Halloween

We had a great Halloween on Friday. I telecommuted that day which made it much easier (for me anyway, not sure the kids noticed) to get everyone in their costumes, fed and ready to head out for the night. I closed my laptop at 3pm and we headed out to the deck to carve pumpkins. Riley insisted on doing his all by himself this year, he was a bit annoyed that we wouldn’t let him handle the knife all on his own. He did draw what he wanted cut-out and using his hand on the knife, with Lances on top of it, they got it cut out together. He loved digging out all the pumpkin guts too. Owen was not as fond of slimy insides of his pumpkin, but did stick his hand in a couple of times although he quickly ran inside to wash off in the sink each time. He opted instead to clean it out as best he could using two big spoons. In the end, Mom ended up elbow deep in his pumpkin. He was happy to instruct me on drawing and cutting out his jack-o-lantern. Triangle eyes, diamond nose and a smiley face with exactly two teeth. He didn’t mind at all not being able to wield the knife. Not sure what that says about their personalities, but they’re definitely each their own.

"Take my picture, Dad. I'm going to eat my pumpkin!"

"Oh, I can do that. Watch this, I'm going to eat the gross insides of my pumpkin!"

We picked up pizza for dinner and when Scotty and his crew arrived we ate, dressed everyone and headed to the fall festival at a nearby church. The kids had fun on all the inflatable’s, getting their faces painted and the cake walk. The only downer for the night was Riley left there with a nice goose-egg on his forehead. He and buddy were in the inflatable boxing ring and managed to fall into each other, head to head. Apparently Heath’s head is harder than Riley’s (imagine that!). Heath walked away unscathed but Riley had a huge knot which has since turned several shades of blue and green.

Riley as Commander Cody (Star Wars) and Owen the Power Ranger

We left the fall festival and headed to a nearby neighborhood to trick-or-treat. We hit 15-20 houses and all the kids loaded up with plenty of candy. The kids and 2 adults piled into the back of Lance’s pick up truck. Being pregnant this year, I wasn’t allowed to ride in the back of the truck. I rode with Nana in her Navigator, following the pickup through the neighborhood. This neighborhood has relatively large lots, each no smaller than 1 acre, so if we’d done it all by foot I’m sure we couldn’t have knocked on as many doors as we did. The pick-up works great and the kids all love it since it’s the only night of the year they’re allowed to ride back there.

We headed back to our house when we were done where all the kids picked a spot on the living room floor to dump out their loot. The parents inspected all the candy and then the kids proceeded to trade and swap favorites with each other. Everyone was pretty wiped out but had a great night, adults included. The next morning Riley and Owen dumped their candy on the kitchen table and did a little more trading.

The morning after, sorting/trading candy and being silly.

It was a fun and memorable night. I thought several times during the evening that this time next year, I’ll have a little girl bundled up in her stroller in a costume of some sort. She’ll be here before we know it!

Saturday was another great football day. Riley’s team came away with a victory which sets them up for the semi-finals this coming Saturday. After his game, we stuck around and watched Tyler’s game. His team is also headed for the playoffs next weekend. Another exciting season! We left the football field and visited Mom and Dad’s church to hear a Korean childrens choir. They were very good and the boys enjoyed it too. They ended up spending the night with Nanny and PawPaw and sounds like they had a lot of fun. I picked them up the next morning before church.

Sunday was a nice, lazy day. After church we went home to eat lunch and hung out there for a couple of hours. Then we made a trip to Sam’s Club and afterward stopped at a park for a couple hours so the boys could ride their bikes. Riley managed to organize 5-6 other boys with bicycles into having races. Owen volunteered as the referee (he was the one to say “ready, set, go”) although I think he raced a couple of times too. It was a beautiful day for it! Before going home, we had dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant.


Like all weekends, it came to an end too quickly, but at least we were able to squeeze an extra hour out of this one.