Katie was first to the bus stop this morning and I heard the shrieking from there. Look what was at the corner house!
Both kids were enthralled! And pointing to more decorations on the porch!
Hell, ALL the kids were enthralled!
Category Archives: Halloween
Owen as Anakin
We had been planning on him being Superman because he had the costume last year and it was a bit too big—but we’ve temporarily lost the cape so I wanted a backup just in case. He picked Anakin Skywalker. I had told him he could try it on when he got home from school, so within minutes of walking in the front door he brought it to me. 🙂
Yes, it’s a little big. To get the waist to fit, I have to order a bit larger-than-necessary size, which makes the rest waaaay too long. I think a few well-placed rubber bands on his legs will work well enough for an hour of trick-or-treating.
Now with light saber!
In action!
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Owen’s Thanksgiving Turkey
Coffee filters and construction paper—you gotta love it!
And his sad, peeling pumpkin from Halloween…the paint was on so thick that once it dried, you barely touched it and huge chunks flaked off. 🙂
Happy Halloween!
Owen was so excited about trick-or-treating that he started asking about 3:30. 🙂 I told him it would be after dinner, so that put him off until about 4 before he started asking if it was dinnertime yet. Since the kids have a somewhat early bedtime, I figured we’d start on the early end (“official” time was listed as 5-9). So I got dinner going at 4:30 and we started getting dressed at about 5.
Of course there were wardrobe malfunctions—unfortunately, the wonderful idea I had about permanently adhering the red criss-cross leg straps to the costume wasn’t so great in practice. It helped, but we should have done a trial run because the ties still hung weird and slid down because the legs were too long. I fixed some of it by hiking it up and holding it with the belt…and it still wasn’t really great but it was good enough for a four year old. 🙂 But, I was exasperated because I thought it would be a quick two minutes to get his costume on…and it turned into a 15-minute debacle that included me running upstairs to madly search for my fabric tape with Katie screeching the whole time because she was tired of being in her high chair. And I was sweating, which never makes me happy.
So then I needed to get pictures of him so I left Katie screeching in the high chair while we went outside.
“Give me a ninja pose!”
Then I had to go get Katie ready. I hadn’t done it earlier since it was WARM out and her chicken costume would also be warm. Luckily she sat pretty still for a few pictures.
Then we were off.
Owen: I can’t believe I’m going trick-or-treating! It’s my big day!
And of course, the excitement quickly turned into shyness as we hit the first house. He didn’t want to go up the driveway (I had to cajole him and go up with him), he didn’t want to say trick or treat, and he didn’t say thank you. After three houses of that, I told him if he didn’t start being brave, we were going home. So the next house he tromped off saying “I’m going to be brave!” 🙂 Then it was all good!
This is how Katie was traveling in style:
The only bad thing was (as I learned later) we were out too early. Yes, the official hours were 5-9 but there were so few houses participating I almost wondered if Halloween had been cancelled and I just didn’t know it. I was remembering last year when the streets were packed with raucous kids and I thought we were out at about the same time…but I was off by about half an hour because things started picking up around 6 and were quite busy when we were headed home at 6:30.
Katie was a big hit—almost everyone commented on her costume and she was happily saying “bye bye” to everyone and waving.
We made it home about 6:35 and went right upstairs. I didn’t want to have any lights on downstairs lest anyone think we were home and ring the doorbell (we didn’t have a pumpkin or any lights on, but that didn’t stop people last year). I let Owen and Katie share a bag of mini cheese balls and a mini Nestle crunch bar, which they both really enjoyed!
Then it was Katie’s bedtime—and she didn’t even squawk and was out in under 10 minutes. Yay!
I let Owen ramble on about how much fun he had while eating a few more treats, and he got to bed a mere 10 minutes late.
So overall, it was a good day. 🙂
Owen’s Halloween Party
I walked into controlled bedlam. Or maybe it just felt that way to me, since I am unaccustomed to being in a room full of little kids. 🙂 It was actually quite calm—just noisy. I regret not taking a video so you could fully understand. 🙂
Katie loves coming in (which she rarely gets to do because I leave her in the car while I run him in or pick him up). She gets into everything. I tried to keep her corralled with cheese and crackers today but it only lasted so long.
Then daddy called so he could see the party.
It didn’t last too long, though, since we couldn’t hear each other due to all the ambient noise. But what was funny is that the teacher saw me holding my phone up and was like “Oh, what do you have there?” I’m guessing she thought I was showing Owen something or taking a video. When I told her it was Owen’s daddy on Skype she was really surprised! And excited! So she got to meet Tom briefly today. (Again, it was loud so it wasn’t much more than “Hi! Nice to meet you!”)
Our Little Chicken 2.0
She wasn’t really too cooperative…none of the pictures with the pumpkin turned out (so I couldn’t get a match to Owen’s pic, below).
And Owen as the chicken at eight months (one of my all-time favorite pictures):
The Physical Saga
So when Owen switched from daycare to pre-k, no one told me he needed a new physical form filled out so I was a bit surprised when it popped up on the check-in monitor saying it’s overdue. I got the form from admin right then, went home, and used the doctor’s office web portal (as they suggest) to request an appointment.
Well, life is busy and I didn’t realize that they hadn’t gotten back to me in four days, so I called to schedule the physical—and of course they couldn’t get me in for another week, but whatever. So I show up yesterday and am told he’s already had his age 4 physical (that’s what the four-year well-visit is) and it’s good for a year…so if I go to the appointment today I will be charged since our insurance only allows one physical per year. They let me cancel so that part was fine, but I was still annoyed because had I known/realized that the well-visit check was the same exact thing as the required physical, I could have just dropped the form off TWO WEEKS PRIOR when I first got the warning message. So they tell me it will be two business days and I don’t give it another thought.
So this morning I drop Owen off at school and he’s super excited because it’s Halloween and he’s dressed as Thor and there’s a parade walk through the school scheduled and a party in the afternoon and it’s all just very exciting for a four-year-old. As I’m driving home, I get a phone call from the school asking if I had Owen’s physical, because if they don’t have it TODAY, he can’t be at school and I’ll have to come pick him up.
WAIT. WHAT? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.
Yes, today is the absolute very last day he can be there without the physical form on file. I wonder how I didn’t know this. To be honest, I know I didn’t look too closely at the “due by” date, but there was NO warning that he wouldn’t be able to attend without it. And today of all days?!?!
I WAS LIVID.
So, I asked why they didn’t tell us ahead of time that he needed a physical and she said they did. I would have bet my life they didn’t, though, because I know I went through EVERYTHING in the welcome packet and there was no “new physical form” in there. The first time I heard it mentioned was when the notice popped up on the check-in monitor and I [started to make] the appointment that day—but of course that didn’t go quite as planned so I did waste some time. She said if they could fax it today he can stay, otherwise he’ll have to go home.
So when I get home, I call the doctor’s office and explained what was going on…and nope, nothing they can do, they are super busy and mine was the last one turned in. I practically beg, saying I’m going to have to take my son away from his Halloween party at school, yada yada yada. Nope, sorry. She didn’t even sound apologetic, which was annoying. At least fake it. She said she’d put a note on it and would call me if anything changed, but I can guarantee that won’t be happening. It’s really annoying because all it is is transcribing a few notes from his file to the piece of paper and checking a few boxes. Sure, there might be a pile of them, but each one can’t take more than 5-10 minutes. And you’d think they’d have a heart…but no.
I was so pissed. And I knew it would kill Owen—if they don’t get it there today he can’t go to school tomorrow on PJ day, which he’s been looking forward to all week. I admit I cried for a minute. 🙁 Then my anger took over and I went on a hunt for the welcome folder (which I’ve been meaning to do anyway since I need to put Owen’s birth certificate back in the safe) and looked through EVERYTHING again. No mention of any physical in any of the welcome materials and, of course, no form. Had there been a form, I would have definitely seen it when I first went through it.
So I decided that I would go in and pick him up at 10:30 when I knew the parade would be over. We’d then have to skip the party at the end of the day because that’s part of school, too. So I first went to talk to the admin, just to clarify HOW I was supposed to have known about the physical. She started by saying she will let him stay for today and the party (which made me happy—though it would have been nice if she said that earlier to save me a trip into town) and was then surprised when I told her I went through the welcome packet but there was no form in there (I told her “That’s why I asked for the form the other day—because it was the first time I’d heard of it.”). She basically blew that off saying “Hmmm, well there should have been a form but maybe I missed it.” That’s it? I thought I deserved a bit more of an apology than that, since none of this would have happened if the form would have been in the folder. (Yes, mistakes happen, but there’s a difference between realizing it on Day 1-14 as opposed to Day 31 when you’ve been called on it.)
ANYWAY, I also suggested it would be nice if the popup warning actually said “YOUR CHILD CAN’T ATTEND WITHOUT THIS PHYSICAL” and she said one of the three warnings did say that. Wait. Three? I only got one. Yeah, turns out the first notice was the Friday he missed school for being sick (when Grannie and Papa were here) and the second one must have been a day they picked him up and couldn’t get the fingerprint scanner to work so the office staff checked him out. So, basically a perfect storm of events from Day 1.
She really is a nice lady, and I didn’t want her to think I was a crazy person (plus I have to deal with her for the rest of the school year!), so I apologized for being so confused and told her I’m really not this disorganized…but apparently a bunch of little things went wrong from the beginning that just made it all weird. She seemed to think I wasn’t a lunatic (or at least she was good at faking it!) so I think we’re good.
Of course, if the doctor’s office can’t promise to get it to the school by like 10am tomorrow, he can’t go to PJ day. I don’t hold out hope…so today I get to make a big deal about staying home with mommy for a PJ and movie day just in case. And then hope they have it ready at 8am Monday, otherwise he gets a day at home with Gramma Jean (which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world)…
Spirit Week: Costume Day
He had wanted to be Superman up until last night when we were trying on all the costumes. He wanted to be the ninja except school has a NO WEAPONS policy and he didn’t want to wear the costume without the sword. So he agreed on Thor, which I was completely happy with since it was a costume from last year that he didn’t wear and this would be the last year he’d fit in it.
(Yes, Thor has a hammer. I asked if it was considered a weapon and they told me they were allowing it but it had to be put away except for during the parade.)
Katie’s first of three Halloween costumes.
Why does she have three costumes? I bought one last year when I found it cheap at the resale shop. Then later a friend said she’d send one her daughter didn’t use. Then I remembered we had saved the old costume of Owen’s but a friend had it—so she gave it back.
So we tried the friend’s costume today. It didn’t go over too well. She didn’t mind it terribly, but the hat part was too big and kept falling in her face. And she wouldn’t sit still with her legs out so you could see the cute cat feet.
And then she saw a roaming cat across the street and was excited about that…
So off she went.
Taking pictures of little ones in costumes is very hard when you have to be both the photographer and the retriever.
A Halloween surprise for daddy!
When I saw this resin pumpkin on Woot, I had to get it for Tom! And today Katie just happened to be dressed in her Sparty outfit…
Look! A super cute ninja!
Yeah, I’ve gone a bit overboard this year as this is costume #3 (the others were Robo Knight and Superman) plus he has Thor leftover from last year that he didn’t wear (and still fits). But I couldn’t resist a ninja—and he plays in them as well.
If he chooses this one (and I guess even if he doesn’t) it will need some altering—the red leg ties don’t stay in place so will need to be ironed on permanently.
Halloween costume!
Owen picked out his Halloween costume at Costco today as a reward for being a good boy at the hospital. I had hoped he’d go for Iron Man (since we already have the real mask and arm band) but no, he wanted Robo Knight (one of the Power Rangers). He has never watched Power Rangers (as far as I know) and really only wanted it because it was called Robo Knight. 🙂
Of course, he had to put it on for daddy.
And then of course I made him pose for me:
Edited two hours later to add: He still hasn’t taken it off!
Trick or Treating
Owen was VERY excited to go trick-or-treating. He had told us he was going to be Thor (he has both Thor and Captain America costumes) but at the last moment, he decided he wanted to be Captain America. Which was fine, except the mask that came with the costume didn’t fit (it was the one Katie wore in earlier pictures), and the mask we bought separately was heavier than the Thor mask and didn’t fit him as well…but you can’t explain that to a toddler. So Captain America it was.
And then we were off!
And then a few houses down we ran into another Captain America—the little boy he has played with before—and it was hilarious! They saw each other, got super excited, and were running around their yard together! Owen kept saying “TWO SHIELDS! HE HAS A SHIELD!” The other kid (Andrew) is about 4.5. EEK, I know.
After we hit the few houses on our street, Owen was done with the mask—and Tom had the shield to carry as well since Owen refused to wear it on his arm and couldn’t hold it in his hand, hold his candy bag, and grab treats all at the same time.
Tom went up with him to the houses this year so I didn’t get to hear his cute version of “Trick or treat” or “Thank you” but he did really well. It wasn’t too busy or crowded when we were out, which was good—but we did skip two houses that were too loud (those cackling figures and loud music) and too scary (fog machines and lots of people). About halfway through, he kept saying how heavy his bag was and how many treats he had…so we dumped some of them in the stroller. 🙂
Katie tagged along with me…no costume, but comfy as a bug!
We made it to more houses this year, but Owen declared he was done when there were still a few houses to go. We asked if he wanted to go get more candy and he said no, he wanted to go home. Okay then.
Here he is with his stash. He wanted to sort it and find matchers…but wasn’t really that interested in eating any of it. He tried a bite of a Tootsie Roll and two Milk Duds and that was it.
More Halloween Katie
How could I have forgotten these pictures? The chili pepper was borrowed from friends and I was planning on having her wear it when we went out to trick or treat—except it was a bit too small and it was a challenge just getting her in it for a few pictures!
Katie Bug
Our little ladybug. Out of about 75 pictures, these are the best. She wasn’t totally cooperative, but there are some cute ones…and a few funny ones like the screaming and the face flop. 🙂
Avengers assemble!
Owen really likes the Avengers. It started with Iron Man and has grown into the whole crew, thanks to a kid’s movie on Netflix (Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow
So when we were thinking about potential Halloween costumes, someone mentioned they had Avenger costumes at Costco…so on our recent trip, we got one. We wanted Captain America or Iron Man, but of course they didn’t have either one of those. So we got Thor…which he’s completely enamored with because he LOVES the hammer.
The hammer was played with as soon as we got home, and the costume sat there for a day before he had to wear it (which was fine because we also wanted him to try it on—it’s a size 7-8 but they run small so we wanted to make sure it fit). Luckily he loves it and wants to wear it all the time, but we limit the time so it will hopefully last until Halloween!
This is him saying “Avengers assemble!” (from the movie) and making the arm motion!
Trick or treat…?
I was unpacking with Owen in the room when I hear “Trick or treat! Trick or treat!” I wondered what could possibly have prompted that…when I look over and see him carrying his Lightning McQueen basket. 🙂
Trick or Treating
We were sitting at the table eating dinner when the costumed kids started up and down the street…and Owen was the first to see them as he announced “WITCH! WITCH!” I asked if he wanted to go get treats and he said yes so I said we had to go put his costume on. He ran off saying “Shoes! Shoes!” So we got the costume on, he sat still for me to draw his nose and whiskers on, and then was super excited to see that I had a Lightning McQueen bag for him!
We went outside and there was a HUGE group of kids walking by (“KIDS!”) and he just watched them intently while saying “Costume party! Costume party!” (I’m not entirely sure where he picked up the idea of a costume party, but I’m sure it had to be one of his shows that I don’t pay close attention to.) He was more interested in watching the kids than anything else, so we hung out in the yard and driveway for a good 10 minutes before he was ready to head down the street. (Unfortunately, Tom is away for work, so it was just me and Owen.)
After we hit the first house (our friends and next door neighbors), he was READY. TO. GO! He had his McQueen bag in one hand and a toy jet in the other (which he held the entire night).
After we hit the few houses on our street, I thought we might be done (because to hit any other houses, it would be a bit of a walk for him) so I asked him if he wanted to go home or if he wanted more treats. Without hesitation, he immediately said “More treats!” So off we went!
He did awesome holding his bag the entire time and not dropping it (or any candy!) and he did REALLY well saying trick or treat—at the beginning I had to take him right to the door and tell him when to say it (and to say thank you), but by the end of the night, he pretty much knew he had to go up to the door or the people (most were sitting on the porch) and then say thank you.
Of course, at some houses, people let the kids pick their own treats from the bowl and he didn’t get it at first—the first house that offered, he just stood there like Why aren’t you putting anything in my bag? but then he slowly took one…and then another…and another. It was so cute—and the guy was laughing. After, at other houses, he gently picked one out.
I learned that he does not like motion-activated fog machines at all, but he loves pumpkins and ghosts (which we already knew) and pointed them ALL out to me. Of course, just about everyone commented how cute he was. 🙂 As we were on our way home, we ran into our neighbors who commented how cute he was and that their daughter had been a dalmation, too. I said “Yes, I know—we got this costume from you [at your garage sale]!” He got a laugh out of that. Then he noticed the gray clouds and said “Storm! Storm!” (Again, I have NO idea where he picked up the idea of dark clouds predicting a storm!) But I agreed that a storm might be coming…and as it turned out, it started raining about 20 minutes after we got home!
He had the best time playing with his candy—treats! treats!—it all got dumped out on my bed and then he was pushing it around and saying CRASH!
He didn’t do as much sorting as I thought he would (he just picked out the suckers) and it was only a matter of minutes before he wanted to eat one. So we shared a bite-sized Kit Kat and then he ate a tiny Nestle Crunch bar.
So overall it was a very fun night…and I can’t wait until next year! Hopefully Tom will be here to experience it with us!
Halloween Party
Happy Halloween
We had a Halloween party to go to at our friend’s house, and decided to take Owen with us for a little bit! He wasn’t thrilled about putting his costume on…until we told him we couldn’t go on a car ride (his favorite!) until he had it on. Then he was very interested in putting it on! When I was drawing on his nose and whiskers with a makeup brush, he kept saying “Tickles! Tickles!” 🙂
And then at the party…
Happy Halloween!
Gramma Jean made this video initially, then I tried to redo it with different pictures, but it turned out about the same. Owen just takes the cake. This makes me smile and laugh each and every time I watch it…
Edited on November 10, 2009, to say that I finally broke down and bought the actual video for $5—I figured it was worth it for something that brought me so many smiles. 😀 So now it’s uploaded at YouTube instead of just having a link.
SCREENSHOT OF THE ENTIRE CAST:
Our cute little chicken!
We took 183 photos and just handful were good enough to keep. This is one of the best ones! (Don’t you love the leggings? We borrowed them from a friend!)
Happy Halloween
To hand out treats or not—that is the question.
Pros?
- It would be a nice welcome to the neighborhood—show who we are, that we’re nice people.
- I have the pumpkin.
- I have the treats.
Cons?
- The pumpkin isn’t carved. (I personally HAVE TO HAVE a carved pumpkin to hand out treats, even though it isn’t technically necessary.)
- We will have family visiting—and most likely eating at the witching hour.
- We don’t have a good setup. The screen door makes two doors to open. Even if we leave the main door open…
- We have to make sure three animals don’t escape—which can be done but with everything else, just adds to the not-wanting-to-do-it feel.
So, we might just have a bag of candy for ourselves this year (instead of just the leftovers).
Happy Halloween
Since I didn’t carve a pumpkin this year, I am posting a picture of an old favorite!
Not as fun as it used to be?
I think I might be getting over my love of Halloween, or I might be getting crochety in my old age, or something else, but…. I think I could live without the handing out of the candy anymore.
To start with, people started showing up WHEN OUR LIGHTS WERE STILL OFF AND THE PUMPKIN WASN’T LIT. What gives? When we’re ready, we’ll look ready. (It was actually a neighbor and she said “Well I saw lights on inside.” Grrrr.) So as we were turning on the lights and lighting the pumpkin, a whole slew of people showed up so it was pure chaos.
Then, half the kids didn’t even say Trick or Treat, just rang the bell and stood there when I opened the door (all ages, not just young ones who might be clueless). Quite a few didn’t even ring the bell and just stood outside (we heard them approach because we were in the dining room listening with the window open). Then, of course there are the little ones who don’t know the drill and don’t move once you give them the candy—I had like three of these who just stood there looking at me like they wanted more candy and I said “I already gave you your candy, let the other kids get in here.”
And it’s not like we were really bombarded, but it was hard to take the time to look at all the costumes, which is the best part.
Maybe I would be more into the whole thing if Tom was, but he’s usually off doing his own thing. At least this year he sat with me in the dining room working on the laptop while I handed out treats!
Anyway, I was handing out 2-3 small pieces to everyone and only had a handful left when we turned the lights out at 7…we couldn’t have had more than 30 kids.
Happy Halloween!
Every year I say I am just going to go old school with the classic triangle eyes and nose, but every year I end up with something different!
Way short version of mom and David’s visit.
As you will read on the 10/28 entry, I lost my entire well-constructed thread with links and pictures…and there is NO WAY IN HELL I’m in any mood to even try to recreate it, so…without further ado, here’s the short version of their visit.
- They brought my old dresser and my old toybox because they were cleaning out the basement and I had to take my old stuff. They filled the toybox with Tom’s beer he requested, which I found funny.
- We cooked some great meals, as usual, plus ate at our favorite Thai restaurant. David made some yummy soup from leftovers and mom made Tom his favorite scones.
- Maggie LOVED grandma and I think grandma was surprised that she liked Maggie more than she thought she would.
- We went to our annual Halloween party/oyster feast at our friend’s house. We wore our new costumes and mom and David wore the scrubs that we had been banned from wearing again. My costume still needs some work, as it’s way too big and not slutty enough for what the costume should be (I couldn’t get enough cleavage).
The end.
P.S. You WON’T believe this, but I lost this post as well…another stupid error in the code. GRRRRR. There has to be something wrong with my cookies because this does NOT happen when I write in my blog at work. >:(
Who comes up with these sizes?
So our Halloween costumes arrived yesterday (here’s a preview):
Tom’s costume is fine size-wise…but mine? It will work, but I don’t know who comes up with the sizes on these things.
I ordered one size larger than I thought I would need, just in case they ran small. Well, the skirt is probably three times as big as I need, the shirt is probably twice as big as I need…but the last piece, the black corset-type vest (which is definitely a more “fitted” piece)? Almost too small. So tell me why the hell you would have two out of the three outfit pieces be entirely too large and the last piece almost too small? I mean, if someone actually needed the entire skirt or the shirt (i.e. fit into it perfectly), there is NO WAY they would fit into the vest.
So, needless to say my costume is going to require some alterations… Since the skirt is way too big and the black vest is almost too small, the two pieces don’t fit toegether as they should (as seen in the picture) and you can see the white of the shirt between the two pieces, which looks just horrible. I’m thinking maybe I can safety pin the skirt to the vest or something? Mom will be here so maybe she will have a good idea!
I just hope we end up with some good pictures!!
Halloween Costumes and Online Coupons
So we decided to order new Halloween costumes for this year, as we’ve been “doctors” the past three years…and well, okay, so maybe our party hosts have said flat out that we CANNOT show up in the same scrubs again!!
So, I found the perfect costume at the place I wanted (with a 40% off coupon no less!) back in August, but they didn’t have it in my size. Of course, it wasn’t back in stock by the time the coupon expired, so I started looking elsewhere…and today I finally got my butt in gear (since the party is EARLY this year) and ordered our new costumes.
And you know what the best part was? I searched for a coupon code and found one for 10%…but when I entered it, it gave me 30% off!! WOOHOO! BONUS!