Halloween

This has been one of the least joyful weeks we have had in many years.

Johannes had to leave us Sunday, the 28th for Iraq. He will be gone for 6 months. Three days later Matthijas was officially diagnosed with autism. These are both things we learned a little bit about this summer, so neither came as a complete shock, but when they were finally, solidly piled on this week, it has been difficult. Luckily, we have been blessed with a feeling of calm amidst the storm, and although it has hasn't been the best week, it has been bearable.

On the other hand, nothing has really changed. Matthijas isn't any different this week than he was last week (in fact he has recently been making progress, and is beginning to repeat sounds and a few words), and Johannes still calls me during the day from work, he just doesn't come home at night.

So, when Halloween night came, I wasn't really in the mood to be festive, so I allowed Arcadia to go trick or treating with her friend Makenzie. She decided that since we weren't all being a Viking family, she wanted to be something different, a Punk Rocker (a costume I remember putting together myself a few times, and not just on Halloween). Of course, being fickle as she is, this decision was made about 5 minutes before her friend arrived to pick her up. So we threw together a few things and created this...

A while later I began to feel guilty about Matthijas missing out, so we threw on our Viking outfits, banged on five doors, and got twice as much candy as I could have imagined possible for so little effort.

Despite the lack of Viking unity while Trick or Treating, the kids have still been playing Viking all week with their helmets and growls.