It's Gobbles Time!: Halloween and Everything Before

We have been quite busy this year with a million things, that Halloween crept up quietly and was gone in a flash. Luckily, I was prepared in that both kids wanted costumes that were readily accessible so I didn't have to handmake anything.

The big pre-Halloween festivity this year was the Princess Poozer's 3rd Birthday Party. It was held at the same place her first one was, a seasonally-appropriate, adorable local pumpkin patch. It was extra convenient for us this year too since we never managed to make it to Linvilla.

The day was cold but the kids didn't care, the weather seemed to align with the Frozen theme of the party. First, the kids had their faces painted- Anna from Frozen for the Lobster Roll (to coordinate with her cousin Elsa of course), and Gobbles selected the seemingly random Iron Man. His makeup turned out a little creepy, and I couldn't help but gasp when I first saw him! After eating, singing happy birthday, and playing with the pinata (where the lobster and her cousin insisted on putting every piece of confetti into their bags), we went on to explore what the farm had to offer.

First the kids bounced in a moon bounce and slid down a giant inflatable slide, then it was time for the hayride. The hayride took us to the pumpkin patch where each child could pick out a little pumpkin. The Lobster Roll immediately selected the first one she saw. And the second. And so on, impulsively picking up and discarding pumpkins any of which she'd be happy with. Gobbles, on the other hand, was very selective about his prize. He examined each one thoroughly for symmetry and a lack of bruising. He tended towards the larger ones when we reminded him it needed to be something he could carry himself. It was then when I noticed a pumpkin, still on the vine (or whatever they grow on), still half green and very healthy. I pointed it out to him and his face lit up over the unique-looking but perfect gourd. He did not stop talking about it the rest of the day, how he was the only one to get a green pumpkin. Later, when we carved the pumpkins on mischief night, he deemed it magic because it had ripened into a bright orange perfect for a jack-o-lantern.

After the hayride, the kids rode the cow train, the ponies, and finally played on the haystacks. Hubs took them over to the apple shooter where Gobbles in all his serious accuracy came so very close to landing the target they were aiming for. Again the Lobster was fine with the fun of firing the apples and as long as they whooshed through the air and smacked onto something afar, she was happy. Finally, party came to an end, just the beginning of our Halloween celebrations.

A week after the party, the Halloween spirit was in full swing when we got "Boo-ed" for the year. The kids excitedly rifled through the bag of stuff and plotted their plan to boo other neighbors. Considering they each have about one kid their age in the neighborhood, the selection wasn't surprising. So my next trip to Target included a few extra things to put in boo bags. I printed out the obligatory poem at work and when we got home that night it was off to boo. Gobbles was an old pro having done this last year with hubs, but the Lobster was still a little timid. I turned off my headlights and watched Gobbles run up to the house, knock on the door, leave the bag, and run away. He scrambled back into the car and I shut the door behind him as he giggled quietly. When we got to the Lobster's house choice, she chickened out completely and requested that Gobbles do that house as well. I'm not sure how hard he knocked on this one because I saw no reaction at the door, so they might have had it sitting on their step all night, but oh well. The kids had fun and that's all that matters!

Up until the night before Halloween, the pumpkins the kids had gotten at the birthday party remained untouched. At the last minute I decided it would be fun for the kids to carve them, something I've actually never done before. Since the pumpkins were on the smaller side, we didn't have a template or any fancy design that would fit, so I just kind of winged it. Each kid scooped out all of the pumpkin guts and described to me exactly how they wanted it carved. Gobbles chose circle eyes, a triangle nose, and a smiling mouth with four teeth on both the top and bottom. The Lobster requested heart shaped eyes, a circle mouth with teeth, and a circle nose. Then Gobbles went back and asked for eyebrows and ears. Then the Lobster added stickers on hers. Then it was dinner time, so we admired the lit Jack-O-Lanterns for a millisecond, ate dinner, told them goodnight, and went to bed. It was then I realized you're not supposed to put the lid back on when they're lit. Whoops.. A bit of burnt pumpkin smell on our sunporch but not terrible. They'd be outside the next day anyway.

On Hallween we woke up with a purpose- so many stops to make on a strict time schedule. First, we went to my sister's to see baby Z all dressed up for her first Halloween. Of course, in the costume department my sister outdid herself and had an awesome-looking Princess Lea along with a somewhat behaved Darth Puppy. The kids showed off their costumes and filled their Trick-or-Treat pails for the first of many times that day. On the way home, we stopped at my work so my little Jake and the Neverland and the Pirate Princess Fairy (because why be just one of those things) could show off their costumes and, of course, collect more candy. We then went home to nap before heading off to school's Halloween Parade.

This year the school separated the Harvest Party from the Halloween Parade, and with the party being on the weekend, many parents opted to just go to the parade. The Lobster Roll stood out among her class full of Annas (second siblings), proudly holding her teacher's hand and marching around the school yard with a purpose. Gobbles, who had been talking about the parade for a week, was suddenly overcome with a bellyache the minute it was time for his class to parade. The ailment lasted through pictures but magically disappeared the minute the kids started running and playing. Poor guy must have had a touch of stage fright.

Finally, the big night arrived, Halloween Trick or Treat. This year there was no pregame pizza party since there were big plans for afterwards, so as soon as we finished dinner at our house, we set the bowl out with a note, loaded the wagon with beer (and kids) and headed up the street. We hit a few houses in our cul-de-sac when we could hear the shouts of other kids on the other side of the woods, so we cut through to the other side of the neighborhood to make our way around from there. About halfway through trick-or-treating we met up with the little group and continued on with them. Gobbles made sure not to miss anything and kept up with all the kids his age and a little older, while the Lobster started to fall behind and was perfectly content to sit in the wagon, which was fine with us considering both of their pails were too heavy for them to carry on their own.

The group looped back around the 'hood and we eventually made it back to our house, where the candy bowl hadn't even been emptied yet. We recharged the bowl, brought our guys inside for a potty break, and got our chairs so we could head over to the party that was starting in one of the cul-de-sacs. The bonfire was set and the leary trick-or-treaters were drizzling in when we sat down for a beer with our neighbors. The kids huddled together on a blanket on a lawn watching Ghostbusters and eating their candy (so proud of Gobbles who has not indicated any fear since). The temperature began to drop and after a few hours I decided to call it quits and head home with the kids, hubs sticking around to enjoy a few more drinks.

I don't think I'll ever forget getting the kids ready for bed that Halloween night, I wish I could be in that kind of mood with them all the time. They were chocolate wasted and I had a little buzz, and we were all deliriously tired from the long day. Instead of rushing and screaming "get your pajamas on, it's bedtime" like usual, I just sat and cracked up with them as they clumsily brushed their teeth, fell into each other running around the room, and more general silliness. As I was changing them I posed "maybe we should skip stories tonight, we should be getting to bed because... (in my mind i was thinking 'we're so drunk', because we had that same kind of atmosphere as my friends and i do at a girls weekend after going out), but Gobbles reeled me back in and finished for me "...we're so tired", And they were- no arguments about going to bed, and my own Mr. Gobbles slept until 11am the next morning. The Lobster didn't sleep in, but did insist on wearing her pirate princess costume all next day, and since it was that or pajamas, it didn't bother me in the least.