You know the drill. Halloween. Chase's birthday. They happen on the same weekend and it nearly kills me every year. I spent some mental energy while we were on the Seattle trip going over and over and over the things I needed to get on top of as soon as we got home because there was so much I hadn't done for either the birthday or Halloween. And somehow, like it does every year, it all came together.
Oh my kids. They love Halloween so so much and have such plans, such desires for their costumes. Big plans! And this year, I had a plan too. I was kind of proud of myself.
I am the caretaker for an awesome purple coat my mom had in her costume collection. I'm not really the owner - any family member who needs to use it certainly should. It's a great coat. And ever since it came home with me I knew I had to be Willy Wonka for Halloween. I found a brown hat no problem but didn't find a great floral shirt or bow tie. I borrowed the satin ribbon for the bow tie, so I'll keep an eye out for one of those of my own as well as a floral shirt. I had a ton of fun being Willy!
Emma had originally wanted to be a deer, but when our friend Emily found a great Belle dress for sale we took her up on it. Emma had mentioned Belle in the past and it wasn't too hard to talk her in to putting the deer costume off for a year. We had fun watching youtube videos to learn how to do her hair and going to the Disney store to add details to her costume like fun Belle shoes and earrings. I couldn't say no to that girl.
Romney's costume was slightly more obscure. Meaning totally obscure. Only a few very special people recognized her. She played a character from an animated show called Over the Garden Wall. She was the teapot-hat wearing Greg, younger brother to Wirt....too hard to explain. Just go look it up. I'm forever grateful to my friend Angie who can crochet. She made Romney's teapot hat after I totally failed to find a knitting pattern that would work. She seriously saved my bootie. And we found great green overalls online and Romney spent HOURS painting rocks handpicked from the shores of Bainbridge Island to be her "Rock Fact Rock." If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry. Nobody did. And Romney was deliriously happy. Such a win.
And Chase? What a costume he had. He'd better the heck wear it again because it was awesome. The girls and I both went to at least two events - the school carnival, the stake trunk-or-treat, Halloween. But Chase only donned his entire costume for Halloween night itself. He was Kakashi, a character from an anime show he loves. We went ALL OUT. I mean, a wig, I ironed on the right symbols to his clothes, he had ninja shoes, and best of all....colored contacts. They were awesome and he had a ball wearing them. He looked so good. All the kids did.
The first event of this extravaganza weekend was the school carnival which was a little less crowded this year. A little sad really, but still fun. Emma romped around the school while I sat at the food table and accepted $20 bills for $1 slices of pizza over and over again, creating the greatest change crisis in history. Bring your $1s, people. It was never a total disaster but we came close a few times.
The next night was the stake Trunk or Treat, and the girls and I headed off to that and had a ton of fun. It's turned back into a big stake event again, rather than a sad little showing of six cars and 30 kids trick or treating repeatedly at every car until the candy was gone. That still happens a bit, but there was such a great turnout! I loved being Willy Wonka, and I found a little Oompa Loompa to be my buddy for one single second.
The girls always love handing out candy from the car, which was fine with me because that gave me enough time to go get a freshly made scone from the famous scone-maker Louise.
That same evening, Chase invited some friends over to hang out on the back porch, eating pizza and playing games. Troy was only too happy to chaperone that and keep the tasty Totino's pizzas coming out of the oven fast enough to feed the mob of teenagers.
Chase got a game for his birthday - Betrayal at House on the Hill. I'm going to say that it's a rather dark game - kind of a fantasy thing that is also haunted. But he loves it. He plays it with his sisters and they love it. He takes it to cousins houses and they love it. Everyone loves it! I think it's slightly evil except the fact that even Emma digs it and my children play it happily together.
The next morning was Sunday morning and it was Chase's official 16th birthday. He had already gotten his new game, so he didn't have too much to open. Except....new Spiderman game for his ps4! This made my child extremely happy. Before he disappeared into his room to play it for as many hours as he possibly could, we enjoyed a breakfast of the family fave, biscuits and gravy. (Favorite except poor Emma who just can not tolerate biscuits! Weirdo!)
We had family over for dinner that evening not only to celebrate his birthday, but to celebrate the event that he was ordained to be a priest. It was so wonderful to have so many family members with us - most of Troy's family plus my dad and my cute niece Kate who just shows up for us all the time. She's not a church goer and so didn't attend the ordination itself, but came to dinner and stayed late into the evening talking with us and Troy's brother Sam. What a nice evening. We had Asian food - potstickers and Chinese cabbage salad and shrimp and grilled chicken. Super tasty.
I can not believe this but I can not find a single picture from that afternoon and evening! What is wrong with me?? Maybe Troy has some on his phone. I'll have to ask. In any case, it was a great day celebrating a great kid. I love my Chase and am proud of the great things he's doing.
On Monday night we had just enough time to dig into the pumpkins. I wish it weren't so challenging. We ended up with a couple of frustrated kids, but I thought the pumpkins came out great.
(Don't ask about Romney's face. She did bling-zits or something for a drama class project)
Halloween came on a Wednesday. I tried really hard to be festive. I made t-shirts for Emma and me to wear to school - I thought they were pretty cute but not great.
We held to tradition and invited a few neighbors over to enjoy some soup and bread on the back porch before going trick or treating. My girls still love going to visit Troy's parents and hitting up the same old houses on the street they have been visiting for over a decade. Sadly Chase has grown past this little visit and I don't blame him - you have to grow out of trick or treating at some point, right? I said a brief hello and then sped off home to prep the house and porch for visitors.
I love this part of Halloween. There's lots about Halloween I seriously do not love. But the neighbors gathering in the last remnants of outdoor weather, the kids excited about their costumes, the warm and nourishing soup. I love it.
Our friends always go all out on their costumes - here they are as the Incredibles and they really were incredible!!
Another family had their adorable twins there for a little bit - trying to figure out what all this Halloween business was about.
Chase, though too big to go t-or-t-ing (just can not keep typing out that whole thing) at his grandparent's house, was still totally game to head into the avenues with friends and do some serious candy gathering. I am absolutely thrilled to tell you that I had a friend text me after Chase appeared at her door to tell me how polite he and his friends were. Phew. I know they're kind of too big, but I still feel better about them doing that than getting into trouble on Halloween. And they were so excited about their costumes. Next year maybe we should throw a teen party or something.
Emma and Romney and I went out with a couple of girls in the neighborhood and had fun stopping all over the avenues - at various teachers' homes, at cousin Kate's, at friends. They hauled in quite the load of candy and frankly half of it is still sitting on top of the fridge in the candy bowl. It's December. Maybe time to let it go.
Oh man how lovely it is to return home from that long long night and get the kids cleaned up, let them start crying because they're so exhausted, and get them into bed. It's a major accomplishment to get through the HalloBirthdayWeen weekend every year. And then suddenly it's practically Christmas!
I got a special post-Halloween present at Costco. I bumped into my darling friend Natalie who lives in California! She happened to be in town for a family funeral and was meeting her sisters to shop for food. She was in town for like one single day and I got to see her. It absolutely made my day, and the fact that I almost didn't go to Costco, and stopped at a place or two first unexpectedly leads me to feel that I got a little blessing, a little gift. I got to see this lovely lady. Thank you.
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