hut, the nice...fully dressed Leia from the first Star Wars movie.) Thank you Katie for the "traveling Princess Leia" costume.
This year's party started out as usual with our dining on several different buffet items. Such as: "Zombie cellulite", (a very yummy artichoke dip...new to the buffet this year) "Ghoul Brains", (a chili and cream cheese dip) and drinking "Bat Urine" (an apple cider, sprite, and dry ice concoction). I never tire of the fun created by this dinner.
As the evening progressed we noticed our cute Maidie Ann was not feeling her best, (notice above picture) and we suspected that she had another ear infection. We decided that I would take one for the team, leave the party, and take her to urgent care. Thank heaven for doctors who work late! We were able to confirm it was an ear infection and start another round of antibiotics that night.
While Maidie and I were away the Pearson's partied on! The adults carved pumpkins for the pumpkin carving contest and the smaller folk created their own personalized cookies and place mats. 
Thanks Pete and Shellie for another great party! 