For those not in the know, Brody loves legos.  There is a Lego exhibit at The Henry Ford and Brody and I had opportunity to go (thanks to G’ma’s gift of a family membership).

It was small, but Brody really enjoyed checking out the creation from Lego Masters as well as locals who entered a contest.

When we were done, he asked if we could look at a few extra areas of the museum.  They have an exhibit on planes.  Within that exhibit, one can build an airplane (instructions are provided for various types) and then test them out in an area that measures distance.

Brody played with that airplane all afternoon.  He only almost hit strangers a few times and then ran around in the ‘front yard’ of the Henry Ford playing with it as well.

Hit me as ironic; the kids have a closet full of toys they barely touch, xmas is coming, and all he wanted to play with for hours and days was a paper airplane.

So, like many kids, ours came home from their school parties, girl scouts, friends and relatives…and of course from the actual trick or treating ritual (our non-belief extends to magical pumpkins, so we did not seek out any sincere patches) ours had a LOT of candy.

In trying to keep them healthy and fit (we’ll have enough problems when they’re teens, I don’t need self-image problems on top of what is to come) we just felt they had too much.  Dayna overheard a few other Moms talking about how they handle it.  Some sell the candy to dentists, others let them take as much as they can hold in one or both hands and the rest is tossed or donated, and so on.

Dayna had the great idea to allow them to have 31 pieces of candy; one for each day in the month.  They dumped their bags, and each choose their top 31.  From there, Dayna couldn’t help herself and sorted the remaining items.  Then, like an annoying white elephant exchange at an office party, the kids could trade from their current stash with something from the now fully combined stash of left overs. 

Mo was especially funny, as she would trade something, and then on her next turn; trade to get that item back.

We’re trying to get them to understand certain aspects of planning and so are allowing them to somewhat eat the candy as they wish.  ‘You have enough for a month, eat it all at once, and you’re out of candy and the other may have some left.’  I’d rather them learn this now with jolly ranchers than when their adults and have no idea how to budget or save with money.  (We’ve also done this with their allowance – interesting how at the start, as soon as they got it, they blew it.  Now, without any guidance from us, the know how to save for a big purchases.)

Following are some pics capturing the 2009 NCL (National Candy League) draft.

I thought Dayna might want to try that next year (though I noted another version that I think is far more realistic based on the original 16 bit game.

Mo broke from years of being a feline to indulge in a highly fictional costume…that of a she-devil  (oh that there were an emoticon for sarcasm!).  Brody left the Star Wars universe to be a ninja.  However, while we try to protect Brody from following the crowd, he was aware of the current zombie-zeitgeist and if asked, would preface his costume as a ‘zombie-ninja’.