Trick Or Treat

After the last few days of Halloween flurry, I think I might start holding classes and charging for products, because I feel as though my home is a Michael's craft store.

Even before the Halloween festivities began, we were preparing for the big day with a Halloween party at Cael's preschool.  Because his teacher had requested that the kids not wear costumes representing media characters or any costume with a mask, Cael's Iron Man outfit was rendered useless.  Instead, we dressed him up in the firefighter outfit he'd received from my sister Amy and her family (sans axe, of course).

He was surprisingly good-natured about the switch, but I attribute that to the promise of pumpkin carving later that night.  For some reason, making jack-o-lanterns is so enticing that it can eliminate almost any undesirable behavior. 

When pumpkin season is over, maybe we'll start carving watermelons.

But sadly, we didn't carve those pumpkins.  Between dinner and baths and Halloween preparations, it didn't happen on the 30th.  Instead, we spent some time constructing a Halloween costume for my nephew.  Keaton is a big video game fan, Minecraft specifically, and wanted to be one of the characters for his costume.

The creators of this game should be ashamed of themselves.  Not just because of its addictive nature, but because of the intentionally poor graphics that make the characters little more than a cluster of oversized pixels.  So what did we do?

Meet Keaton.  AKA "Minecraft Guy"/"Pixel Man"/"Can't See Through Eye-Holes & Running Into Walls Man".

I was happy to help with his costume because I love that sort of project, but my type-A personality wouldn't let me get to sleep until I'd at least begun to tackle those pumpkins.  I got the white and traditional orange pumpkins hollowed out and cleaned, and when I began to tackle the bumpy pumpkin I knew I'd made a major error.

The skin was like stone, and it took nearly an hour to cut the lid from the top of the gourd.  The thought of carving either a car (Graham's choice) or Iron Man (Cael's choice) into the face of this rock was daunting, so I sketched out a snake that would slither its way between the bumpy steel-like warts on the pumpkin.

The regular pumpkin was up next, but because it was already after midnight, I didn't have the energy for Iron Man and dug out the "Incredibles" logo, which I knew Cael would enjoy even though it wasn't his first choice.

Only my white pumpkin remained and I carved a traditional face into its flesh, alongside a small "C" and "G" gourd for each of the boys. 

Who needs sleep, anyway?

Finally, Halloween was upon us.  Between spooky temporary tattoos and roasted pumpkin seeds, the day went quickly and it was time to get our treat on.  Cael looked very authentic in his Iron Man costume that he was finally allowed to wear, and Graham brought his own brand of super to Halloween as "SuperWhy", a superhero whose power is "the ability to read".  Aren't PBS superheroes the nerdiest best?

Because it was only about 40 degrees outside, we tried to move quickly from house to house, Graham escorting Keaton so that he didn't run into any mailboxes or garage doors.  Within a few minutes and a few houses, Graham hit his stride and Cael petered out.

For such an outgoing, energetic kid, he is unusually prone to feeling shy and responds with major frustration.  So instead of filling his pumpkin bucket, he spent the majority of the night hanging back with Daddy while Graham raked in the loot, Keaton avoided potholes, and Amy and I huddled together for warmth.



When we got back to the house, the boys dug into their goodies, each eating three pieces within seconds before I was able to confiscate the bowls and begin the year-long process of rationing the candy until next Halloween.



And next time, I'll start getting ready in September.