Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Halloween 2011

I wasn't really sure if Rachel would go Trick or Treating.

At church Sunday, the preschool classes were allowed to dress up in their costumes, which thrilled Elizabeth, who went as Silvermist (Tinkerbell's sidekick, who's dress was $15 cheaper in Target than Tinkerbell, and mommy was able to convince her oldest that it was prettier).  I got a pair of wings for Rachel in the same trip, but she wasn't having anything to do with them Sunday morning and ran away screaming and clinging to her daddy.

Our little fairy princess, posing

Our little wingless butterfly...expressing her feelings over the wings

Back to the fairy...this is how they fly, she said

So you can't blame me for not knowing how Halloween was going to go.

We had planned for Scott to get home a little early and take the girls around the block and not only was Elizabeth fired up about the whole adventure, but mommy was thankful to be able to use it as an additional threat to light a fire under my two pokey little puppies.

The entire afternoon had been a bit of a train-wreck.  I took a detour on the way home from gymnastics and decided to go through the car wash...which resulted in Rachel falling asleep in the car...which resulted in no nap for the rest of the afternoon.  Then we had a monstrous fight over the Toys R Us toy catalog that came Sunday, capped off with a hit and a bite and tears from both girls.  So I loaded them up and took them to the Y simply because I needed one hour all to myself. 

Seriously, we pay monthly dues and that is worth it for my daily hour.

Oh, and I was able to run for 20 minutes...THANK YOU CHILD IN MY WOMB!!

So anyway, we returned from the Y to find Daddy home and ready to go.  Elizabeth got dressed and then coerced Rachel into wearing a tutu.  Armed with bags that were gifts from Miss Frankie, off the trio went, taking my heart with them. 

See, Rachel?  Tutus are pretty!

The wings were just a bit too much though. 
Elizabeth was thrilled as they walked down the driveway, "Bye Mom!!  See you soon!!  Bye Mom!!"

The whole picture of the three of them, hand in hand, at dusk with the colored leaves as backdrop...well, it was awesome.  I watched them approach our first neighbor's house.  The girls were hesitant and I heard their daddy coach them on saying trick or treat and I also heard our neighbor gushing about how cute they were. 

Then, with the pregame jitters out of their system and the first bit of candy in their bags, they sprinted across the yard, on to the next driveway with Daddy close behind.  I watched until I couldn't see them anymore and then went inside to finish dinner.

I had actually planned a good, hot dinner because I knew they'd be cold:  pork roast with quinoa and creamed spinach.  I had everything ready to go and set it on warm and walked back out to the end of the driveway to see if I could see them.  It had been 20 minutes and I thought they might be on their way back.

Not a shot.

We had a couple trick or treaters stop by and I came back inside and cleaned up the house.  I took a load of laundry upstairs.  Checked on dinner.  Now we were at the 30 minute mark.

Back to the end of the driveway.  No sign.  I listened...nothing.  So back inside and I started some water for hot chocolate because it was pretty chilly out last night and set the table.

The 45 minute check came and went.  No sign of them.  I debated to go find them, but I really wanted this to be Scott's time with them.  Plus, I had my slippers on and really didn't want to be THAT mom. 

At the hour mark, I saw them coming up the hill.  Scott was carrying Rachel and Elizabeth was dancing up the road beside him.  He spotted me first and dropped their hands and they came running to give me a hug and show me their loot.  I guess our street is used to having a lot of trick or treaters but last night was pretty bare, so they loaded the girls up.  Literally, Rachel's bag was heavier than she was, but she wouldn't let Scott touch it or help her the entire trip and held the straps up to her chin to keep it off the ground.  He said she had to stop to rest a lot.

They bounded in the house, all three of them excited about their adventure and ready for dinner and hot chocolate.  We let them have some of their candy for dessert - and for two little girls who rarely get candy, that is a treat!    Of course, they then sprinted around the house for 20 minutes in a sugar rush, but went to bed easily and were both sprawled out asleep when I checked on them later. 

I like these little colorful things, mom. 

See!  Got one!  See!  Got it all over my face!!
I've never been a huge fan of Halloween, but this year was completely different.  I love the new traditions with our kids and seeing the excitement through their eyes.  I will gladly stay back to guard the driveway to see that moment of them running up the street towards me and give Scott the thrill of taking them from house to house.  

I hope your all's was wonderful!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a great evening! My kids also loaded up on the candy-- I think they only made it to 8 or 9 houses. There aren't a lot of kids who trick-or-treat our neighborhood, so the neighbors load them up with the good stuff. I told Eli that he had to carry his bucket the whole time, and when it got too heavy, we'd go home. He decided when we were done :) (The girls were a fiercely independent with their buckets as Elizabeth was with her bag. A girl thing, or a tiny tot thing, you think?)

    ReplyDelete