From Whaaaa to Wheeee: Happy Halloween

This was the beginning of our Halloween soap opera. Noah informed us early on that he wanted to be a ghost for Halloween. I thought "Great! My piddling Martha Stewart skills might actually be able to handle that!!"

So I borrowed a sewing machine (piddling skills just can't justify ownership) (Thanks, Michelle!) and with some prodding and help from Chris I managed to create a ghost costume.

The drama started the next day when Noah saw the costume and was supremely disappointed. So disappointed, in fact, he didn't even want to try it on, refusing on many occasions to even see if it fit. He was greatly looking forward to his party at preschool and their chance to practice Trick-or-Treating. I finally coaxed him into it once prior to that day with the assurance that after we made sure it fit he could take it off.

I took him to preschool that day with his costume and told his teachers that he might not want to wear it. I felt bad that he would probably be the only kid who wasn't wearing a costume that day. But I felt worse that a lot of his excitement for Halloween seemed to have disappeared.

He did wear his costume at preschool and had a great party and Trick-or-Treating experience. Some of his enthusiasm returned.

So on Halloween he was actually excited to put on his costume and go get treats! He didn't wear the hood-it has the misfortune to resemble a KKK hood.
So, we survived that little drama just in time to find a little more when we went to put Ian in his costume. It was quite the wrestling match and turned into a crying fit the likes of which only Ian can produce!! He is smiling in the picture because of the camera. His poor cheeks and sweaty head were from the crying fit. We didn't dare try to make him wear the lion's head lest we enrage the poor kid anymore.
He cried all the way to the first house and candy was put in his bucket. Suddenly the world didn't seem so bad. In fact, a momentum gathering run down the slanted driveway necessitated a "Wheeeeeeeee" all the way down. As did every other driveway for the first half hour. Noah did all the talking and Ian kept being left behind because he would stop to see what he could eat right then.

Towards the end, Ian started to say "tweet" and that won some hearts. Noah had a great time and was very pleased despite the 'blueberry lights' (black lights) that scared him.

We came home to enjoy our treats. We ignored bedtime because we figured what better way to get them to sleep a little later with the time change!
Now, there are a lot of philosophies about candy eating and indulgence. I, for one, think it is a happy holiday and I don't really like to fight the constant fight and whine for more candy if I were to limit their consumption. I feel supported in my decision to let my kids eat as much of their candy as they like, whenever they want it after reading a dentist's opinion that it is better to let your kids eat all the sugar in one sitting and then brush their teeth, than to have multiple and drawn out opportunities for kids to have sugar eating at their teeth.

Whatever way you choose to eat your candy, we hope you thoroughly enjoyed it! We sure did!!