An Epic Post About Our Halloween

I have to say, I really enjoyed Halloween this year. I'm pretty sure it's because Zeke and Deacon were thrilled with each new thing we did throughout the day. It was a long day (made longer by the fact that Josh was at work all day), but it was a fun day.

It started with the boys waking up, and Zeke coughing that cough you get when you've had a head cold for a few days (as he's had) and the phlegm is finally loosening it's hold on your lungs, causing you to cough a nice little phlegmy cough. You know the cough. So, with Zeke coughing and this past Sunday being our church's 15 year celebration extravaganza bonanza service, I decided to skip church (and all the craziness that would be going on there). Instead, we stayed home and carved pumpkins.

I think, at first, the boys weren't too sure what all was going to happen. Zeke had "carved" a pumpkin at school last week. Basically they cut the top off, scooped out some of the insides, then colored on the outsides. Very cute, but not really what we were going for. Josh had bought some nice big pumpkins at the commissary last week, and so each boy picked a pumpkin and after I cut off the tops and we scooped out the insides - okay, I scooped out the insides while the boys watched and said, "Eww" - I asked each boy what he wanted the facial features of his pumpkin to look like. As in, circles or triangles for the eyes/nose, teeth or no teeth in the mouth, do you want ears? As Zeke's started to look more and more like a face, they both got more and more excited about what we were doing. And I have to say that I am pretty pleased with how they both came out.

Finn was a good sport and sat in his high chair while we played with our pumpkins. Of course, he was eating baby crackers, but he didn't fuss. I think he caught the big boys' excitement. (All of our pumpkin carving pictures...well all of our pictures from October...are up on Flickr. If you click on any of the pictures, it should take you there.) I also cooked the pumpkin seeds and introduced the boys to a new, yummy treat.

After pumpkin carving we had some lunch and the boys took naps. After naps we ran to Walmart for some stuff we'd need for the week (diapers, formula, you know). By the time we got home from Walmart, it was time for dinner and for trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. So I put a pizza in the oven, turned on the football game, made some sweet potatoes for Finn, and got our bowl of candy together and by the door. I don't think our first trick-or-treaters came until Finn was down for his evening rest time, and we were just about finished with dinner, but that was good. The big boys were so excited to hand out candy to the kids and to see all of their costumes. Once Zeke caught on to what was happening though, he started asking when he could put on the Wolverine (and you have to read "Wolverine" with a growly voice because that's how Zeke always says it) costume and go trick-or-treating himself.

So, about 6:30 I got Wolverine and Woody all dressed to go out in the snow (yes, snow!) trick-or-treating. I got myself ready, then got poor Finn out of bed, and into his Bob the Tomato costume (which, all of my boys have worn on their first Halloweens now). And we were off. Zeke was thrilled and was off like a rocket. Deacon wasn't too sure what was going on until after we visited our first house and he was given candy for just standing there. Then he got pumped. Of course, with it being winter here now, and all the houses having steps, all the steps had ice and snow on them, making them a little bit treacherous for little boys. So, Zeke and Deacon would climb up the stairs, ring the bell, say "trick or treat" and "thank you", occasionally Zeke would throw in a growly "I'm Wolverine", then I would climb half of the stairs (holding Finn of course) and help Zeke down, then go back up, take Deacon's bucket from him (because he brought the only broken one without a handle), then take his hand and help him down the stairs. Good. times. But we only did our little cul-de-sac, and some of the houses clearly weren't participating (which is fine), so it wasn't that bad. It really was fun to see how excited the boys were by all of it. Of course my camera batteries died while we were out, so I didn't get any really good shots of the trick-or-treating. Sigh.

Josh made it home as we were at the second-to-last house on our route, a good 45 minutes later. I really had no idea we had been gone that long. As we all entered the house, Josh changed out of his uniform and got Finn out of his costume. I got Deacon out of his, but Zeke wasn't finished being Wolverine yet (I hope you're still growling in your head as you read that word), so he stayed in his a bit longer. The big boys then went through their loot and put it all in one big bowl, and I must say that for only going to 8 or so houses, they made out like bandits. Then it was off to bed for the boys and some "Sports Night" for Mommy and Daddy.

Oh, I forgot. I also put candles in the boys pumpkins when we got back from Walmart, and they LOVED that. They literally ran around each other in circles when the candles were first lit. We'll most likely be lighting them every night from now on until we throw the pumpkins away.