October 31

What a LOOOONG day!

Today was a preschool day, so the girls and I dropped Caleb off at school. We came home, put Lily down for a nap, and I got to work carving Daisy's pumpkin. 

Today also happened to be Caleb's fall party at preschool, so my mom came over to watch the girls so that I could go be with Caleb for the party. It was so much fun to see him interacting in his separate little world!

I didn't think much of this picture when I took it, but I just realized the sweetest thing that melts my heart: for his snack of a chocolate chip cookie and cheese puffs with a Capri Sun, my boy placed his napkin on his lap. We spend so much time at dinner trying to teach and enforce manners (and get him to eat) that this nearly brought me to tears. Nobody was watching, nobody told him what to do, and no other kids did it, but Caleb put his napkin on his lap. What a good boy he is!

This "pin the nose on the pumpkin" game was his favorite. In his words, he played it "like a million times".

He could see under the blindfold and kept putting the nose on the eye, which he thought was really funny.

(His class wore pajamas today instead of costumes. He has been planning to wear these rocket ship jammies for the past three weeks.)

Caleb with his teacher, Mrs. Amy.

He kind of loves her.

The kids went down for naps, Chris came home (he took a half day today so that he could be a part of the festivities), and I got to work carving Caleb and Lily's pumpkins. When the kids finally woke up, we got dressed and headed for some Main Street trick-or-treating... in the rain.

Boo!

But we didn't let the rain bother us. My friend Jen and her kids were there, and my mom had a work meeting nearby, so she met us there, too. 

Caleb and Daisy were so excited to show Grandma their costumes!

(Boy, I wish that this photo was in focus! I think I'll blame it on the rain.)

Our family costumes. Funny, huh? Those ear poofs were as close as I could get to Leia buns, and Chris rocked his running tights and shirt as Luke Skywalker. For better pics of the kids in costume, look at yesterday's post.

Miss Chewbacca in her native habitat. I think her two-year molars are finally coming in, because most of the pictures from today show her gnawing on her finger.

Luke and Chewie, snuggling together.

The kids were entranced when they saw Big Bird and friends. (However, Daisy informed me later that she did not like Oscar.)

I love that Daisy was totally enthralled by Minnie Mouse, too. Isn't she cute? And Caleb is giving Minnie a handshake... too funny!

We only lasted about thirty minutes in the rain, and then we headed to the grocery store to say hello to Grandmother, who was working. Then we went home for a late dinner, and while we ate Chris threw the costumes in the dryer. They needed it. After dinner was done, Chris took Caleb and Daisy trick-or-treating up and down our street while I put Lily to bed.

All in all, long, but fun.

Our pumpkins: 

The back of Caleb's.

The back of Lily's. Somehow, I forgot to take pictures of the back of Daisy's.

But here are the fronts of all three: Yoda, Darth Vader (with a real glow stick for his light saber!), and Chewbacca. Not bad for last-minute pumpkins!

Thank goodness Halloween only comes once a year!