All the eves of Halloween

Last Monday the kids wanted me to paint their faces with the Halloween make-up crayons I bought to do my R2D2 eye make-up.

Elliott wanted shapes.  I added the facial hair for my own amusement.

I did a black eye and a gash on Spencer.  We wanted to trick Michael into thinking Spencer was injured at school.  I think it was totally believable.

We baked chocolate breakfast cookies that afternoon.  They have no sweetener (they are banana sweetened) and no flour, so they are a reasonably healthy breakfast choice.  Well, maybe if you don't add Halloween sprinkles.

pre-baked

baked

That night we took a walk around the neighborhood.  I, like a fool, wore flip flops.  I even considered putting on my sneakers but was a lazy jerk and convinced myself flip flops were fine since we were taking a leisurely stroll.  I walked Ginger while Michael and the kids played at the park and then we all walked back together.  We were 1 block from home when Elliott just suddenly and with no warning stopped walking and my big toe jammed into the back of his shoe.  I heard and felt the nail crack all the way across.  When I looked down the nail was sticking up at a horrifying angle on the left, it was completely intact on the upper right hand corner and I was hemorrhaging from the nail bed all over the sidewalk.  I'm not even exaggerating.  That thing bled a shocking amount.  

Michael and Spencer ran home, got in the car and drove back to us because I was bleeding too much to walk.  I wrapped it up and got the bleeding stopped but it was way too painful to clip the part that hadn't cracked.  And I have a high pain tolerance, so that is saying something.  So off to urgent care I went.   Apparently this is a very common urgent care problem and they see multiple ones every week.  It's called a traumatic avulsion of the nail bed. 

I have before pictures but they are way too graphic and gory to show.  I'll email you and show you if you feel like you can handle it. 

At urgent care they had me soak it to soften and clean the nail, then they numbed my toe (although not enough because I still felt it) and clipped it off.

This is the after at urgent care.

And the after at home.  It's just awesome that I'm going to be in a wedding wearing OPEN TOE shoes on Saturday.

On Tuesday Elliott and I stayed home all day being bums.  It had been a long time since we just stayed home doing nothing.  Well, not nothing.  I did a lot of laundry. And dishes.  

Elliott took pictures with my phone.  They all look like this.

Oh look.  He captured a person.  Probably not on purpose.

Wednesday was Elliott's second to last weekly occupational therapy session.  He was in a better mood and more compliant than the week before, so I got some pictures.

Ginger was her typical goof that night.  I just love when she lays with one foot on her bed.

I worked on Thursday.  When I got home we had a bunch of errands to run.  One of them was a parking lot pumpkin patch down the street from us to get a big pumpkin to carve.  We should have just gone to the grocery store because it was ridiculously expensive.

We also stopped at Target.  It was the first time I had seen the 2015 snow globes.

I need to check and see what we got for 2014, but I'm thinking this little cottage is a very likely addition for 2015.

So, a few weeks ago I ordered a pair of red pants from LL Bean.  They were way, way, way on sale.  I think the original price was $68 (WHAT?!) and I bought them for $19.99 with free shipping.  I was so excited to get them because I have a specific shirt I need them for.  And then they arrived and they are ORANGE.  And not even reddish orange, but bright pumpkin orange.  Way to be honest with your colors and pictures, LL Bean.  I was going to return them, but they charge $8 for returns.  Well forget that. Then I thought I would dye them black.  But that is risky because it's dye and it just sounds scary.  I have now decided they will be my once a year Halloween pants.

I actually got tons of compliments about them at work.

They're just really, really orange.  Really.

After I got home on Friday it was time to carve the pumpkins.  Oh, but first we went to two different Fresh & Easy stores since, as I anticipated, the whole franchise is going under.  It's our last chance to buy our favorites.  I'm bummed that we didn't find any tahini or any of their pumpkin ice cream.  I don't even know that we had any last year. So it's been two years since I had their pumpkin ice cream and now I will never have it again.  I did get a pint of their espresso fudge to have AFTER the wedding on Saturday.  You know, tight strapless dress and all. 

As is customary I cut the tops, clean and scrape them out and Michael does the carving. 

Elliott pulled out 5 seeds and said he was done.

We used the two little pumpkins we bought in Willcox and the big one we got on Thursday. 

Ginger got a typical Jack.

Elliott got Peppa Pig.

And Spencer got Darth Maul.

Michael said the Peppa was actually much more difficult than the Darth.

The 2015 jack-o-lanterns!

Up next: Halloween, the night of 10,000 pounds of candy