Our Halloween Happenings

Yesterday was Halloween which was awesome but one of the most exciting things about the day was that we all slept until about 7:45 a.m. Samuel was the first one awake and I heard him stirring and jumped out of bed. I couldn't believe it was almost 8 a.m. And our neighbor, Rebbecca, was due to stop by after her boys got on the bus around 7:45 a.m. Her son, Mati, was a a soldier for Halloween and I offered to let him wear some of Don's pins.

7:45 a.m. - It was a good start to an eventful day.

We went to Benjamin's school and watched all the classes in the school parade around in their costumes. It was about the cutest thing I'd ever witnessed. Just about all of them looked pretty petrified as they looked out towards the paparazzi (aka parents with all sorts of cameras and camcorders... me included!). He was the only cow in the school and he was so stinkin cute! It was his turn to be the class line caboose which is a big highlight so he did a fine job at that. I had a weak thought as he was up there on stage that I would absolutely hide under a chair if he decided to whack another kid on stage. Phew. We made it through the event without incident.

Samuel took a good nap yesterday afternoon and Benjamin again frustrated me as he caused a commotion in his room while he was supposed to be napping. I thought that if he would just sit still he would fall asleep. So, I took another approach at letting him lay down in my room and watch a calm t.v. show. No luck. No nap. ugh.

We had some neighborhood friends join us for dinner. I made some Halloween pasta (that was shaped like bats, pumpkins, ghosts, ect.), meatballs, and carrots. Cheryl and the girls brought over some garlic bread and cookies and Miss Katie brought pumpkin cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory (sweet!). It all went pretty well and before we knew it we were off trick or treating.

Miss Katie lives directly next door so she took care of our candy and passing it out for us. (We usually spend time socializing with her but with Don gone the night was a lil crazy. And we missed hanging out with our dear neighbor friend. But at least we got to spend time with her at dinner).

Benjamin had a ball trick or treating. This was really the first year he totally got into it. He was running from house to house and would shout out "Trick or treat!" Then "Happy Halloween!" And "Thank you!" He got it all down pretty quick. And sometimes after he'd get a treat he would turn to me and shout "A peanut butter cup, Mommy!" or "Halloween playdough!"

Samuel sat pretty contently in the wagon. He was my "sitting duck!" Oh yes, there was plenty of corny comments to go around. Not to mention that he should have been the one who was a cow since he's all about the saying "Got milk?" and a good portion of his trip around the block was spent downing a bottle.

Our neighbor Paci was a chef and I told Benjamin to say "What's cooking?" to him and he quickly replied "Beef." ahhh. Not so funny when you're dressed like a cow.

After trick or treating we hurried over to our church. They were having the first fall fest we've had. It was really fun. But by the time we got there it was already 8 p.m. (bedtime on a normal day). Cheryl and the girls joined us there too. They had tons of games, a puppet show, moon bounce, lots of door prizes, food, candy, etc. Benjamin and Abby had a blast. And everyone adored seeing the boys in their costumes.

By the time we headed for home it was already past 9 p.m. Yikes! Our church is directly across the street from our subdivision, however, Samuel managed to fall asleep in the car. He was completely tuckered out. Once I got him into bed Benjamin and I followed someone of his normal bedtime routine but only read one short Halloween book (instead of 2 or 3 books). He was exhausted and went right to sleep.

Unfortunately, I still had a mess from dinner to tend to but I called my mom and before I knew it the dishes were all done too. I snuggled into bed around 11 p.m. until Samuel woke up around 2 a.m.

After that interruption the boys slept until I woke them up around 7 a.m. this morning. I can only dream about how late Benjamin could have slept if we wouldn't have to had to go anywhere.