Once You Post About Halloween It Is Officially November

I finally took down the Halloween decorations today, so I guess I better do a Halloween post, so I can officially embrace November.

Since Dylan LOVES to golf these days, the costume was pretty much a no-brainer.  I got every single bit of it at either a consignment sale, or consignment store, with the exception of the argyle socks.  I had no idea how hard it would be to find argyle socks for little boys!  Ended up having to buy those online.

On Halloween, I took Dylan to preschool, where I got to watch him and his classmates sing some Halloween songs, and then march in a parade through the school.  I'd show the video, but all the other kids are in it.

Right before trick or treating, (which was at 6:30pm here), it started to rain.  Oh, and it was cold!  But, it certainly didn't dampen the spirit of all the trick or treaters.  Dylan was as excited as ever.  We hit just about every house in our neighborhood.  My mom and dad were here to pass out the candy, while Jim and I took Dylan around.  My mom only gave each kid one piece, so I'm pretty sure we will be eating candy until Valentine's Day!

This is just the loot from school!

Dylan with my parents

The trick or treating loot

He's an organization freak, like his mom!  He sorted the candy and marked how many of each kind he had!  Then, we had to leave it like that, (in my living room), until the next day, so he could show his friend who was coming over for a playdate how much candy he got!  The part that amazed me was that even with all that candy out, he didn't try and sneak a piece!  (I guess that would have messed up his system).

Welcome, November!

Not A Treat

Saturday started with a trick.... or something.  My roots were growing it at a scary rate, so I was sporting a 3 toned hairdo (reddish, dark brown, and gray).  I didn't want to scare anyone on Halloween WITHOUT even wearing a costume, so I decided that morning to finally dye my hair.

I hadn't dyed my hair at home since I was a teenager.  I wanted to save money, but I was nervous.  What if it looked ridiculous?  I decided to throw caution to the wind.  Jim was playing with Dylan downstairs, and I told him what I was about to do.  Shortly after that, he heard me screaming.  "JIM!!!!!  HELP!!!!"  Jim and Dylan found me in the bathroom with gloves on, holding a bottle that had cracked open when I squeezed it, and red hair dye all over the bathroom.  Our WHITE bathroom.  Jim said he has been dyeing his hair for years and years, and he never had a bottle crack open like that.  Must be my brute strength.

(The good news is that my hair didn't turn out terrible.  It's darker than I expected, but good considering).

Trick or treating in these parts was 5-7pm, so we decided to let Dylan nap early (from 1-3).  We figured if he got a nap, he would be somewhat calm for trick or treating.  Um, not so much.  We met my parents at Eat N Park for an early dinner at 3:30, then rushed back to hurry Dylan into his costume at the last minute. One problem - you can't hurry Dylan.  Oh, and asking him to "stand still" is like asking the sun not to shine.  I didn't get a single good picture, because he just would not be still for even two seconds.  And, that was before he got any candy!  All the good pictures I got were taken the next day, when we forced him back into his costume.

After only 1/2 hour of trick or treating, he said he was tired and wanted to go home.  Bizarre, considering the fact that last year we had to drag him home after 2 solid hours.  It was NOT my favorite Halloween, I must say.  Jim and I were tired and frustrated.  But, then again, not getting much candy is probably a good thing all around.

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Halloween in November

I have this problem. Well, at times it is a problem. If I am going to decorate for a holiday I like to do it early so I can enjoy the decorations. Once the holiday is over, however, it is over. The decorations need to be taken down the next day. It is now on to the next thing. (This could explain why I am a year behind on my digital scrapbooks).

The problem is this...

Halloween is over. It has been over for weeks. The decorations have been down since the day after. But, I didn't finish my Halloween video until today. Why? Because I do the pictures in this family. My husband does the video. That is our role (as far as I'm concerned, at least). Coordinating my time to upload pictures and his time to upload video proved to be... problematic.
So, here I am posting about Halloween on Veterans Day. This fact makes me twitchy, but if I don't do it now, it will never happen.

As you will see in the video, we are into Halloween in this family. Dylan is following right along in our footsteps, and wanted to hit every single house in our neighborhood. "Dylan, we are going to skip this house". "BUT, NO! THEIR LIGHT IS ON!!!" One highlight was Dylan (who was completely obsessed with gathering as much candy as possible) seeing a pumpkin that another kid was carrying, and going to grab candy out of his bag! He was a little too focused on the task, I would say. The other highlight was me getting a cramp in my foot from my darn boots, and hobbling along, trying not to swear in front of costumed children. Dylan would NOT wait for me, so Jim had to rush after him, while I tried not to look too strange, hobbling along almost in tears, with no children near me. (Nope, didn't get that in the video. Sorry). I would just like to say that we only spent $12 total on all 3 costumes! We needed to buy bandanas, and we got Dylan's costume used. Believe it or not, I've had that puffy shirt taking up space in the back of my closet since the 80's! Who knows what Jim's excuse is? Happy Halloween Everyone!! (groan)

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Halloween Memories

Trick or treating went amazingly well this year. Dylan was overwhelmed and confused at first, but after a handful of houses, he was a man, (err, a CAT), on a mission. I don't think he smiled until we got home and he unloaded all that candy. Every time we would prompt him to "Say, Thank You!", he would do the sign along with saying the words. The sign looks like blowing a kiss, so everyone thought he was blowing them kisses all night. After the first dozen houses, if someone was sitting in their driveway giving out the candy, he would go right past them to the stairs. He associated the stairs and doors with getting that candy and those people were just in the way! He took the whole process very seriously, and he did not want to quit. He kept saying, "One more", until we finally had to cut the kid off. We were the only adults dressed up in our neighborhood, but then again, we were also told by many families that we won the prize for the best costumes of the night. Too bad that wasn't a CASH prize.

Trick?

This is what someone might have been screaming in her car on the way to work this morning...

"HEY PITTSBURGH PEOPLE!! I THINK I SEE A FEW FLAKES OF THE WHITE STUFF!! YES, PLEASE!! YOU MUST SLOW YOUR VEHICLES TO A STEADY CRAWL, SO THAT I WILL BE LATE FOR WORK!! IN OCTOBER!! DUE TO SNOW!! AARRGGHH!!!"

(I was tired, and cold, and cranky. Today, it was in the 30's. On Friday, Halloween, it is to be 58 degrees. I'm thinking October played a trick today, and is saving the treat for Friday, because October realizes that freezing little children's costume clad buns off is not funny.)