A very late Halloween report

Geez.  Sorry for being such a slacker.  I took a little unintended blog vacation for the last week.  Sometimes I'm just too tired to wait for the photos to upload or to write coherent sentences so I put it off until tomorrow.  But then tomorrow turns into a week. 

 

Halloween 2013.  Let's recap.

 

I bought some super sugary cereal 2 weeks ago.  I figured we should start the day out right. 

 

Side note: I have never in my life eaten either of these cereals.  It was a first for all of us.  Except Michael.  Apparently this was a normal part of his childhood.

 

Side note #2: I took a 4-day break from my clean eating.  I consumed 6.8 pounds of sugar and approximately 50,000 calories in that time.  I started my 4th Whole 30 today.  My 1st Whole 30 was 30 days, my 2nd was 52 days and my 3rd was 51 days.  This one is only going to be 24 days.  Easy.

Elliott picked out and ate all the marshmallows first and then all the Frankenberries.  He has never had something so sugary in his life.  He was in love.

 

Spencer wanted to combine the flavors.

 

We took pictures before Spencer went to school.

I will never let Elliott forget that he was so difficult at age 1 that I didn't get any of the individual pictures of him that I would have liked to get during holidays (like Halloween) and yearly outings (like at the pumpkin patch).  I will remind him about it at his high school graduation and wedding and probably the birth of his children.

Both Michael and I worked on Thursday so there was a bit of scrambling to get home, buy candy, eat dinner and get ready, but finally we were  ready for some trick-or-treating. 

 

We did 3 streets in our neighborhood and then we were tired and done.  It was really fun, but 3 streets was enough.  This is definitely a good neighborhood for trick-or-treating.

 

Elliott didn't know what the candy was since we've never given him candy.  He really liked collecting it and wanted to hold it though.  He knew it was special.

 

He threw a huge fit when we made him put the candy down and go to bed.

 

This was from just Spencer's bag.  Think we got enough?

 

He liked the crinkly wrappers.

It was a really fun night. 

Carve it up

Spencer wore his monster shirt to school today.  He has three Halloween themed shirts and will be wearing all of them this week.

We had planned on carving pumpkins this afternoon so I wanted to take Elliott's faux individual pumpkin patch picture while the pumpkins were still whole.

 

Spencer wanted his picture taken too.

 

Then it was time for grouchy.

 

And it actually went pretty well.

 

I don't think we're fooling anyone that we're at a pumpkin patch, but at least I have something for the years of comparisons I will be doing.

 

Does this fool you?

 

With that done, it was time for carving! 

 

Elliott was NOT a fan.

Oh, and BTW, I did not tell Spencer to take his clothes off.  That kid will take advantage of any situation where he can be in his underoos.

Elliott lasted for 86 seconds and then he spent the rest of his time watching a slide show of pictures on the computer.

 

There was a little bit of Ginger petting too.

My job is to cut the pumpkin lids and clean them out.  Michael does the actual carving.  It's a system.  It works.  We don't mess with it. 

 

Our 2013 Jack-O-Lanterns

 

Halloween Party 2013

Amy and Josh used to host a Halloween Party at their house every year.  At some point (not sure when) Shireen and Joseph joined in as co-hosts. 

 

Michael and I went in 2006 but didn't dress up.  We're pretty sure we got home around 2:00 am.  Oh to be so young and full of pep.  We skipped the party in 2007 because Spencer was just a wee little newborn.  In 2008 we left Spencer with my parents for 2 whole hours and Michael and I went as a butler and a maid.  There is, sadly, no post about it because I didn't start blogging until December of that year.  In 2009 Spencer came with us and we were the family in pajamas.  You can read the post about that party HERE.  In 2010 Michael was Goofy, I was Daisy Duck and Spencer was Mickey Mouse.  You can read the post about that party HERE.  You can also read a follow up post about everybody at the party wearing the same pig head HERE.  In 2011 Michael was Sir Topham Hat, I was a (pregnant and huge) railroad crossing sign and Spencer was Thomas the Train. Wanna read all about that party?  You can do that HERE.  I just read it and I have almost the exact, word for word description of the history of the parties as I have above.  Funny. 

 

Sadly, there was no party in 2012 because Josh and Amy were going through a divorce and Amy was busy preparing for her move back home to Indiana (which I still haven't gotten over).

 

This year I am happy to report that Joseph and Shireen bought a brand spanking new beautiful house last month and have brought back the Halloween party!

 

On Saturday afternoon, after Elliott didn't nap for 2 hours, I did a grueling 66 minute Bob Harper work-out, Michael did yardwork and Spencer watched cartoons, we got ready to go.

 

We asked our neighbors to come over to take our picture before we left.  I wanted to try one with Ginger.  It wasn't very successful.  She is wearing a cape, though.  Please note that.

 

The pictures minus the dog were much better.

 

Elliott even tried to fly.

 

In the entryway of the new house 

 

 

Gloria and her hubby were peanut butter and jelly 

John and Maryellen were a carrot and a bunny.  I have NEVER, EVER seen Elliott as scared as he was when he saw John.  He absolutely panicked and wrapped his legs so tight around me I almost fell over.

 

The host and hostess and mini host and hostess.

 

Shira and Ryan.

 

Since Joseph and Shireen just barely moved in it was also a housewarming party.  Elliott and I went shopping at Hobby Lobby (contain your shock) on Friday for a little gift.

I want one for myself!  There is also a little 2013 Christmas ornament hanging from the sign for their first Christmas in their new house.

The have a huge, huge, HUGE backyard.  It is 100% dirt right now, which did not keep the kids from having the time of their lives, so we were joking that every year at the Halloween party we can see how the landscaping has changed.

 

Me and Maryellen

 

Lauren

We have 3 years worth of this picture now.  I think I'm going to put together an entire Fall comparison post after Halloween.  I have about 6,487 comparisons to do.

 

Brenda and Cliff

 

They were pretending they were an oreo.

 

We took this picture AFTER Joni and Brenda left because we are winners like that.

John was burning up in his carrot so he stripped down and then somehow ended up in Maryellen's costume.

 

We were anticipating Elliott losing it early on (reminder: he was on no nap) and causing an early departure for us, but he rallied and had a total blast.  He really did his best to keep up with the "big" kids.  He must have run about 7 miles around that backyard.  We were worried that he would fall asleep in the car on the way home and then it would be a nightmare waking him up and changing him so we brought his getting ready for bed stuff and gave him a bath at the party.  It was a good thing we did because he fell asleep about 1/2 way home and actually stayed asleep when I unbuckled him.  That is the first time I have EVER transferred a sleeping kid from the car to bed.  It was strange and scary and awesome.

 

It was a really good party.  We're already looking forward to next year.  Apparently we're going as Darth Vader (Spencer), Yoda (Elliott), Leia (me) and Luke or Chewbacca (Michael).  Spencer made that decision.