10 pictures and a few (more) words

So, I've been trying to think of a creative way to share our October month without boring you with another 'Halloween post' to read. But, I seem to have no creativity streak at the moment - so I cut, slimmed, trimmed, and filtered all of my pictures and experiences into just 7 pictures and a few words. (You should all be impressed!)


PUMPKIN CARVING

Love it, love it, love it! We got away with only severing one or two layers of human skin, which happened to be on McKenzie's hand. It totally could have been worse, like, with blood and everything...where was her mother?

WARD TRUNK-OR-TREAT
McKenzie, the Ballerina

Carson, the Spider


Brian and Lindsay, the pair of eyes. Kind of funny story actually: I'd had this unfinished idea in my head for about a month before Halloween, thinking Brian might actually enjoy staying true to his ophthalmologic profession, but as I finished making the 'eyelashes' Brian said, "Uh, Linds, doesn't this kind of look like a girl's eyelash? I don't think I want to be a girl's eye." So, you'll note that while my eyelashes are nice and curled, Brian's eyelashes are more unkempt and ... uh ... manly, I guess. :)


Brian was a good sport about getting some pictures in the privacy of our own home...but the eyelashes didn't stay on his head too long after we'd made it to the church *sigh*. So, I was kind of the 'lone eye'.


HALLOWEEN DAY
Breakfast: Witches brew...aka, cereal with green food coloring...


Lunch: Grilled Cheese Spiders - I was actually quite surprised with the way these turned out - cute! Since my kids don't like the crusts of their bread, we cut them all off, buttered them, sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on them, broiled them for a few minutes, and they magically turned into tasty spider legs! And, since we LOVE pomegranates in our house, we had plenty of seeds to make the eyes (of which, McKenzie taught me last week, spiders have eight! As if they weren't gross enough already!).


Dinner: Fruity pancakes - okay, nothing specially 'halloween-ish' here - but they were good. :)


And, I just had to throw this 'after' picture in the mix. Notice her totally raggety hair, the holes in her tights, and the mascara smeared under her eyes. This was not due, as one might suspect, to the fact that she had an immesurable amout of fun skipping and running from house to house in the neighborhood (which she did). No...she actually started trick-or-treating looking much the same way. Why? Well...

At around 5:30pm, we had actually decided not to go Trick-or-Treating that night (much to both my and McKenzie's disappointment). Brian was working at the hospital all night, and Carson was so sick he was having a hard time breathing, speaking, walking, crying, etc. I just thought it would be a bad idea to take him out into the cold air and to stay up way past his bedtime. So, it was decided that we would put Carson to bed early, and have a McKenzie-Mommy-Movie-Munchies party instead. She was actually pretty excited about our transformed night. We finished dinner, got into our pajamas, and I sat down to give Carson a nebulizer treatment to help his little lungs. McKenzie was put on 'candy-duty' and answered the door each time trick-or-treaters came by...and little by little, each time she dropped candy into another little kid's bag and shut the door behind them, I watched the excitement for our McKenzie-Mommy-Movie-Munchies night turn into longing for the Trick-or-Treating night we would not have. She tried so hard to laugh when she closed the door behind the 2nd group of trick-or-treaters...but it was quite forced, and when she turned around, her smile was half gone already.
"McKenzie? Do you really want to go trick-or-treating tonight?" I asked
"Yeah," she responded sadly. Then she gave me a little half-smile that said, "But I understand, Mommy."
I barely choked back the tears at her sweet show of sacrifice for her little brother, and I said, "Go get your costume on. We'll go right after I'm done with the nebulizer."
OH THE EXCITEMENT! She got herself dressed all by herself (choosing the holey tights), and her hair and makeup had been done 11 hours earlier for her preschool parade (explaining the rest of the look). And as we walked out the door, I took a glance at the clock on the wall. 7:00. 'Funny...' I thought to myself, 'I wanted to get my kids in bed by now.'

But, we went.

And, I'm so, so, so, so, so glad we did! Because now, that day has turned into yesterday...and I have some great memories of my 4 year old, skipping, dancing, running, jumping, and squealing with delight as a little ballerina in search for some candy on Halloween night!