Halloween is one of our favorite Holidays. The decorating and the costume preparations, the donuts and apple cider, the trick-or-treating and haunted houses--it's one of the holidays we look forward to all year long. Since Matt deployed about 3 weeks before Halloween, it didn't quite feel the same this year. I put out a few fall decorations and scarecrows and such, but it wasn't lavish or extreme. I left that up to the neighbors who went all out with spiderwebs, skeletons, gravestones, and flying bats. Skylar was especially excited because the week of Halloween was also spirit week at school. You know, pajama day, sports day, wacky wednesday, school spirit day, and then she got to wear her costume on Friday. She thought it was so neat she could just go to school in her pajamas, although she complained when I tried to do her hair before we walked out the door. "I think we should just leave it messy, mom." Ha. If only I could send her to school with messy hair every day. Maybe I might be able to sleep in and catch up on some zzzzzz's.
On Halloween Skylar dressed up in her orange and black witch costume, complete with an orange and black hat with a spider hanging from the tip. During the entire month of October she changed her mind about 15 times of what she wanted to be. First it was a cheerleader, then a princess, then a ghost, a pirate, a vampire, a witch, and the vicious cycle continued. Finally I found a costume for 6.99 that was perfect (and cheap!). She agreed, then kept telling me she didn't want to be a witch. By Friday, she was set on being a witch again (thankfully), and was probably the cutest little witch I had ever seen. Perhaps I'm biased, but I thought she had the best costume in her class. Maya wanted to wear her costume all day since Skylar was having so much fun dressing crazy and fun all week. But, the costume was a little big and in the way when she tried to run and play. She ditched it after a few minutes and decided to take it off until it was time to leave for the trunk or treat.
Originally I wasn't going to dress up. Matt and I always dress up for Halloween and since he wasn't here, I didn't reallly feel like doing it alone. Even if the kids were in costume. But, at the last minute I decided he would probably want me to have a good time and I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself. I changed my mind and ran to Wal-mart and searched their scanty shelves for discounted Halloween merchandise. I found vampire teeth, black nail polish and black lipstick, a black and blonde long wig, and some sort of long, black, polyester dress that I think was intended for girls much younger than me. I also found some sort of gothic chain and it was all 50% off. I scored big time. I put together my costume and asked the kids what they thought. At first Maya was a little unsure of her mommy in black lipstick. But she was in love with the long wig and got over the lipstick thing pretty quickly. I ran out the door with the kids in tow, and we headed to the trunk-or-treat up at the church. They had a parade and games for the kids. Finally we went around to each different car/trunk for the trick-or-treating. We had a really fun time, even without Daddy there. I took the kids back to the neighborhood to go to a few houses around the block. A guy dressed up as a vampire--a really realistic looking vampire--started chasing Maya until she cried. I thought he would stop, but he didn't so I yelled at him. "She is three years old...how old are you...thirty? Save it for the older kids." Skylar wasn't bothered by him, but Maya obviously was. I guess that's why he decided to pick on her? How mean. Maya kept saying over and over again, "I don't want that scary vampire to follow us home." I explained he was fake and just being a mean old dad. His wife was even screaming at him to stop scaring the kids that went by.
On Halloween Skylar dressed up in her orange and black witch costume, complete with an orange and black hat with a spider hanging from the tip. During the entire month of October she changed her mind about 15 times of what she wanted to be. First it was a cheerleader, then a princess, then a ghost, a pirate, a vampire, a witch, and the vicious cycle continued. Finally I found a costume for 6.99 that was perfect (and cheap!). She agreed, then kept telling me she didn't want to be a witch. By Friday, she was set on being a witch again (thankfully), and was probably the cutest little witch I had ever seen. Perhaps I'm biased, but I thought she had the best costume in her class. Maya wanted to wear her costume all day since Skylar was having so much fun dressing crazy and fun all week. But, the costume was a little big and in the way when she tried to run and play. She ditched it after a few minutes and decided to take it off until it was time to leave for the trunk or treat.
Originally I wasn't going to dress up. Matt and I always dress up for Halloween and since he wasn't here, I didn't reallly feel like doing it alone. Even if the kids were in costume. But, at the last minute I decided he would probably want me to have a good time and I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself. I changed my mind and ran to Wal-mart and searched their scanty shelves for discounted Halloween merchandise. I found vampire teeth, black nail polish and black lipstick, a black and blonde long wig, and some sort of long, black, polyester dress that I think was intended for girls much younger than me. I also found some sort of gothic chain and it was all 50% off. I scored big time. I put together my costume and asked the kids what they thought. At first Maya was a little unsure of her mommy in black lipstick. But she was in love with the long wig and got over the lipstick thing pretty quickly. I ran out the door with the kids in tow, and we headed to the trunk-or-treat up at the church. They had a parade and games for the kids. Finally we went around to each different car/trunk for the trick-or-treating. We had a really fun time, even without Daddy there. I took the kids back to the neighborhood to go to a few houses around the block. A guy dressed up as a vampire--a really realistic looking vampire--started chasing Maya until she cried. I thought he would stop, but he didn't so I yelled at him. "She is three years old...how old are you...thirty? Save it for the older kids." Skylar wasn't bothered by him, but Maya obviously was. I guess that's why he decided to pick on her? How mean. Maya kept saying over and over again, "I don't want that scary vampire to follow us home." I explained he was fake and just being a mean old dad. His wife was even screaming at him to stop scaring the kids that went by.
After a few houses I had a feeling to go and get my cell phone. I immediately listened in case someone needed to call, maybe Matt was going to call? My friend, Chrissy, called about 15 minutes later from the hospital. She was 38 weeks pregnant and her husband left to Iraq with Matt. They were going to induce her b/c her blood pressure had been so high the past 24 hours of her stay in the hospital. So for the remainder of Halloween night, I went up to the hospital and helped my friend through labor. We couldn't have picked a better night for her to go into labor than Halloween. We watched scary movie re-runs, ghost hunters, and old episodes of CSI throughout the night. There wasn't much else on, and the ceiling with sea creatures on it wasn't helping distract her enough.
So, our Halloween night wasn't exactly the same without Matt there, but we still had a great time together. Just because he is gone, doesn't mean our lives have to stop. And hey, I even helped a fellow military wife during an important time when her husband couldn't be there. Perhaps that was the best feeling of all. Seeing a baby being born was absolutely amazing. It made me really excited for my own.
1 comment:
what a great tale. I would have attacked the vampire if I were you!!
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