Things that go bump in the night.
I thought I was done making Halloween costumes for the year, until Cameron comes home with a letter saying he (and I) need to create a costume depicting a robust vocabulary word. Originally he wanted "brainstorm" but his teacher said that wasn't robust enough. Darn, that costume would have been pretty easy. Instead he has to do "treacherous". Wow, that sure is robust, but I can't immediately see how we make this into a costume. The dictionary gave us a clue by using it in a sentence as an adjective describing a dangerous road. Perfect, easy, it came together in a snap (sort of) he was a treacherous road. He wore grey clothes with yellow labels to form the center line and he made road signs "danger" and "treacherous road ahead" to stick on.
The Wii costume was made of heavy paper that didn't last more than one night, so he still needed another costume to wear to trunk-or-treat at church. We went to "Second Chance Boutique" in Southbridge and he found a Ninja costume new, still in original packaging, just his size. Our real reason for going there was to find something for Hayley to wear. They had a ton of old prom dresses from the 80's so she picked out a frilly peach one, I got her a sash and crown, she was an 80's Prom Queen. Wore it for ballet class, trunk-or-treat, and her dance studio party. Emma wore my old ballet costume from when I was 10 or 11. Sorry, no pictures of these. The camera man stayed home with Preston. And of course Preston was not about to let anyone put any type of costume on him. Believe me, the girls tried.
Since Halloween was on Sunday this year, we decided to try something different and let the kids experience the joy of giving candy, not getting. They did everything themselves. Cleaned up the front porch, rearranged the decorations, made a sign for the back door telling people to come to the front. They did all of their own costumes including hair and make-up. They were all set to go when the first group arrived a half hour before the official trick-or-treat time started, yes they do have official start and stop times here. The group was mostly teenagers, they swarmed around my little 7 year old, took handfuls of candy, and the basket was completely empty when she shut the door. This was far from the feel good, "it's better to give than to receive" experience I was wishing for them to have. I scoured the house for more candy. Took all the leftovers from their trunk-or-treat stash, found 1/2 a bag of hershey kisses and sent Emma back to the front door with instructions to not let people take their own candy, just drop one into each person's bag. After that things went much smoother. They really seemed to be enjoying themselves. They kept peeking out the windows, on the lookout for the next group of kids. I guess you never know what to expect your first Halloween in a new house. Our neighborhood is quite popular apparently, and we ran out of candy in 30 minutes. Sorry folks, we'll do better next year. I asked Hayley if she had fun, she said "yes, it was great" I then made the mistake of asking Emma if she liked passing out the candy and she said " No, I just want to get all the candy, not give it away". Lesson learned for mom, you can only push lessons of charity so far when it comes to kids and candy.
If we hear something go bump in the night this year, that will be Preston. He discovered he can climb out of his crib last night. I watched him do it 3 times before giving up on putting him back in. We changed his crib into a toddler bed this afternoon. So very sad. I plan on nap times being nearly impossible and I will miss my baby boy desperately. Not sure which of the 2 things I am more upset about. He is thrilled with the "new" bed. Usually he is screaming and crying when I leave the room at bedtime. Tonight he just sat there and shouted out "bye, bye" with a big smile. Oh, I am just a little heartbroken tonight. Maybe some ice cream will cheer me up. Good night, and happy Halloween!
The Wii costume was made of heavy paper that didn't last more than one night, so he still needed another costume to wear to trunk-or-treat at church. We went to "Second Chance Boutique" in Southbridge and he found a Ninja costume new, still in original packaging, just his size. Our real reason for going there was to find something for Hayley to wear. They had a ton of old prom dresses from the 80's so she picked out a frilly peach one, I got her a sash and crown, she was an 80's Prom Queen. Wore it for ballet class, trunk-or-treat, and her dance studio party. Emma wore my old ballet costume from when I was 10 or 11. Sorry, no pictures of these. The camera man stayed home with Preston. And of course Preston was not about to let anyone put any type of costume on him. Believe me, the girls tried.
Since Halloween was on Sunday this year, we decided to try something different and let the kids experience the joy of giving candy, not getting. They did everything themselves. Cleaned up the front porch, rearranged the decorations, made a sign for the back door telling people to come to the front. They did all of their own costumes including hair and make-up. They were all set to go when the first group arrived a half hour before the official trick-or-treat time started, yes they do have official start and stop times here. The group was mostly teenagers, they swarmed around my little 7 year old, took handfuls of candy, and the basket was completely empty when she shut the door. This was far from the feel good, "it's better to give than to receive" experience I was wishing for them to have. I scoured the house for more candy. Took all the leftovers from their trunk-or-treat stash, found 1/2 a bag of hershey kisses and sent Emma back to the front door with instructions to not let people take their own candy, just drop one into each person's bag. After that things went much smoother. They really seemed to be enjoying themselves. They kept peeking out the windows, on the lookout for the next group of kids. I guess you never know what to expect your first Halloween in a new house. Our neighborhood is quite popular apparently, and we ran out of candy in 30 minutes. Sorry folks, we'll do better next year. I asked Hayley if she had fun, she said "yes, it was great" I then made the mistake of asking Emma if she liked passing out the candy and she said " No, I just want to get all the candy, not give it away". Lesson learned for mom, you can only push lessons of charity so far when it comes to kids and candy.
If we hear something go bump in the night this year, that will be Preston. He discovered he can climb out of his crib last night. I watched him do it 3 times before giving up on putting him back in. We changed his crib into a toddler bed this afternoon. So very sad. I plan on nap times being nearly impossible and I will miss my baby boy desperately. Not sure which of the 2 things I am more upset about. He is thrilled with the "new" bed. Usually he is screaming and crying when I leave the room at bedtime. Tonight he just sat there and shouted out "bye, bye" with a big smile. Oh, I am just a little heartbroken tonight. Maybe some ice cream will cheer me up. Good night, and happy Halloween!