What the hell happened to October? I had all of these great things planned- Halloween menus, homemade spooky lollipops, carving pumpkins-and none of it happened. I managed to squeeze in 1 Halloween recipe and some half-assed decorations, but I still have things I bought on clearance LAST year in the box in the garage. I have meat that has now gone bad that was supposed to be for stuffed peppers that I was going to decorate like mini Jackolanterns. I have pumpkin carving kits and patterns coming out of my ears. Luckily Super Dad came home early enough to quickly gut some pumpkins and crudely carve their faces just as the trick-or-treaters started making the rounds. Then we threw costumes on the kids, and I did Victoria's makeup while Sophie did her own (not by my choice, mind you), and we were off.
Our neighborhood is the best for trick-or-treating. It's safe, and the neighbors give out awesome candy- not just the cheap stuff. And a lot of them pass it out by the handful. The kids' bags were filled after a mere 45 minutes. Aunt Kathleen came along, so it was nice to play man-on-man instead of zone defense for once, especially since this was Sophie's first year walking (running) the entire time. It took her about 2 houses to master the routine, but after that, she remembered to say "thank you" to everyone and learned to only ring the doorbell once. We have 3 plastic pumpkins filled with candy, so that should last us until Christmas, when the next wave hits their stockings.
In addition to Hallloween, it's been a hectic month. It started with Vic's birthday, then mine when we went to Carowinds, and then this past weekend in which we went home to visit family. There hasn't been a weekend in which we didn't have something planned. The kids got their report cards on Friday, which I think is really mean of the district, since it was the Friday before Halloween. All I could picture was the sad sacks who made bad grades, staring out of their windows with a single tear falling, watching all of the other happy trick-or-treaters. Luckily, I don't have to worry about that, because both kids are off to a great start. Trevor had all A's. Since Victoria is in Kindergarten, they do a "meets always, meets sometimes, needs to work on" type grading system. She always met all of her objectives, and her teacher wrote a note saying how proud she is of Vic and how happy she is to have her in class. She loves reading to her class, and she has lots of friends. I am especially proud of her, because I wasn't really sure how she would handle school. I thought she would have more trouble with reading, since she seems to be more math-minded, but she's doing great with both. Sophie is also adjusting to school. She now goes twice a week and has really bonded with her teachers. She even lets them put her hair up, which she never lets me do.
Victoria has a birthday party this weekend, but other than that, this is the first lull we've had in a while...until Thanksgiving, and then it starts all over. I'm happy, though, because this is my favorite time of year. It's a happy chaos for sure.
