Halloween & stuff

We had a mostly fun Halloween. There was great preparation and anticipation for the day, but when it came right down to the main event, we did have a few glitches.

Glitch #1: First there was the costume parade at school, which Oliver refused to participate in. He did want to wear his costume, but sat with us in the audience while we watched the kids file past. Not too big of a deal. Brenden looked great as Johnny Napalm from Guitar Hero (a recycled costume from 2 years ago, but never before worn to school).
Glitch #2: Brenden didn't like all the face makeup this costume required, so the next day at about 2pm he decided he'd rather be Slash (you know, from Guns N' Roses, but also from Guitar Hero) and being the accommodating parents that we are Scott and I are driving around town from store to store calling each other to report "ok I found the glasses did you find the wig?" type progress. But ultimately we found it all and he looked great and was quite happy with his getup.

Oliver's the guy who gets the Halloween catalog in the mail 2 months early and spends hours and days pouring over every page, circling the ones he likes and then ranking them with a star system to ultimately select the perfect costume. This year it was a black & red ninja. He loved it.

June didn't get the concept of Halloween so I got to pick for her. I tried to make it something practical that she would have fun using for dress-up so we settled on a princess. I still feel great guilt that for my only daughter's first princess Halloween I didn't sew her something special. But I have to accept my limitations at this point (read: 3 month old baby).

Glitch #3: Saturday afternoon the boys were killing time until we could go trick or treating by driving their big remote control car in the cul de sac. It was Brenden's turn and, as one might have expected would eventually happen to an RC car driving down the middle of the road, it got run over by a car, and got totally demolished. Both boys came running in the house completely hysterical as if they'd just seen their lives flash before their eyes. It took quite a while to get them calmed down.

Glitch #4: Scott found one of those videos where they lull you into a false sense of comfort and then pop up something startling and scary when you least expect it. He thought it would be funny to share it with all of us but the gag went a bit too far when both boys again ended up completely terrified and hysterically crying with many proclamations of "this is the worst Halloween EVER!"

It was at this point that we canceled the pre-trick-or-treating family BBQ and shifted focus to just doing something fun. So we got the kids ready and headed out to do some trick or treating. That was mostly fun, although Scott was a little disappointed at the boys lack of drive for candy. They were both satisfied and ready to be done when their pumpkins were only half full.

June fell asleep.

A dentist once advised me to just let the kids eat all their candy at once (in 1 or 2 days) and then be done with it. So I tried that this year. No limits. Just get it over with. It got pretty scary there when I woke up to this sight -- June begging me to open the full-size candy bar with her face already completely covered in chocolate. I like Becca's idea (trade candy for small prizes and toys) so maybe we'll try that next year.



















In other news, Huck is 3 months old now! He's smiling a lot, starting to figure out how to use his hands, and is a real snuggler. June is super sweet with him, so now we're trying to figure out how to transfer some of that sweetness to her treatment of her older brothers. She can be pretty rough with them. Brenden and Oliver are both super helpful with holding him or entertaining him when needed. Huck is *starting* to *sort of* * sometimes* figure out what the pacifier is for. We still all dread driving in the car with him.

The boys both picked out new winter school shoes. Brenden picked these crazy multi-color semi-high tops. I don't get it, but he sure loves them. So there you go - just like that I'm the out-of-it mom who doesn't understand kids today and their crazy fashions. That's bogus.














What else is going on?

We've had workmen in our basement for 2 weeks now. I really hope they'll be done by Christmas. I'm excited for some great storage spaces, guest rooms, craft corner, play house, and a family room where the toys and TV noise can (and will) stay. I really hope we'll use it and we'll all get over our sense that it's far and disconnected. In an effort to be economical and do the renovations in a phased approach, we're not doing the bathroom right now, which I'm sure will be annoying for a while. Hopefully we'll be able to do it soon enough.

I've started back to work this week. So far so good. Mom has been helping a lot during the days which is just so great, and my work load is quite manageable and hours very flexible. I'm actually rather excited to work on some new projects and exercise that side of my nerdiness again.

We still haven't nailed down our holiday plans but I'm getting into shopping mode. I'm determined to get it done early (and then stop). I'd really like to find some good service opportunities that we can do as a family. I think we'll try this one recommended by Bethany.

So there you go Brett, Rachel & Annee -- there's your update. Now it's 1:30am and I should probably get to bed.

Good night.