Halloween was a blast this year! The kids were looking forward to it so much. We received a Party City flyer in the mail and the kids perused through it. Ava wanted to be Belle from "Beauty and the Beast." As soon as Liam saw the Thomas the Train costume outfit, there was no other. :-) I put off buying Ava's costume, because she seemed to fluctuate multiple times daily on what she wanted to be. A few of her different answers were: Bunny rabbit, hula girl, Belle. So of course when she went to the store to buy her outfit with Daddy this year, they came home with.... (drumroll, please): SUPERGIRL! I had to laugh. I guess the uber-pinkness and sparkly nature of the outfit couldn't be resisted. Liam, true to form, picked Thomas.
This year's festivities included the church trunk-or-treat, trick-or-treating at the Avenue shopping center, trunk-or-treating at the kids' day care, pumpkin-picking, growing our own pumpkin, trick-or-treating with the kids from our cul-de-sac (and Mekhi Hoffman came along with Mark and Amy, too!).
At the church trunk-or-treat, it was actually in the 80's (temperature-wise) for the bash. Liam kept trying to rip-off his costume, it was so hot. We put him in a pair of engineer over-alls and a matching hat, should the train come off. I did twist his arm into wearing his costume while we were fetching candy. I told him we couldn't go trick-or-treating without it, so he obliged.
Ava enjoyed wearing her Supergirl outfit. I asked if she wanted her hair to be pink, and she was SUPER excited at the mention of it. So we put her hair in a ponytail and sprayed it pink. She was a happy girl.
I got the "Mother-of-the-Year" award (NOT) while at the church trunk-or-treat. Our neighbors went with us to the trunk-or-treat. Some friends from church were planning on going to dinner after the trunk-or-treat, but we had not yet asked our neighbors if they wanted to go. The kids had their fun bouncing in the bounce-houses, so I thought we would make our way down to the parking lot before heading out for dinner. Doug took the kids to the parking lot, while I lagged behind, maneuvering the stroller down the hill from the soccer fields. I talked with the Waughs on the way to meet where Doug and the kids were congregating. I then heard over the loudspeaker: "Shelly? Shelly? Your daughter is looking for you. Please come here to get your daughter." I then see Ava standing next to the announcer podium. Doug picked her up and she started BAWLING! I felt pretty terrible. I mean the girl had PINK HAIR for crying out loud. I was pretty ticked, because Doug was the last of us with her, but I'M the one who gets the "lost child announcement" attached to my persona. :) I'm still not sure how she got lost. She was all of 20 feet away from us, while lost. I joked later and told her she wasn't lost, but I was lost from her. But we did tell her that she did the right thing by going to the podium and asking for help. Our neighbors did end up going out to eat with the rest of the crew, but I felt terrible that they saw us lose our daughter. We've offered to babysit for them in the past. "Sure! I'll watch your kids for you! Anytime!" (I'm sure they might be rethinking that date night they might've been planning, with us as babysitters!) Other than that, it was a perfect day, beautiful weather and a fun time.
Friday afternoon we picked-out some pumpkins to carve. We also grew one of our own this year. Our Big Max pumpkin seed ended-up being a 16 lb pumpkin! The seed packet said they can grow up to 120 lbs, so next year we'll shoot for even bigger! (earlier planting)
The kids didn't celebrate Halloween at day care this year, but they did go to their school's trunk-or-treat. Before heading over to that, we stopped by the Avenue (a local shopping center) that hands out candy at each of the stores. We met Amy and Mekhi Hoffman there, as well. The kids got lots of stash and we even saw the cowboy on stilts that was there last year.
Saturday afternoon, we then headed over to the kids' school trunk-or-treat. Liam saw someone wearing a grim reaper mask, which paralyzed him IN HIS TRACKS! His feet were planted and he wouldn't move. He kept looking up at the face, trying to decide what to do. I tried to pull him away so we could move on, but he kept looking back. I leaned down to look at his face, and his little lower lip was quivering. Poor guy! He WAS scared! That was soon forgotten once the bouncy houses were entered.
Last night, we went trick-or-treating with the neighborhood crew. Matthew was a "minion" from "Despicable Me" (the movie), Olivia was a "Zombie Cinderella", Nikko came dressed comfortably, Lucy came as a Halloween witch, Zoey dressed as a sweet bumble bee, Mekhi Hoffman later came as a dog, Ava as Supergirl and Liam as "Thomas the train". Jason Arnold came as a Papparazzo, Kristi Arnold came as a flapper. It was fun. The weather was perfect, the kids all stood still for a group shot (a first!).
When we got home, we dumped the kids' candy out on the table, we let them pick out a piece each. Ava then announced that she wanted to eat something healthy after having her candy. I guess the talk about diabetes really sunk-in with her, when we were on our way to take Liam to the TEDDY study appointment earlier this week. (Liam doesn't have diabetes, but is part of a study to determine the cause for Type I diabetes. He is genetically pre-disposed, solely based on his sub-genotype. He may never get diabetes, but even if he doesn't, they can learn from him / his participation in the study. The study / staff are following him in an attempt to see how he might react vs. the other kids in the study, to different stressors in life (different viruses, psychological stress, etc). On the way there, Ava asked why we went to that doctor, and why she doesn't have to get "looked at". I told her all about Diabetes, how it affects people, how adults can also develop this condition, etc. Telling her that diabetic people have to give themselves a shot everyday to help their body work more efficiently might've helped it sink in. I didn't realize that it would be something she would think of when pulling out her Halloween candy, though!
When handed lemons, make lemonade... Today I got the kids up, dressed, fed, ready for school earlier than usual. I was ready to take them, but then walked out the door only to remember my keys were locked in the car. In the glove box. I put them there on Saturday so they wouldn't be in plain sight while we were parked in the parking lot at the Avenue, but forgot to take them back OUT OF THE CAR! We don't have a spare key (but will in the near future :-), so I called my friend Amy who was nice enough to come get us and drive us to day care. I told her I would start walking with the kids. We made it all the way to Publix (with Liam's short little legs!) before she arrived. We probably could've made it to school in 15 more minutes. The "walk to school" was quite the little adventure. It ended-up being a great memory I will forever remember. They sang and talked and laughed and walked through leaves. I had fun walking with them. Poor Ava...when we got to day care with her friend Mekhi, she didn't want the party to end. Amy and Mekhi then dropped me off at home to work, and here I am!
This year's Halloween adventures were a blast. I can't wait to see what future years have in store!
Peace, love and lots of tooth-brushing,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam
This year's festivities included the church trunk-or-treat, trick-or-treating at the Avenue shopping center, trunk-or-treating at the kids' day care, pumpkin-picking, growing our own pumpkin, trick-or-treating with the kids from our cul-de-sac (and Mekhi Hoffman came along with Mark and Amy, too!).
At the church trunk-or-treat, it was actually in the 80's (temperature-wise) for the bash. Liam kept trying to rip-off his costume, it was so hot. We put him in a pair of engineer over-alls and a matching hat, should the train come off. I did twist his arm into wearing his costume while we were fetching candy. I told him we couldn't go trick-or-treating without it, so he obliged.
Ava enjoyed wearing her Supergirl outfit. I asked if she wanted her hair to be pink, and she was SUPER excited at the mention of it. So we put her hair in a ponytail and sprayed it pink. She was a happy girl.
I got the "Mother-of-the-Year" award (NOT) while at the church trunk-or-treat. Our neighbors went with us to the trunk-or-treat. Some friends from church were planning on going to dinner after the trunk-or-treat, but we had not yet asked our neighbors if they wanted to go. The kids had their fun bouncing in the bounce-houses, so I thought we would make our way down to the parking lot before heading out for dinner. Doug took the kids to the parking lot, while I lagged behind, maneuvering the stroller down the hill from the soccer fields. I talked with the Waughs on the way to meet where Doug and the kids were congregating. I then heard over the loudspeaker: "Shelly? Shelly? Your daughter is looking for you. Please come here to get your daughter." I then see Ava standing next to the announcer podium. Doug picked her up and she started BAWLING! I felt pretty terrible. I mean the girl had PINK HAIR for crying out loud. I was pretty ticked, because Doug was the last of us with her, but I'M the one who gets the "lost child announcement" attached to my persona. :) I'm still not sure how she got lost. She was all of 20 feet away from us, while lost. I joked later and told her she wasn't lost, but I was lost from her. But we did tell her that she did the right thing by going to the podium and asking for help. Our neighbors did end up going out to eat with the rest of the crew, but I felt terrible that they saw us lose our daughter. We've offered to babysit for them in the past. "Sure! I'll watch your kids for you! Anytime!" (I'm sure they might be rethinking that date night they might've been planning, with us as babysitters!) Other than that, it was a perfect day, beautiful weather and a fun time.
Friday afternoon we picked-out some pumpkins to carve. We also grew one of our own this year. Our Big Max pumpkin seed ended-up being a 16 lb pumpkin! The seed packet said they can grow up to 120 lbs, so next year we'll shoot for even bigger! (earlier planting)
The kids didn't celebrate Halloween at day care this year, but they did go to their school's trunk-or-treat. Before heading over to that, we stopped by the Avenue (a local shopping center) that hands out candy at each of the stores. We met Amy and Mekhi Hoffman there, as well. The kids got lots of stash and we even saw the cowboy on stilts that was there last year.
Saturday afternoon, we then headed over to the kids' school trunk-or-treat. Liam saw someone wearing a grim reaper mask, which paralyzed him IN HIS TRACKS! His feet were planted and he wouldn't move. He kept looking up at the face, trying to decide what to do. I tried to pull him away so we could move on, but he kept looking back. I leaned down to look at his face, and his little lower lip was quivering. Poor guy! He WAS scared! That was soon forgotten once the bouncy houses were entered.
Last night, we went trick-or-treating with the neighborhood crew. Matthew was a "minion" from "Despicable Me" (the movie), Olivia was a "Zombie Cinderella", Nikko came dressed comfortably, Lucy came as a Halloween witch, Zoey dressed as a sweet bumble bee, Mekhi Hoffman later came as a dog, Ava as Supergirl and Liam as "Thomas the train". Jason Arnold came as a Papparazzo, Kristi Arnold came as a flapper. It was fun. The weather was perfect, the kids all stood still for a group shot (a first!).
When we got home, we dumped the kids' candy out on the table, we let them pick out a piece each. Ava then announced that she wanted to eat something healthy after having her candy. I guess the talk about diabetes really sunk-in with her, when we were on our way to take Liam to the TEDDY study appointment earlier this week. (Liam doesn't have diabetes, but is part of a study to determine the cause for Type I diabetes. He is genetically pre-disposed, solely based on his sub-genotype. He may never get diabetes, but even if he doesn't, they can learn from him / his participation in the study. The study / staff are following him in an attempt to see how he might react vs. the other kids in the study, to different stressors in life (different viruses, psychological stress, etc). On the way there, Ava asked why we went to that doctor, and why she doesn't have to get "looked at". I told her all about Diabetes, how it affects people, how adults can also develop this condition, etc. Telling her that diabetic people have to give themselves a shot everyday to help their body work more efficiently might've helped it sink in. I didn't realize that it would be something she would think of when pulling out her Halloween candy, though!
When handed lemons, make lemonade... Today I got the kids up, dressed, fed, ready for school earlier than usual. I was ready to take them, but then walked out the door only to remember my keys were locked in the car. In the glove box. I put them there on Saturday so they wouldn't be in plain sight while we were parked in the parking lot at the Avenue, but forgot to take them back OUT OF THE CAR! We don't have a spare key (but will in the near future :-), so I called my friend Amy who was nice enough to come get us and drive us to day care. I told her I would start walking with the kids. We made it all the way to Publix (with Liam's short little legs!) before she arrived. We probably could've made it to school in 15 more minutes. The "walk to school" was quite the little adventure. It ended-up being a great memory I will forever remember. They sang and talked and laughed and walked through leaves. I had fun walking with them. Poor Ava...when we got to day care with her friend Mekhi, she didn't want the party to end. Amy and Mekhi then dropped me off at home to work, and here I am!
This year's Halloween adventures were a blast. I can't wait to see what future years have in store!
Peace, love and lots of tooth-brushing,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam
1 comment:
Adorable photos!
Don't feel bad about losing track of Ava at the Trunk-or-Treat. If you remember, you were at my house when my son escaped! I still feel HORRIBLE about that. It's at least nice to know that other moms have been there, done that too!
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