It was ambitious. On a lot of levels. 10 days, three states, 1,000 miles up and 1,000 miles back. Oh, and we brought an RV travel trailer…which we bought right before the trip. All these things we had never attempted or experienced before. Like I said, it was ambitious.
It sort of started Tuesday night, October 27 when Keana and I headed to the fabric/craft store to complete her costume. Sarah and Maia were taking a late nap, so we crept out of the house to complete our mission. Weeks before Keana had decided she wanted to be a Superhero Ballerina, then added “princess” to the title for good measure, but that part came and went, so we stuck with Superhero Ballerina. Actually, I guess the costume assemblage began on the Saturday before that when we bought the ballerina-leotard-outfit-thingy and a pair of pink, high-top Converse (Keana needed new shoes anyway), and a crown that just happened to come with matching clip-on earrings. Maia, of course, wanted a ballerina-leotard-outfit-thingy too.
Anyway, Tuesday night before Halloween Keana picked out the fabric she wanted for her cape, some pink ribbon for the tie, and the jewels/flashy business for the lining and emblem (which was really just the letters “SB” for “Superhero Ballerina”). instead of actually sewing anything, I just picked up some fabric glue, which I didn’t even know existed and was a phenomenal find my book. Keana wasn’t really interested in making the cape, so Sarah and I went to work after the girls went to bed. It was our first real venture into costume making and i think it was good we started with something simple like a cape. We think it turned out great though and it was a lot of fun.
The next day, Wednesday, Keana had her costume parade at school which was so much more fun than I remember costume parades ever being when I was a kid. The kids paraded with percussion instruments and did some songs. Having a flexible job and working from home allowed me to be there for this pinnacle moment in Keana’s costume career.
On Halloween we carved pumpkins which was definitely entertaining in and of itself. Keana named her little pumpkin “Punky”, and although she originally wanted to just draw pictures on it, she ended up wanting to carve it. So we did a simple, happy face, and then Keana proceeded to pretend Punky was alive and fed her the pieces we had just cut out. The funniest moment was when she said something like, “I’ll put one in my eye-hole.” At 6-ish, we had Keana’s friend Maya and her family over to trick-or-treat on our street. I think everyone was glad that the girls didn’t care about hitting a hundred houses or getting a metric ton of candy. They all got a basket full and that was plenty. Little Maia decided she wanted to wear a chinese style suit that Sarah had when she was little, and enjoyed the trick-or-treating experience with the big girls. Every now and then though, we had to stop when Maia yelled, “Oh! My pants!” as her pants slid down to her ankles.
After the bounty was acquired, the adults gathered for some tea/beer, talked, and watched some World Series goodness, while the kids sampled their spoils and played with each other. Grandma Jennie also stopped by to see the girls in their costumes and say “hi”. Eventually the night wrapped up with the discovery that big Maya’s little sister, Lily, had dog poop on her shoe, shortly followed by the same Lily smacking our Maia in the face for no good reason. Not the best way to end it, but hey, it was Halloween, it was late, and there was too much processed sugar coursing through veins to have things end smoothly. All-in-all though, it was really fun having Keana be more into what was going on (and not changing her mind about her costume 10 times during the day), and of course have little Maia more excited about the whole shindig as well.
Halloween is coming up in just a couple days and we’re definitely finishing out October strong. Last weekend we had the surprise portion of my mom’s 50th birthday party (two weeks after her actual birthday) and it turned out great. Peter stepped up and pretty much planned the whole thing with just a little input from Sam (mom’s husband) and me. The party was catered and the morning of, Sam took his parents (who were in town from Oklahoma) and mom out to breakfast as a distraction. While they were gone, mom’s mom Jacquie came over to the house and helped get things set up. Peter’s girlfriend Bryn and friend Ject (sp?) from Thailand also arrived early to set up while I grabbed beverages and last-minute supplies. Guests started arriving around noon and helped with set-up and decorating as well. Mom arrived right on time and seem thoroughly surprised. I think having this party two weeks after her birthday really helped with the surprise element. Halfway through the party Keana started getting really tired but wouldn’t lay down without both Sarah and I. So the three of us cuddled up in the spare bedroom in mom’s house and were able to get a little sleep. It brought back fond memories of when Keana was first born and we all shared a bed. And, just like old times, I was barely hanging on a sliver of the edge of the bed, with one arm underneath me falling asleep and Keana snuggled right up next to me. I loved it. Because of our little nap we missed the pie ceremony and birthday speech, but that’s just the way things go now.
Last week flew by, we fought off Keana’s cold that she had last week, and found this weekend arrive seemingly out of nowhere. Yesterday our little homebirth group got together for a little Halloween soirée. The theme was cross-dressing for the adults and I think the babies were a little confused but thoroughly entertained—or at least we adults were. All the babies were adorable in their little costumes of course, and we had a great time as usual. When we all get together, it’s always a little bit of mayhem, but always good to see everyone and get the babies together.
And now it’s Sunday. I bbq’d some chicken outside in the dark this evening, and Sarah padded the kiddy-pool outside with a little quilt and she and baby shmooped around in it staying just under the smoke. Then they danced around their shadows waiting for the meat to finish cooking, singing silly songs, and I grilled away and drank a beer. Now Sarah’s eating mochi ice cream while I finish this thing up. Fall feels like it’s really here now and life is good as usual.
