Thursday, June 08, 2006
Gradual update #7 -- Halloween
I still haven't made progress on the more recent photos, so I figure this is an opportune time to update with the rest of the Halloween story. Enjoy!
Benjamin was excited about Halloween, mostly because he was going to dress up like Blue from Blue’s Clues. He tried on the costume a couple days before Halloween, and absolutely loved it--he had such a wonderful expression on his face, like he couldn’t believe that HE was actually Blue! Too cute! He even wore the head, shoe covers and velcro clue, and hardly moved with the costume on…as if it would fall off or the magic would disappear and we’d realize he wasn’t really Blue.
MacKenzie decided to continue in her “princess” costume theme. Thus far she’s been Snow White, Cinderella and Belle, but this time opted to go a little more generic: a “princess bride.” She loved being allowed to wear lots of makeup and looking like she was going to get married (!!!).
Zachary waffled back and forth whether he wanted to go trick-or-treating or simply stay at home and hand out the candy, and eventually opted to being grown-up and handing out the candy. He even bartered with our neighbors to get some "good" candy for himself and some other candy to save for MacKenzie and Benjamin. What a wonderful big brother to look out for them like that!
When it came time to join the ghosts and goblins outside, we did a quick supper (hot dogs and chips) while getting changed into costumes. I don’t think we’ve ever made it home, changed and headed back out the door in less time. But, then again, the clock had already started ticking and precious time was wasting in the quest for candy. The nice thing about on-poat stairwell housing though is that everyone came downstairs and stood outside each building to distribute the candy. At some buildings, this equated to as many as eight candy stops consolidated into one! Talk about Halloween candy overload!!
Benjamin didn't say "trick-or-treat" once when we were out trolling for candy. Instead he said "more" every time! There was even one place where the adult wasn't watching her bowl, so he stood there and took three pieces...one at a time. Contrary to his behavior a couple days earlier, he didn't want to wear his head or the velcro-clue. He also had me carry him the entire evening, but he immediately wanted down every time he realized there was "more" candy to be had. He had a death-grip on his pumpkin all evening, which made it even more cumbersome for me to carry him. He absolutely refused to let me carry his pumpkin for him though, even when he could barely carry it two-handed because it was so heavy and full of candy!
In the end, we dumped all the candy out on the table and divided it three ways...paying particular attention to what Benjamin could have while allowing Zachary and MacKenzie to select a few favorite pieces. Benjamin had a field day! He had seven small lollipops open at once, plus three pieces of chocolate, two tootsie rolls, M&M minis and a package of smarties! Figure it only comes around once a year, so why not. He didn’t finish a single thing he had opened, but instead was quite a fan of sampling the variety of treats. I think he liked the lollipops best…mostly due to the shear number of them that he had opened, and the fact that he was acting like a two-fisted lollipop connoisseur sampling several flavors intermittently.
The real surprise is that all three of them were in bed before 8:30! Don't know how I managed to pull that off, but it worked out well since I was in the midst of an exercise at work and had to get them up in the wee hours of the morning so I could get to work well before what is sane or normal!!
Overall, they all had a good evening trick-or-treating and devouring candy…and seven months later are still working on their Halloween loot!
Benjamin was excited about Halloween, mostly because he was going to dress up like Blue from Blue’s Clues. He tried on the costume a couple days before Halloween, and absolutely loved it--he had such a wonderful expression on his face, like he couldn’t believe that HE was actually Blue! Too cute! He even wore the head, shoe covers and velcro clue, and hardly moved with the costume on…as if it would fall off or the magic would disappear and we’d realize he wasn’t really Blue.
MacKenzie decided to continue in her “princess” costume theme. Thus far she’s been Snow White, Cinderella and Belle, but this time opted to go a little more generic: a “princess bride.” She loved being allowed to wear lots of makeup and looking like she was going to get married (!!!).Zachary waffled back and forth whether he wanted to go trick-or-treating or simply stay at home and hand out the candy, and eventually opted to being grown-up and handing out the candy. He even bartered with our neighbors to get some "good" candy for himself and some other candy to save for MacKenzie and Benjamin. What a wonderful big brother to look out for them like that!
When it came time to join the ghosts and goblins outside, we did a quick supper (hot dogs and chips) while getting changed into costumes. I don’t think we’ve ever made it home, changed and headed back out the door in less time. But, then again, the clock had already started ticking and precious time was wasting in the quest for candy. The nice thing about on-poat stairwell housing though is that everyone came downstairs and stood outside each building to distribute the candy. At some buildings, this equated to as many as eight candy stops consolidated into one! Talk about Halloween candy overload!!
Benjamin didn't say "trick-or-treat" once when we were out trolling for candy. Instead he said "more" every time! There was even one place where the adult wasn't watching her bowl, so he stood there and took three pieces...one at a time. Contrary to his behavior a couple days earlier, he didn't want to wear his head or the velcro-clue. He also had me carry him the entire evening, but he immediately wanted down every time he realized there was "more" candy to be had. He had a death-grip on his pumpkin all evening, which made it even more cumbersome for me to carry him. He absolutely refused to let me carry his pumpkin for him though, even when he could barely carry it two-handed because it was so heavy and full of candy!
In the end, we dumped all the candy out on the table and divided it three ways...paying particular attention to what Benjamin could have while allowing Zachary and MacKenzie to select a few favorite pieces. Benjamin had a field day! He had seven small lollipops open at once, plus three pieces of chocolate, two tootsie rolls, M&M minis and a package of smarties! Figure it only comes around once a year, so why not. He didn’t finish a single thing he had opened, but instead was quite a fan of sampling the variety of treats. I think he liked the lollipops best…mostly due to the shear number of them that he had opened, and the fact that he was acting like a two-fisted lollipop connoisseur sampling several flavors intermittently.
The real surprise is that all three of them were in bed before 8:30! Don't know how I managed to pull that off, but it worked out well since I was in the midst of an exercise at work and had to get them up in the wee hours of the morning so I could get to work well before what is sane or normal!!Overall, they all had a good evening trick-or-treating and devouring candy…and seven months later are still working on their Halloween loot!
Labels: Benjamin, MacKenzie, Zachary
