Halloween Recap

Cliff Notes version: uh, it was Halloween recently which generated some parties, pumpkin patch activities and school festivities. The end.

Unabridged (and in no semblance of order):

Halloween: Wyatt was a football player this year, purely by his own choosing. He really wanted to be a Blue Man (from said group) but that is fairly difficult to make happen for the preschool set. No, I didn't look online for ways to make it happen but I couldn't quite get gung-ho for that costume since I knew he had to wear it all day at school. I just can't imagine how an entirely blue face/head/hands would work out. So, after being slightly crazy and thinking I might make something, I took the kid to our local retail establishments to pick out his costume. He really didn't care too much about it, at one point he desperately wanted to be a doctor, later a squirrel (and Natalie was going to be an acorn - cute until he said, "oh, and then I can eat her!"), or maybe a fireman. Turns out the local Wal-Marts and Target were running a little low on small costumes, so we went to Party City as a last resort. Honestly, I had scoped out the selection the day before and deemed Party City too expensive. I'm nothing if not cheap at Halloween. It falls into the "mandatory fun" holiday category for me - lots of pressure to have SO. MUCH. FUN. in one evening, kind of like New Year's - and the costumes get so little wear.

Or so I thought. We strolled into Party City (which, by the way, is completely freaky this time of year. There was some sort of devil something hanging from the ceiling, right next to some skull creature both of which were larger than life and for a brief moment I felt like I might not even get Wyatt into the store) and Wyatt picked out a football player's uniform. At $9.99, it was the cheapest option available so I applauded his choice and we headed home. And he begged to nap in his new costume. That was two weeks ago and he's worn it every day.

Best ten bucks I've spent in a while. When he's in "sootball" player mode, he runs around like a wild man, getting tackled by invisible lineman who are quite obviously in stellar shape, the way his little body hurtles toward the ground. And then he rolls around and gets up for more. He really likes it when we play with him, but that really just means we run around, too, and keep our eyes open for the bullets he throws our way. The kid's got an arm. As luck would have it (and by that I mean it's completely annoying on all levels), Jeff has kept our recording of last year's KU v. Mizzou game because it was a really good game. Let's just say it's getting a lot of play around here because someone likes to watch football while he's playing football. I recorded the UNC/VaTech game the other night so I can at least have some variety in my life, though I don't actually care about either team.

Oh, and Natalie was a bat. You might remember that someone else was a bat as a baby and well, I've already told you I don't really love spending money at Halloween. She was a cute bat, but aren't they all.

We also trekked to a different pumpkin patch this year. It was further than last year's which was fine because it was in an area we'd never visited and while the farm was much more my idea of what a pumpkin patch should be, the patch itself was a pretty big disappointment. But since it's about the kids, I was able to suck it up and we each found a pumpkin to bring home.

Thursday was Wyatt's fall festival at school so every kid was in costume and then they paraded outside for the parents before singing songs. My son, sweet boy that he his, waved diligently through the parade and then sang with all his might. I also learned that he knows the pledge of allegiance. If I were a really great mom, I would have pictures or video for you but I don't. Jeff couldn't make it so I opted to capture it all on our camcorder and I'm too lazy to figure out how to upload that format. Trust me, it was entertaining.

Wyatt carved his first pumpkins this year, first one at school as a class and then a couple here at home. It was really great to be told by my three-year old that "that's not how Mrs. Denton does it" and "no, I don't want to get messy!" while scooping the guts out of our squash. And since he can't actually use a knife, Wyatt's carving actually consisted of him using a spoon to get a few seeds out and then drawing on a face with black crayon. I had fun enough for both of us since I used a handy carving kit again.

Halloween night brought the standard festivities in the neighbors' driveway. Wyatt enjoyed the trick-or-treating this year, bravely going up to every door, waiting his turn before issuing forth the magic phrase, receiving his reward and saying thank you. I was proud of his good manners and surprised at how much he enjoyed it compared to last year. Of course it didn't hurt that his best buddy Isaac came and cruised our neighborhood, too. He spent the remainder of the evening hanging out at the neighbors' house with us, then playing football (what else?) in their yard with the big kids. He had a grand evening.

And then today Wyatt informed me we cannot use the orange napkins anymore because Halloween time is over. So it is.