Halloween 2010

Dear Abigail,

Boy, did we have an active and exciting Halloween weekend! It all started on Wednesday night when we carved the pumpkin, and you were quite the helper...

I will say, Daddy did do most of the carving, but you were very interested in watching him, and what a great Elmo pumpkin it turned out to be! Of course, every time we walked by the front door you have insisted we "go see Elmo", which means we have to walk outside, typically in our pajamas because that's usually when you take notice of it, and in the morning, when it's really cold, and then we stand and stare at it. Unfortunately, Elmo had to go back to Sesame Street tonight, so we'll just have to wait until next year to "go see Elmo"...

We had a pretty typical Thursday with gymnastics and a good nap at home, and then Friday came. Oh what a day it was!!! Your class at school was having a parade/party so you went to school that morning. Mommy and Daddy joined you just in time for the parade through the school to show off all the adorable costumes. Then after the parade, we headed back to your classroom for a Halloween party!! Miss Sabrina had a great idea to go back to the classroom by walking around outside (as it got super hot inside!), but somehow a monkey escaped out of the line, along with a pretty princess and a dracula!!

Once we rounded all the loose monkeys, we headed back to the classroom to see just how much sugar one child can consume! I mean, seriously, look how many different sweets you tried eating...

Now, I have to say, you didn't eat all those, but you tried, and the humongous cheeto is what caused the most problems - you wouldn't stop eating them and Mommy was getting nervous about all the orange cheese getting all over you costume!!! Guess who brought those cheetos?! MOMMY!!! lesson learned..

Here's you and your friend Connor. You talk about Conner ALL the time. Whenever I ask who your friends are at school you always say Conner - always! Finally I got to meet Conner himself - he kind of resembles Nemo doesn't he?!!
Here are your other friends from your class - it was hard to get a picture, if you can't tell...

Unfortunately, we had to cut the school halloween party a little short because we had to get to Daddy's work for his trick or treating around the office. We do this every year, and it's always so much fun. This year you had the whole trick or treating down to perfection. You were even getting pretty good about saying "Thank you" although most of the time you would say "Please". I guess I can't complain too much. The funniest thing happened though, although at the time it wasn't too funny to you. So, the whole idea of Trick or Treating at Daddy's work is that you go from office to office, like you do houses, right. Well, some people just stick a bowl outside their office and you just grab a candy from it. Well, this one particular bowl was sitting outside an office, and I knew it was going to be trouble. On the back of the bowl, there was a little, well, goblin maybe, or like a skeleton in a cape. Anyway, this little "thing" was just sitting on the back of the bowl. Again, trouble, but your Daddy insisted you try to get a piece of candy from the bowl. Well, OF COURSE this goblin thing started grabbing for your hand and literally biting your hand as you reached in!! It scared the mess out of you, and a little out of Mommy, too, and of course there were tears shed. Then Daddy tried to show you how it wasn't real by sticking his hand in there, but then all that did was scare you more because you thought the goblin was eating Daddy's hand!! The tears didn't last long, but man alive, we did not hear the end of that goblin. At first Mommy and Daddy didn't know what you were talking about, but then we figure it out... You kept saying "That little boy take my candy. That little boy scary. That little boy take my candy". And you kept saying it, and kept saying it and let me tell you, it is 4 days later and you are STILL talking about that little boy who took your candy. You've told Aunt Steph and Uncle Jaybee and you told Miss Leigh and every time we see a skeleton or goblin or anything scary related to Halloween, you let us know that "That little boy took my candy." Aunt Steph was making Mommy laugh because every time you'd tell her (which I promise you, you told her like 200 times) she'd act surprise and say "No way! A little boy took your candy? How dare him!". Anyway, as I said, we're still hearing about that little boy, but overall, we had a real good time at Daddy's work.

After we made our rounds at Daddy's, we headed out to the Ghouls of Grassmere, which is Halloween at the zoo!!! We met Aunt Steph and Ellie and Uncle Jaybee, and then Ryan and Miss Leigh and Mr. Lee, and boy did we have a blast!!! We started off on the carousel and thankfully we bought the wristband, which lets you ride over and over again. AND you did ride over and over again... First with Daddy...

Then with Mommy...

Then with Aunt Steph because poor Ellie just wasn't in the mood to ride, that is, until she saw her Mommy on it!!!! So of course, you had to ride it again with Ellie! I think all in all, you rode the carousel 5 times in a row! When you were riding you would say "Woo-hoo" as you went up and down! It was tripping us all out!!

After the carousel, we decided we'd go ahead and get the hayride out of the way before it got dark (and scary), but little did I know that my precious Abs wasn't too fond of hayrides, or rather, tractors! We all got the strollers parked and were getting ready to get on when you decided to have a meltdown - I'm talking tears and screaming and all and I didn't know why. Finally I got you calmed down to understand you say that you "don't want to go on hayride" and then after further investigation, I learned that you "don't ride tractors"! That's right - you told us over and over again "I don't ride tractors." Therefore, we did not ride that tractor!! Instead, Ryan rode it for us, and we went to play games... I have to say, I had to tell Aunt Ash-ash about you 'not riding tractors' and she was a little upset, but insisted it must have been a green tractor, and not a red one! So we went to play the carnival games and you did fantastic at the bean bag toss, got you a witches finger, that you continue to poke Mommy with - even tonight as I was trying to wash the dishes...
You didn't, however, do well at the bowling - as a matter of fact, you decided you didn't want to bowl at all. At first Daddy and I couldn't figure it out, why you just suddenly didn't want to play that game, but then I realized that the alien that handed you the bowling ball was probably what was keeping you from bowling. Good instincts baby girl - never take bowling balls from aliens... Thankfully right about that time, Ryan was wrapping up his hayride, so we headed on over to the Monster Mash dance party!! What a time you guys had! Especially Ellie - that girl can dance and LOVES to shake it!! It's like an instinct for her to just move her body any time she hears any beat! The first song you danced to was Thriller and all three of you were just mesmerized by all the flashing lights and the loud music, and the dancing!!!

We literally had to drag you guys away from the dance floor, and a certain Nemo did not make it!! He continued dancing his little fins off while we went and hit up a couple Trick or Treat booths!

A couple candies later, and we decided we all needed a little grub in our bellies, and not all those sweets, so where did we head, well none other than Mexican!! We were all a little bit nervous about this situation, as it was 7 when we actually got to Mexican! That's usually what time we try to leave by, BUT, we were prepared, or at least I was. I brought your big back pack filled with TONS of different toys, and I think it worked! I was pleasantly surprised with all 3 of you at how good you were. Don't get me wrong, you had to get down and run around a little, but there were no melt downs and you even ate more than you usually do! My favorite part of the night was when I spied the "diaper changing station" sign on the Men's bathroom, and guess who had a stinky! Yep, Daddy FINALLY got a turn at changing your diaper at Mexican! 99.9% of restrooms at restaurants do not have that changing table in the Men's bathroom - too bad that restaurant is WAY out of the way for our normal Fridays or we'd start making it our regular place :)

After Mexican we all headed home to get some rest, finally...

You actually slept pretty late, which pleased us all, and what a great morning we had. Me, you and Daddy decided to head to the Franklin Pumpkin Fest that morning to let you play on all the kiddy stuff without your costume on (you'll see that we met up with the gang that afternoon...). So off we went. We got there right when it started and were able to pull right into the garage, and with it not being crowded at all, you were able to jump and jump and jump in all the bouncy houses. Of course, there was one of those trampoline jumpy things where you get strapped in, and you begged and begged to 'ride' it, so we waited our turn and of course you were too small... It was so sad, but we found a jumpy house with a slide that seemed to make you happy enough...

After we played and played, we decided to be Chili Cook off judges. As you very well may know, your Daddy has an unhealthy obsession with chili and cook offs, as he thinks his is always the best. I actually may agree with him this time... We tried 13 different chilis and I had a hard time actually coming up with one that I really liked. But, after taking it very seriously, we voted - unfortunately by the time we got back that afternoon, the cooks had all left so we didn't get to see who won! You had a ball eating tons of crackers though!!

Once we got home, we made some soup and grilled cheese and because the Tennessee game was on, we let you eat it in the living room. For some odd reason, you only wanted Mommy's grilled cheese and so I had to trick you and put mine on your plate and yours on mine!! You were super wound up and insisted you watch "One more game with Daddy" instead of going to take a nap! Finally you went down, and took a pretty decent nap - clearly this weekend was wearing you out just like the rest of us! After we, I mean, you woke up from your nap, we headed back to the festival to meet up with the gang, minus Baby Grant and Miss EP. Poor Baby Grant's tummy was not treating him right so he rested up while we ate tons of yummy food (that I'm pretty sure messed our tummies up, but whatever!!) Everyone had a good time, but thank goodness we took you to play that morning because it was SUPER crowded in the kid section and you would not of had the patience to wait. We were able to avoid that all together and you kiddos burned your energy by just running around!!

After a couple corn dogs, some sweet potato fries, and a little more fried goodness, we packed everyone up and headed over to Ryan's house for the annual Halloween party. Unfortunately, Aunt Steph and Uncle Jaybee have other friends aside from us and so they had to go to that party BUT we got to keep Ellie with us!!!! And, again, unfortunately, Mr. Jay had to head home and help out with Baby Grant - so it wasn't exactly as 'annual' as it could have been BUT we all had a good time! We had a little bit of trouble from you and going to bed, though... Mr. Lee was very helpful in setting up a bed for you, as he got us a sleeping bag and pillows and blankets galore! And Mommy remembered to bring Lovey, and Mermaid and Monkey to make sure it felt like home. And Mr. Lee even showed me how the door can lock easily, just in case you needed 'keeping in'. And, of course, you needed keeping in. You were so convincing as I was laying you down, and I even read you a book, you told me good night, and it was quiet for awhile, but then I head a door shut, and I knew it was you. So, round 2 consisted of locking you in. BUT, the door was off a little to the actual hole or something, so it wouldn't ever latch to actually lock. So, once again, I thought we were golden, then about 10 minutes later, I hear the door shut, again. Round 3 consisted of me holding the door for several minutes, to which I assumed you had finally gone to sleep, to which I was proven wrong about 10 minutes later. Round 4 involved blocking the door with the 200 pillows they keep on the guest bed and putting you in the actual guest bed, but that didn't last long at all. Then round 5 came, and at this point I was getting frustrated, so we decided we'd just move you into a room who's door DOES lock, so you got to sleep in Mr. Lee and Miss Leigh's room!!! At least until it was time for the adults to go to bed. Finally you were asleep and Mommy got to chill fireside, with a smore in her hand!! The next morning was a blast for you kiddos because you got to play even more!!! Ya'll were getting the biggest kick out of hiding behind the curtain and sitting with your legs out, thinking we couldn't see you! Of course, by the time we got the camera out, Ellie decided it was a little to weird for her and just watched! But we did get a cute shot of you and Ryan!!

Here's a super cute picture of you guys as we prepared breakfast...
A little bit later and we headed back to our house where you and Daddy apparently searched for airplanes in magazines while Mommy took a nap (that's right! it was Mommy's special weekend - between Daddy changing diapers at restaurants and now naps while you are NOT napping - you'd think it was my birthday!!!). But back to those airplanes - so I didn't know this at the time, but I saw all the magazines strolled everywhere, but just tonight you started asking me to help you look for airplanes and that's when Daddy asked what that was all about. Well, I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but when me and you and Mimi went to Chicago, while we were on the plane, you occupied yourself by searching through the magazines looking for airplanes. Baby doll - your memory is phenomenal!! almost scary!!! Anyway, I thought that was pretty funny - but now back to Halloween! SO... soon after my nap, you headed for yours and what a good nap you got! I was getting a little anxious because as soon as you woke up, we were heading to the park and then to Mr. Jay's and Miss EP's! And soon enough you did, and of course we went to the park... and i knew you were up to something...

I'm not real sure where you learned that, but you did it about a million times, and some how convinced the little girl playing with you at the park to do it too!!!

Finally we were headed to what Halloween is all about - Trick or Treating!!!!! While it was a little of crazy trying to get the 3 big kids in their costumes, while watching the end of a heart breaking Titans game, we finally had all of you ready to go, but heaven forbid we actually get a picture of the 4 of you looking all cute and stuff!! Here's about as good as we could get...

The three of you did so well walking up to the doors, waiting for the nice lady or man to give you candy, although a few times you decided you just needed to walk on in their house. I mean, I can't blame you - in normal circumstances when you knock on someone's door you typically do go in and are not left out in the cold!!!!

And finally we wrapped up the T or T at Miss EP's house, where I don't think it even phased you where we were!!! You just wanted your candy!

And I'm pretty positive you had a blast!!!!

After we got everyone out of costume, we ate some chili and munched on all the goodies we brought over and you and Ryan helped Miss EP pass out all the candy to her little kiddos from school! You both had so much fun handing each person their one piece of candy, and every time Ryan would say "THANK YOU!". You got sooo excited when you'd hear that doorbell ring, as if you were the one getting the candy! You are such a sweet giver!!! Finally, after a long night, we headed back to our house and got tucked in bed immediately. Want to know something funny - your daddy was asleep by 8:00!! No joke!!!! HA!! Can you tell we all had a fantastic weekend!!! What a Halloween!! Oh and did I say already, what a stinkin' cute cute cute little monkey you were!!!! You are my climbing, swinging, jumping, fun loving little monkey, with pretty pink bows of course!!! LOVE YOU MONKEY!!