Halloween Recap

After weeks of watching the calendar and inching closer and closer to the pumpkin (there is a jack o'lantern on Halloween on our calendar) the day was finally here.  I'd done some last minute running around last Thursday to gather the last things that were needed for Andrew's pirate costume.    After he ate his breakfast and watched a Halloween episode of Jake and the Neverland Pirates, I got him dressed for school:

I was doing dropoff for both boys since J had to be at work at 7:00 for a volunteer day.  So I gathered up both boys and we headed out.  When I got to Andrea's to drop off Elliot I put him in the lobster costume she had for him so she could take him to the library trick or treating. He wasn't thrilled:

I quickly said my goodbyes and ran Andrew to his school. I attempted to get a cute picture of him outside by their pumpkin setup, but he was feeling less than cooperative and started whining about wearing the thing on his head:

I  took the eyepatch and head thing off and threw them in his cubby in his class before kissing him goodbye and telling him I'd be there at 11:30 for his school party. I worked from home that day so I could attend. I hate that I miss out on so much of what happens at school, so I wanted to be there for this.

I went home and got some work done before heading back for his party.  Each class what as a different time so they could accommodate the parents.  I got there at 11:25 and the parking lot was jam packed.  I eventually found a spot and made my way over to the playground to wait for his class to come out.  As soon as he spotted me and came running:

Seeing that smile on his face never fails to warm my heart. Notice he's not wearing most of his costume.

After some hugs we walked around to see what there was to do. I snapped a picture of him in the scarecrow cutout:

Got a picture of his hand painting (they had face painting and offered the option of face or hand. He chose hand):

And we got sno cones:

We played and got snacks, drew with chalk, and just hung out and had a good time.  Pretty soon it was almost 12:30 and it was time for me to go. Andrew got sad when I said I needed to leave, but thankfully Ms. Becky was there to give him hugs and distract him so I could leave without him melting down.

I went home and did some more work before sneaking out to do my long run for the week for my half marathon training:

While I showered J went and picked the boys up.  We coaxed Andrew into eating some dinner before we headed out for trick or treating.  We got both boys into their skeleton "costumes" and I used some halloween makeup to make Andrew's face skeleton-like.  Then we grabbed their pumpkins and hopped on the golf cart to drive over to the next neighborhood (very few people in our neighborhood seem to give out candy so we go to the next one over).

J stayed with Elliot on the golf cart while Andrew and I walked to the first couple houses. All the practicing that we'd done on saying "Trick or treat!" was quickly forgotten.  He started clinging to me and smiling shyly at anyone handing out candy.  After the first couple houses we parked the golf cart  and started to walk to the next house.  Getting a picture of the two of them together was pretty much impossible:

For the most part we carried Elliot and he didn't really collect any candy. Other times we put him down and tried to get him to walk with us, but it mostly went like this:

By the end of the night Andrew was getting more into it and was excited about heading to each house.  We hit all the houses and went until around 7:30. By then Elliot was getting cranky and Andrew was slowing down. We walked back to the golf cart (me carrying Elliot and J carrying Andrew) and headed home.    We did a quick bath and tried to get them in to bed not too far past their bedtime.  Andrew was a little too excited to settle down, but eventually all the walking and the excitement of the day caught up with him and he was passed out.

So there you have it - Halloween 2014 was a wrap.  All in all I call it a success.  Maybe next year Elliot can take part and Andrew might be a little less shy.