Matt and I now understand what Halloween was like for our parents - moments of frustration and irritation followed by fits of laughter and giggles! I say this because we took many deep breaths to overcome the difficulties we encountered prior to trick or treating on Halloween night. We kept looking at each other and saying, "Is this supposed to be fun? What would happen if we just stayed in tonight?" One example: Once we got Ella's Tinkerbell costume on and Colin's Harry Potter costume on, Ella then had to go to the bathroom. While we waited, we decided to draw some glasses on Colin, and Matt had the brilliant idea of also drawing a lightning bolt on Colin's forehead. Unfortunately, Colin didn't feel like waiting for Ella, so he started crying which destroyed his glasses. By the time we got the glasses drawn again, Ella was too hot and started taking clothes off. The aforementioned situation is just one of the many moments of chaos that we had this evening. Fortunately, Matt and I were able to laugh throughout the escapades. (I have learned that it is always better to laugh during confusion and chaos; the alternative is crying, and that is always so much harder to explain to people.)
We managed to attend a Halloween festival organized by the city of Lebanon. It had a whole host of activities for children, balloons, and candy! Unfortunately, Ella was literally in Never Never Land for the majority of our time there, so we decided to cut our visit short and head home for some dinner. Here are the little ones waiting in line for the pony and wagon ride prior to our departure from the festivities.
Once we had gotten some nutrition into Tinkerbell and Harry, we decided to gather some energy once again to head out to our neighborhood. Matt took the kids out while I stayed home to hand out candy. Matt and I then switched roles later on in the evening so that I could go out and spend time with Ella and Colin. Ella really got the hang of trick or treating. I think she could have kept going all night long had I not cut her off. Secretly, I wanted to encourage her to continue because I was hoping for some more Reese's peanut butter cup. (Yes, I am an evil mother and have taken candy from my childrens' pumpkins. However, I did have good motives. See, if I had purchased Reese's peanut butter cups to hand out for trick or treating, I would have eaten the whole bag. By sampling some of the kid's candy, I was making sure it was safe to eat while also trying to maintain my 'what is left after kids' waistline.)
Here are Ella and Colin at the end of their Halloween evening - all charged up with sugar! Despite a hectic evening, our Halloween was magical in so many ways. This Halloween was different for me' I really was more on the sidelines than I have been before. Ella was fully invested in picking out her costume; she decided what tights to wear and how she wanted her hair. Ella helped carve the pumpkins. She actually got excited about getting certain kinds of candy. She was really aware of her surroundings. Moments like this are always bitter sweet for me - sweet because I am proud that Ella is able to make decisions on her own, but bitter because her ability to make more and more connections, observations, and conversations only tells me that she is getting older and older. What will next year bring??? Ella already tells me that she wants to be Ariel, the Mermaid - -
