Yellow Jackets, and Fairies, and Skeletons - Oh, My!

This past weekend was an exciting weekend. Rob and I left Alan overnight for the first time Saturday night. Mom came and spent the night on Friday night. Rob and I got up, bright and early, on Saturday to catch an 8:30am flight to Raleigh, NC. We spent the day in Raleigh and went to Pam Madigan's wedding that afternoon/evening. Then we flew back on Sunday morning. We got back to the house around 2pm on Sunday.

I definitely missed Alan, and was very nervous about leaving him with Mom. It's not that I don't think she can handle it - I mean, she's raised four kids. But things are way different these days than they were back then. We all were supposed to sleep on our tummy, whereas now they say babies should sleep on their backs. She's a lot older now and has bad knees, which makes going up and down our stairs (carrying a baby) much more challenging. Alan had just had his first shots, so he was a little fussy.

I think I did pretty well. I only called twice while we were gone, once each day. And everything was fine. Both Mom and Alan survived.

Sunday was a Halloween fun-packed day. Last weekend we had taken Alan to the pumpkin patch and had picked out three pumpkins - one for each Simon.


Alan with our pumpkin family before they were carved

After Mom left on Sunday and Alan was fed, I took our three pumpkins out to the deck to carve. Alan sat in his car seat and watched as I dug all the pumpkin seeds and guts out of the Daddy and Mommy pumpkins. He lasted through the Daddy pumpkin carving and through half of the Mommy pumpkin carving before the sun got in his eyes and he started fussing. Rob took him while I finished carving Mommy pumpkin and drew the face on Baby pumpkin.


The carved pumpkins


Pumpkin family all lit up and ready for the trick-or-treaters

After the pumpkin carving, I got Alan dressed in his yellow jacket Halloween costume and strapped him in the front carrier. We walked over to my neighbor's house where her family, some more neighbors, and some of her friends assembled for a pre-trick-or-treat snack (pizza and cocoa pebbles treats). We had Peter Pan (Katie), Tinkerbell (Evie), Captain Hook (Katie's mother-in-law), a cowboy (Katie's father-in-law), an astronaut (Owen - Katie's friend's son), a hippy (Owen's father), a skeleton (Antony, one of the neighbor boys), and our very own yellow jacket (Alan).


Part of our crew

After everyone was dressed in their costumes, they ventured into the streets for trick-or-treating. I headed home to hand out candy to the kids that came by our house. We had about 30 kids or so - not nearly as many as I had thought. Rob says we live in the reject part of the neighborhood. So now we have half a bowl full of candy left over - NOT GOOD! So much for my diet.

I know the origin of Halloween isn't good, but with the commercialization of it, I would have to say it is one of my favorite holidays. Who doesn't like dressing up, seeing all the cute neighborhood kids in their costumes, and eating candy?


Alan in his yellow jacket costume