Halloween at the Masons

This was my favorite Halloween so far, as I had been expecting... A few weeks ago, when Trev was trying to decide when he'd be coming back for a weekend, the more obvious choice would have been last weekend and next weekend as that would have been bi-weekly and lining up with sort of a long weekend (NB recognizes Remembrance Day as a stat, so taking Monday makes for a 4-day weekend). But... I wouldn't have been able to do much for Halloween with the kids and I had been looking forward to it this year as Christine is now old enough to really enjoy it. So we decided that we would go 3 weeks and he came in on Thursday night.

The following is as much a diary for myself to remember all the things I don't want to repeat or at least make better for next year as well as a commentary on our day.

Friday, Halloween day, was a bit of a catch up day - I got groceries (note to self: never do groceries on Halloween again!), Trev picked up a pumpkin, etc. Christine went to daycare to play with the other kids there and enjoy some Halloween goodies there so it was around the time I was making dinner when she and Trevor started working on the pumpkin. Note to self: get pumpkin earlier in week and carve at least a couple of days prior to Halloween! Another note to self: pick up a pumpkin carving kit for next year (we watched these videos after having finished our pumpkin - we know so much more for next year now!). Nicholas also had to eat at the same time, so that also got in the way of making dinner. In the end, it was after 5:30 before we were eating, as usual, despite my attempt to have dinner on the table around 4:30 so that we could head out early for some "twick o tweat'ing". Another note to self: get McD's for dinner or something so that it's quicker next year!

I think I'll add another note to self: as much as Halloween costumes are cheap after Halloween, they end up costing you the same if you buy multiple, so wait 'til Halloween to figure out what your kids are going to be! Last year, I had gotten this year's costumes as they were all about 50% off. Last year, Christine was really into princesses and dresses, etc. This year, she's been pretending to be a dog a LOT! So she was supposed to be a princess or queen or something but when I was getting groceries and spotted the dog costume, I just couldn't leave it there. Lucky for me, both costumes were 50% off, so I spent the same amount as I would have otherwise, but still... now I have 2 costumes to haul to NB! :)

We finish dinner (finally) and start to get ready to head out. My plan was to take Christine to a few houses around here while Trevor and Nicholas hand out candy. Trevor thought I would take Christine to a few of our friends' houses to visit and get candy... I figure I'm doing my plan first and see how things go. Just as we're about to head out, friends of our stop in with their two boys (Natasha with Evan and Shamus) and I start to think that maybe that's what I should do with Christine... We quickly get her into her costume so we can take a picture of the two dogs together (see flickr) and we head out.

Christine has a BLAST! She just loves the idea of knocking on strangers' doors (ok, they're our neighbors, but we haven't exactly done a great job of getting to know them...) and getting candy. At one point, after going to about 3 houses, she looks at me and in such a happy and surprised tone, says "c'est plein!" (it's full), pointing at her pumpkin bucket. And then she laughs histarically as she walks up to the next door. She just thinks this is the best thing ever! I'm so happy I get to do this with her! I really enjoyed myself. And then I start thinking that maybe I should take her to a couple of friends houses...

So she wants to go visit Gilles, Tara and Jacob so we get in the car and drive over. They're not very far, but there's a lot of kids on the road and I'm not liking this very much. She's in the backseat almost falling asleep - the giggles have ended. We visit there and get some candy and head over to the Munros as well. She enjoys getting some candy and seeing our friends, but it's not with the same level of joy that she had while doing the real trick-or-treating. Note to self: visiting friends on Halloween night is more for the adults than it is for the kids, I think, and no offense to our friends and family, but it's not going to happen again. From next year on, Halloween is only going to be for the kids: going to a few houses on the street we live on to get some candy from people we hardly know! If you want to see our kids dressed up, feel free to come to our house and we'll even give you candy! :)

By the time we got home (driving on Halloween night is very slow because it's so dangerous... so it took us twice as long to go to 2 houses than to do all the houses on the block), Nicholas was in the bath screaming. Oh dear... Still don't know what was the matter, but in the end, both kids got to bed and had a restful night.

Have a look at our pictures on flickr!