It is tradition at our house to put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We had two little helpers this year who seemed more interested in pulling things off than putting them on :) 
Actually, Jane was a really good helper putting lights and ornaments on the tree--she just wanted all the ornaments in one spot. She also had a blast with the stockings (gotta give her credit for putting stockings where they really belong).
18 inches of snow!!! It was awesome! Good thing Trent cleared the driveway last night. . .now we have 5 inches less to shovel off! But no worries, he had help.
Grant isn't so sure about snow. I think he'll warm up to it but he was not ready to rush into anything today.
Trent, however, seemed to have reverted back to his 8 yr old self. He built a sledding ramp in the front yard and sent our kids (as well as the neighbor kids) down it.
Then he took to making a snowman. Truly a clever fellow (yes those are bed wheels for buttons and silly pipe for a mouth). While I always hope for a white Christmas, who would have thought we'd get a white Thanksgiving?!?!
Just for comparisons sake, here is Grant standing next to the snow.
Our finished Pumpkins
Jane and her cousins, Addy and Brynn, with their pumpkins. (They came and joined us for carving)
We went to our first Trunk-or-Treat ever this year. I have been opposed to them for several reasons but it's hard to get out of going when you are on the Activities Committee. It wasn't too bad but I still prefer the old-fashioned way of trick-or-treating.
Although this was not Grant's first time trick-or-treating, it was the first year he understood how cool it is. He went up to the doors with Jane and loved sorting through his loot when we got home. Jane really enjoyed Halloween this year and continues to ask, about every two hours, when we are going trick-or-treating again so "I can get more candy". Yikes! 
I was surprised at how few people were out trick-or-treating. Even when the rain stopped, there weren't that many kids out. What has happened to this holiday? Saturday I opened the paper to one of my favorite columnists, Robert Kirby. He wrote a spectacular article on Halloween and how much it has changed over the years (read it here). It really summed up my feelings on the subject and made me laugh out loud.
Petting the calf
Learning about what we get from sheep
Petting a bunny
Jane on her pony ride! 
Jane and Gracie riding the tractor 
Farmer Jane
I was so nervous for Jane to start preschool. Maybe it's something to do with my baby growing up. I don't know. But I have been so impressed with how well she is doing. She is learning and growing and making friends and absolutely loves going to preschool. Her teacher pulled me aside and told me she's ahead of the whole class on her letters (she has passed off the entire alphabet in capitals and is now working on her lower case letters.) I'm so proud of my Jane. What a smarty pants!
This Saturday was the annual Bassett family Halloween party. We found out a week before when the party would be and at that point, I'd bought all the fabric to make costumes for Jane, Grant, and Trent. Needless to say, I spent much of last week at the sewing machine. But it paid off. While I still need to finish Grant's dinosaur hood and Trent's tunic, I got the costumes done just in time for the party.
As always, Cathy B put on a great party! We had an excellent lunch followed by games and treats and good times. It was so fun to see all the kids dressed up and Jane and Grant had a blast!
