Halloween

3...2...1...

Cinderelly

Bode and Gianna had their very first experience trick-or-treating last night.

The babies were quiet with anticipation as we drove to a nearby neighborhood.  On the drive over, I explained to them how houses are either lit up for Halloween, or they are dark, depending on whether the people in the house wish to give out candy.  It was pouring down rain and windy.  We had a full day of school, doctor appointments, and other errands. We were driving home from the pediatrician at 5:30, and all I wanted to do was put everyone to bed.  Instead, we raced home, ate a quick bite and then headed out again (because I had promised Bode and Gianna we would trick-or-treat!).

At just 6 PM, it was so dark and heavy rain splashed down on our windshield, making it so hard for me to see.  I parked at the first decorated, fully lit house we saw.  At first, I thought I'd keep Nico in the car and just go to the one house.  But as I was about to walk up to the house, I saw other houses were lit up close by.  So I got the stroller out, and put Nico in.  I had to call Gianna back, because she was already making the walk up to the house.  A group of teenage (?) boys, all in black and with no discernible costume among them, was crowding the porch.  "Let's let them go first," I cautioned. Within seconds, the boys were trotting off, but then they slowed to a stop in front of Bode.

"Whoah. That is so cool."

"Do you see his costume? He's an astronaut!"

"Check out his helmet!"

"You've got the coolest costume ever!"

These were genuine compliments. "Thank you," came Bode's muffled reply. (He insisted on keeping the visor down!)

Gianna then took off boldly, plastic pumpkin out in front of her, in search of the candy. I watched as she put her hand up to steady her crown as she stepped up to the porch.  Only then did she turn back to see if we were behind her.

Two girls answered the door and deposited a handful of candy in each pumpkin.  Two heads bent down to look inside their pumpkins and each baby said, "Thank you!" and then slowly shuffled down the path, eyeing their candy the whole time.

The next house had a single porch light, and not a single Halloween decoration on display.  Gianna moved forward, but Bode hung back.

"Wait!" he wailed "There's no light on. There's nobody there!"

I gazed at the yellow porch light and then turned to Bode. "Yes, the light is on. Let's just go see."

And of course, someone answered the door and gave the children candy.

Nico was so quiet as we strolled (so slowly...) through the rain.  Gianna was looking a bit tired, if not bedraggled, by her rainy pilgrimage for candy. At one point, she stepped on the train of her dress and there was an audible rip.  There was a pause, and then she said, "That's okay." The rain was coming down sideways, so my umbrella was not much use to Nico, or any of us. I felt like such a jerk, dragging my baby through the rain-filled street.  I told myself that we would visit 4 houses total, and no more.

I think that the babies would have easily continued trick-or-treating, if I had not suggested that we go home and watch the traditional Charlie Brown cartoon.

Post-trick-or-treat

We got home, changed immediately into warm jammies and watched a show.  They got 1 piece of candy to eat, after I had searched the contents of their pumpkins. Curious to know what each child picked? Gianna picked peanut M&Ms. Bode picked a Twix.  The rest of the candy (8 pieces total, each) was put back into their pumpkins and up on the counter. 

It was a successful, soaking wet, trick or treating adventure.  They both woke up this morning and put on their costumes. Today, I'm going to propose that they leave their candy out for the Switch Witch. I hope that it works...I'm craving chocolate!

This month has been the worst.  It has been full of ups, downs, worry, heartache and hurts. I usually love October and Halloween, but this year, I'm ready to say goodbye.

Happy November...let's hope that it's better this month.

xo

Happy Halloween!

I had high hopes for Halloween. They were quickly dashed yesterday morning.  Our baby sitter "surprised" Bode by walking into the house with a monster mask on! (She lets herself into the house early a.m. because I am usually occupied.)  

So there Bode was, sitting at the dining room table eating breakfast by himself when a "monster" walks through the door. 

He screamed so loud. I ran out of the room. Bode was running toward me. We crashed into each other. He was in tears and screaming.  I had no idea what had happened. I did know by his scream that it was a "scared" scream and not a "hurt" scream (yay for mother's ear!).  

Then, our baby sitter turned the corner, looking sheepish and holding up a monster mask.  Bode screamed some more. 

(I was so angry at the baby sitter.  I have no idea what she was thinking! But, I guess she wasn't thinking!)

I sat with Bode, wiping tears and talking about Halloween, masks, costumes and trick or treating.  Bode was so upset and swore off Halloween for the year.

Here are some pics from yesterday:

Gianna, being a "ham" for Halloween

Nico, in a "Brooke" costume

Lil' monster

At first, after the "monster scare," Bode said that he didn't want to go to school. I was worried that he didn't want to go because he was afraid to drive to school with the baby sitter/monster.  He finally left for school (and arrived at school about 30 minutes late).   At school, his teacher read a sweet Halloween story, "Five Little Pumpkins" (we have a copy at home) and they did a Halloween craft.  Bode came home with his creation - a pumpkin that he painted with glitter paint.

My pumpkin

Bode's pumpkin

Ham

Ham & Cheese

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"

I tried talking about Halloween with Bode again.  But Bode wasn't interested in Halloween at all. He didn't even want to wear his costume around the house.  We sat and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" as our Halloween fun.

Nico napped, and I was able to make dinner. Hooray!

I made homemade chicken "nuggets" (chicken breasts, cut into strips and breaded), mac & cheese, and broccoli.

While I was making the mac & cheese, I thought of my childhood Halloweens' past.  Every Halloween, my mom made hot dogs and mac & cheese for dinner. I think it was a "night off" for her that she probably really looked forward to, because my mom rarely took a night off from cooking.  I remember sitting at the dinner table, in front of a kid's dream meal, and not being able to eat a bite. I was SO EXCITED to go trick-or-treating that I couldn't eat a single bite. I remember my mom asking me to just eat "three bites," and then "two bites" and then, "one bite" and me, whining back, "I don't want to," or "I can't!"  I was so excited that I really could not eat.  I remember the excitement of the night, consumed with thoughts of what was just outside our front door waiting for me (trick-or-treat! candy! costumes! being outside!).  I remember how hard it was for me to sit there until my mom gave up and told me that I was excused.  I'm going to try to remember that feeling. I will try to remember it the next time that Bode, Gianna or Nico (or all three) have an exciting activity that prevents them from eating. I'll try to skip the "one bite" negotiations, and just let them go.

Maybe next year, we'll be sitting around the dinner table and none of my children will eat dinner, too excited with anticipation of their first trick-or-treat.
Happy Halloween!
xo

Sunday in pictures

Sometimes, while Nico is sleeping, Gianna or Bode will add some kind of...embellishment to him. It could be a hat, or a pumpkin, or even a toy (sometimes, all three!).  Sometimes, Gianna will just walk by and toss a blanket over Nico. It's not malicious. She's just thinking that he's a baby and he needs a blanket. She doesn't understand that the blanket shouldn't be covering his head.  Needless to say, good intentions or not, I've really got to watch out with these two around the baby.

This Sunday, Nico was sleeping peacefully in his swing (yay) when Gianna decided to hook him up with a hot date.  Meet Brooke:

Nico was not so impressed.  First, his sleep was interrupted and second, this chick is taking up a little too much space. It appears to me that Brooke was a little too forward, a little too eager to make a good impression on Nico.  So naturally, he ignored her.  Brooke needs to learn to play it cool around the boys. I'm surprised that Gianna hasn't schooled her on this yet, because Gianna is an expert at playing it cool with the boys.

Gianna and Bode were there with Nico as chaperones. But really, the date was going nowhere.  I mean, doesn't Nico seem to be saying, "Let's just order dinner already and get this over with."

Later, after Gianna's nap (but nobody else's!), we went to a pumpkin patch. I guess all my heavy hinting finally got to RWF, because after I had said to him, "Well, I guess no pumpkins this year, right. I mean, Halloween is two weeks away...."  He said, "Let's go. Let's do it now."  (uhm, to his credit, he did speak with more enthusiasm than that short response conveys.)

Because it was late afternoon, and we are old parents that don't like to have any fun, we skipped the pumpkin patch - you know, the "carnival atmosphere" pumpkin patch with the 20 different rides, face painting, balloons and mazes. Right now, the babies are young enough that we can get away with skipping these amusements...so we figure that we need to use this to our advantage while we can. Soon, they'll know about these things and we'll have no way of avoiding them!

We went to an apple orchard with pumpkins instead.  As you can guess, I was really happy to be there with my little fam, picking out pumpkins for our house.  RWF and I decided that even though we really like the new-fangled pumpkins that are bright orange, white and green, we are really traditionalists. We like the classic pumpkin.

Bode dressed himself (hence the shorts and no socks).

The babies picked out three pumpkins.  One for Bode, one for Gianna and one for Nico.

My favorite part was trying APPLE CIDER DONUTS!!!  (yes, that deserves ALL CAPS)  I have never had them before. They were cooking them in the little store.  I spied them immediately and whispered to RWF, "Is it possible for us to get three donuts?" (I had to clear it with the other parental unit/my partner before injecting my children with the horrible, awful sugar)  The cashier thought I was asking him, and he replied, "Yes, it is POSSIBLE to get three donuts." He was in high school and probably thought the "possible" was a weird way of me asking. The donuts were incredible...crunchy/crispy exterior with a nice pillowy, airy cake to them, and covered in sugar.  And, they were hot.  Delicious.  I am already daydreaming about driving out to the orchard again, solo (well, with Nico), and just indulging in all the donuts I can eat.   Apple cider donuts? Count me as a fan.

Time to make the donuts.

HAS = #1 fan of apple cider donuts

Who needs fresh, healthy apples when you can mainline sugar from apple cider donuts, I ask you. (just kidding!)

We didn't pick (or buy) any apples. I think the apple picking is over, for the most part.  And we didn't need any apples because I had just bought some at the store! Bah.  Next time, and I do see a next time, we'll go to the orchard and buy some from there.

The weather felt spooky to me: the sky was grey, the air cool with a bit of wind. It was the perfect day for picking out pumpkins (and eating apple cider donuts).
Happy Monday.
xo

Halloween flashback

My little pumpkin on her first Halloween.

It's so hard to believe how much she has grown!  And to all who are wondering where the "Bode's First Halloween" pics are, this is Bob's computer. I don't have access to my photos, or else I'd post "flashback photos" of them both!
xo

Happy Halloween

Trick-or-treat!

This morning, when I got Bode up for breakfast, I excitedly told him it was Halloween.  He was so excited and wanted to go celebrate, saying, "I want to go do Halloween, Mommy!"  Ooops.  

So, I told him that he and Gianna had a special Halloween shirt to wear. And for Bode Wm's Halloween treat, we went to the bakery for a roisin schnecken! 

Happy Halloween, everyone! We hope that you get lots of treats!
xo