Halloween 2008
I was more than a little preoccupied with my father's condition this year to give the usual amount of attention to Halloween. What's more, despite that I take upwards of 500 photos every month and have two camera batteries, my camera battery died and I couldn't find the spare on Halloween! Of all the days to not be able to photograph my boys! (Fortunately, my sister-in-law saved the day.)
Lucas is the Green Lantern! Asher is wearing a too-small dino costume Grandma had.
I did manage to buy tickets in time for the Sacramento Waldorf School's Pumpkin Path (which I've written about in past years), where we enjoyed plays and stories and got little treasures at every station. We were able to visit with our dear friends, Snow, Sun, and
parnasus , and have treats at the end. Mmmm... brownies and pumpkin bread. This year, the various stories were selected to provide a taste of the first- through eighth-grade curriculum. I know this because we parents received a tiny scroll at the end explaining the intention.
Prior to going to the Pumpkin Path, I threw together an impromptu Halloween dinner in an hour with what we had in the house: pumpkin-shaped and ghost-shaped grilled-cheese sandwiches, carrots, hearts of palm (leg bones, ya know), and tiny orange bell pepper jack-o'-lanterns, and monster brain soup (spilt pea from a can). That, plus the orange tablecloth, black dishes, dish full of acorns and a candle, Ian and Lucas's creepy dingle-ball spiders, fall leaves, and a couple of gargoyle figurines, made for a festive table. "What is it REALLY, mom? It's not a leg bone. Or monster brains. What is it really?"
Grandma, Aunt Kellie, and Kellie's boyfriend, Matt, joined us for some trick-or-treating after we returned home from the Pumpkin Path. Grandma brought Tolly, her black Portuguese Water Dog, dressed as a skunk. I'm grateful that Kellie brought a camera!
The boys liked playing with Ian's groovy light toys. Green Lantern got to wear a bunch of green glow bracelets.
We combed the neighborhood for houses with Halloween decorations out front. Kellie was dressed as a giant bottle of mustard. I dunno. Matt's head was blue: He was "dressed" as a member of the Blue Man Group. Lucas's stamina for trick-or-treating this year was much improved over last year, and we went all over the place. Surprisingly, Asher did not conk out in his stroller, but insisted on trudging along with us the whole time. We wore out the relatives before the boys were done. Lucas carried the only candy bucket, but the neighbors gave more than enough for Asher, too. We met up with Snow, Sun, and Parnasus again for a little while during our neighborhood romp.
It was much harder getting Lucas to give up some of his candy loot to the Halloween Fairy this year. But he did eventually cull some out, and in return, he and Asher got some goodies: a Halloween activity book, a book of stories for 6-year-olds, a wooden dinosaur puzzle, articulated wooden snakes, and needle-felted pumpkins with crystals inside them.
It turned out to be a very good time, after all.