Ok. Halloween was a long time ago (today is 11/25). But, yes, it has really been That Busy: Nutcracker rehearsals, soccer (which finally ended on the weekend of Tom’s bday), field trips, classroom volunteering, housework (ugh), and, of course, our jobs.
Whoever said that people who say they are “too busy” for this, that, or the other is just not prioritizing it clearly didn’t have 3 kids (or any kids, for that matter) in an era where kids are “over-scheduled” with guided activities because, whether it’s statistically true or not, it feels like it is not safe to just let your kids play way over there (at the park, the school, or even just down the driveway on the street) without a parent making sure they don’t get molested, lost, or stolen…or run down by a texting and/or speeding driver, and during a time when it’s practically impossible for the average family to live off of just one income!
Ok. On to a little more levity!
Halloween was actually less of a “thing” for us this year (in this case, we did de-prioritize it) as we were going to be hopping into a car to journey to LA as soon as we possibly could.
Since Cameron and Chloe had been wanting to dress up as Anna and Elsa since forever, we felt it would be kind of crummy to just skip Halloween and not let them have their fun in costume. We kept our plans light, though. We went trick or treating with HAK (no T, alas, as she went with her friend) and skipped plan-making with anyone else.
It was a rainy night, too! Luckily, there was a brief break in the downpour and we were able to get in about an hour of trick-or-treating before our kids had had enough and were hungry enough to head back home.
Arguably, Cameron has more difficulty with being vegan, but she is committed to it. But the lack of available vegan goodies sort of put a damper on her enthusiasm for trick-or-treating. Dylan knows that he can trade up for vegan stuff, so he collects to trade. But, Cameron completely opted out at some houses. 🙁
After dinner, the kids did some trading and sorting before we swapped out their costumes for jammies and loaded ’em into the car with blankets!
T. didn’t trick-or-treat with us, but she did stop by to say hi and take a group picture first! A few more photo highlights below:
Oh, yeah (pictures are in reverse order again because that’s how I see them in Flickr)! There was a school parade. This was actually an unfortunate year, from my perspective. I volunteered in Cameron’s class because they had a huge Halloween fiesta, with games and prizes and everything. I tried to leave as soon as I could to help with some Halloween centers in Dylan’s class, but when I arrived, he was in a different room and wasn’t in costume yet anyway (per the “rules,” older kids would only change for the parade).
Once done with helping in his classroom (despite him not being there!), it started to rain again so there was the assumption that the big kids parade would be rained out! So, I went home, but wondered if I should go ahead and head towards Chloe’s party and parade
Not too far into my considerations, I faintly heard an announcement at the school–a quick peek out the window confirmed that the parade was happening! So, i rushed back down with my camera, but not 2 minutes after I arrived, it really started to come down! And the parade was canceled! As it turned out, Dylan’s class had actually led the parade, so I missed him!!!
Sadly, rushing over to see if I could catch his parade forced me to miss Chloe’s event entirely.
It is not possible to be in more than one place at the same time…and with 3 kids, eventually, eventually, eventually, there was bound to be a scheduling conflict. And yet, I still feel terrible. My babiest is just 2 and she probably will never parade around on Halloween in an Anna dress. I only hope that she wasn’t sad that her parents weren’t there to be with her.
Alright. Now some pictures from the Kinder parade. All I can say in defense of the bad wig placement is that those wigs are ridiculous and don’t stay on! I was hoping Cameron would just want to skip the silly wig, but she wanted it, so there you go.
Only 4 Elsas in her class! Of course, we thought she was the sweetest.
Next year, I hope I’ll be able to tour the parades. I think Dylan and Cameron will have their’s at the same time at least! But, I sure hope it doesn’t conflict with Chloe’s!
