Halloween!

By far the biggest triumph of this Halloween was that it happened at all: two days before The Big Day, a giant hurricane stormed up the East Coast and was predicted to make landfall in NJ, which, while far enough away from us to avoid a full-out panic, is personally a little too close for my comfort for a hurricane to hit.  So we spent the weekend before battening down the hatches, getting extra food, water, batteries, and cash just in case Hurricane Sandy did indeed disrupt our lives.  Well, I am happy to say that we were completely spared and didn't even lose power, and the only casualty we had was a gust of wind knocking over our fairly substantial grill just like a bully on a playground.  Poor thing landed face down on our deck.  But I picked it up, brushed it off, and told it I would speak to that wind and make sure it didn't happen again.

My biggest job the weekend before Halloween by far was to prep my girls that the holiday may not happen- that we may be without power, it could still be raining, and every other scenario I could think of.  And, in true kid fashion, Michaela and Jenna's biggest concern about the whole Approaching Hurricane was this: what about the candy, MOM? WHAT ABOUT THE CANDY?  Because if we don't go trick or treating, how will we get any??  And I assured them that upstairs in my closet, safely stashed, was multiple bags of every kind of candy they enjoy, and if we didn't go trick or treating then I would just GIVE THEM MINE.

I have never seen Michaela so gripped by the Weather Channel as she was the few days leading up to Halloween.

Let me also add this tidbit to my post about Halloween: it was worth every minute I have spent raising my son, the pain of childbirth, the hours of therapy and meltdowns, every sleepless night and every moment of worry I have endured about him to see the look on his face when I explained to him what Halloween was all about.  And basically I just touched on the dressing up/ going to the neighbors/ ringing the doorbell/ getting candy routine.  He was, quite literally, gobsmacked.  It was adorable.

Thankfully, before the Hurricane Sandy came, the girls attended several parties and got to wear their costumes: both had huge parties at their schools, our neighborhood had a picnic and Jenna had a party to go to. So even before Halloween we had a few dry runs of the costumes.  Michaela chose to be a '50's waitress/carhop, which I was thrilled did not in any way resemble a slutty goth vampire-ette, and Jenna was Little Red Riding Hood.  The mean/practical mother I am did not buy a costume for my sensory-sensitive son but his grandma took pity on him and bought him a Thomas the Tank Engine costume that was perfect: it just slipped over his head, had no arm holes, and was topped off by a jaunty little cap.

Anyone who knows me and my girls knows that we see Halloween merely as a chance to do hair and makeup, so we took full advantage of that. And here they are last night, in full get-up:

This was them on the previous Friday night, when they were attending their school parties.  Both the elementary school and Middle school put on fantastic parties with DJs, haunted houses (which are amazing), games, food, crafts and activities.  Jenna wore her costume but Michaela was a bit apprehensive of how her carhop outfit would go over so we whipped up a black cat costume for her the week before.  I sewed her a nice furry stuffed tail onto a wide elastic waistband and then also made a deep furry pocket on the waistband to hold her phone.  Because surely you can't imagine for a moment that she would go to the Halloween party without her phone!  Heavens!

 

(Sorry, Alec, for posting this horrid picture of you.)

Here was Jenna on Halloween day, all orange-and-blacked out.  She's just adorable.

 

 Our candy was ready...

 

 ... and the pumpkins were carved.

 

And here was the collection aparati for trick or treating: gone are my three matching personalized pumpkin bags.  I really love those bags.  Alec used his (in the middle), Jenna brought hers but brought a pillow case just in case she needed more room for her candy (on the left) and Michaela wants nothing to do with her lovingly picked out Pottery Barn Kids personalized pumpkin bag (on the right).  Just a pillow case for her and her LOOT. Times they are a'changin'.

 

Whether Alec was going to go trick or treating was a game time decision for him... I asked him a few times during the day if he was going to go and he was pretty quiet and evasive with his answers.  Non-committal.  But when the time came, he did put his costume on and went out with Daddy and Jenna.  And Dan kept texting me with pictures and eventually called me, saying he was witnessing one of the cutest things he's ever seen.  Alec would consult with Jenna about which house to go to next, who was going to ring the doorbell, and they would march up together and get their candy.  For our shy sensory boy, this was HUGE.  He came home thrilled with his loot and he and Jenna promptly spread it all out on the floor and organized it.

Michaela did the same when she returned home 45 minutes later than her sister and brother, and immediately counted out how much her haul was: 192 pieces!

It was a successful night for all.  I had the girls wash off all that hairspray and makeup and get into bed.  Michaela immediately got up because her science teacher, whom I know personally and is a lovely, kind, fun human being, decided to tell really scary horror stories in class on Wednesday, and then told them (according to Michaela) that some of the stories were REAL.

Awesome!  Sure wish she was there at 10:30pm on Halloween night when Michaela got up for the third time and told us she couldn't sleep! Because my day wasn't long and busy enough!

Anyway.  It really was lots of fun.  Here are a few more cute pics from the day:

 

Sugared- up cutie pie.

 

Because I love that hair.  And fight with it every day.

 

 

 Alec: "Take my pith-ure! My pun-kin ith on my HEAD!"

I swear to you that Michaela came up with this pose all by herself.  Scary.  And she really does have a mole there on her face, but we "enhanced" it a little bit.  She was adorable.

So we survived it all: the parties, the hair, the sensory overload, the candy, the makeup, the trick or treating, the costumes, and the Hurricane.  God is good to us.