Halloween Hallapalooza

From the costumes to the decorations to the celebrations, Halloween for us was very low-key this year.  Originally, the plan was to drive to Charleston and go trick-or-treating with the cousins.  Other than a small Halloween party with our family here, we did very little as far as decorating and celebrating.  And due to the outhouse fiasco, we didn't even have pumpkins.  I'm sure my neighbors think we are complete Scrooges.  But since we weren't going to be here for the holiday, I didn't want a ton of decorations to take down when we got back home.  Then Ernie surprised us by coming home early (hurray!!!) and all our plans changed.

Halloween morning, I took Lily downtown where she got to go trick-or-treating with some of her friends.  Since this was a "store" trick-or-treating event, I was expecting dum-dums and smarties to be the order of the day.  But no.  Lily got full-sized candy bars and a bucket filled to overflowing with chocolate.  Now that is *my* kind of trick-or-treating.

Lily was literally dragging me along after her.  I can't count how many times I heard, "Mommy, hurry up!"

Of course, it wasn't long before my little Halloween kitten was all tuckered out.

Last year we were in Louisiana and I didn't know anyone, so it was just us and Lily.  This year Lily definitely had more fun playing with Tiger Lily, Bella and the other kids.  So thanks, Sarah, for inviting us.

You probably can't tell, but this is a picture of Lily "grooming' herself.  She picked out her costume all by herself and was so excited about it.  I put it on her at 9 am and she did not take it off until 9 pm.

[ps:  this is my favorite photo of the entire day, but nothing I did would make it post correctly.  I can't very well leave it out, so turn your heads, please]

That night, after a dinner packed with lots of green veggies to make up for the candy free-for-all (or at least, that's what I told myself), Ernie and I took her trick-or-treating again in our neighborhood.

Before we could leave, I was a mean mommy and made Lily stop for a photo op.  She was practically bursting with excitement, which made the simple task ten times more difficult.

Yes, I dressed up too.  Ernie tried to get away with not dressing up, seeing as how he'd just driven sixteen hours to get there and was exhausted.  But Lily was having none of it.  So even he scrounged together a costume.

We discovered that there aren't many trick-or-treaters in our area.  Probably because most people around here are either young or old couples with no children in the house.  It turned out great for Lily, though, since everyone let her take fists full of candy.  By the end of the night, her bag was packed.  I'm really glad this only happens once a year.

Can you find Lily in this picture?  A downside of her costume was that she was almost completely camouflaged at night.  Luckily, her daddy had a reflective vest on to keep her safe.

We had fun.  There was very little preparation involved, and I ended up throwing out half of the candy Lily got throughout the day.  I think the best part of the holiday for both of us was having Ernie there to share it with us.  Even though he did mess up most of my pictures with his reflective construction worker costume.  I didn't get any family pictures, which I am bummed about, but oh well.  We hardly ever get the chance to have family pictures, since either Ernie or I are always *taking* the picture.  But we have two months with him before he has to go back to Texas, so do I have any volunteers to take a family picture for us?

Happy [late] Halloween, everyone.

Compelled by emergency

The week before Halloween a friend invited us to Conners Farm for a harvest celebration with a big group of kids.  I always enjoy opportunities to teach Lily about the importance of agriculture without actually having to *live* on a farm myself, so I jumped at the chance.  I loaded her up bright and early and made the 45 minute drive out to "cow country", as Lily dubbed it.

We started our agricultural adventure out with a corn maze.  We had a choice.  Either the advanced twenty minute maze, or the easy ten minute maze.  Having a group of toddlers and preschoolers with us, we opted for the ten minute maze and excitedly began our journey, confident in our superior navigational skills.

Half an hour later, we were still wandering around a field of corn, struggling vainly to find the exit.  I'm sure we'd still be there if we'd chosen the "advanced" maze.

The people who run the farm were very relaxed.  They let the kids interact with whatever animals they came across.  Lily's favorites were the horses.  When it was time to leave, Lily was being so stubborn that I had to pull out the "Lily Victoria" card and insist that it was time to leave the horses.  To which she responded, "Mommy Elizabeth, I'm not done yet!"

I was laughing too hard to reprimand, so instead I gave her five more minutes.  It's important to reward creativity and independence, right?

After she got her fill of the horses, we went on a hayride.  At first my little Miss Priss was not having anything to do with the dirty bales of hay.  But once she got into the spirit of things, she had a blast.

Especially once these guys came up and started eating the hay.  Lily was absolutely thrilled.  For the rest of the day she kept asking me why those cows were eating our seats.

After the hayride, we went to the petting zoo where Lily got to feed the animals.  Now, let me stop here to explain something rather...um...delicate about the set up at Conners Farm.  You see, being a farm and all, they did not have normal toilets.  Outhouses were set up around the farm, though.  Lily, who had to use the restroom after the hayride, took one look at the inside of the outhouse and insisted she could wait until we left.  But after thirty minutes in the petting zoo, she was dancing from one foot to the other.  I asked her if she wanted to leave and find a bathroom somewhere else, but she said no, she could wait.  Then I tried to "force" her to use the outhouse, thinking if she just did it she would see it wasn't so bad.  But as soon as I opened the door she started arching her back and screaming and pulling away from me.  Deciding I didn't want to traumatize her, I gave up and we went on to the portion of our trip she was most excited for.  The pumpkin patch.

Unfortunately, by the time we got there the situation was so dire that she couldn't stand still long enough to pick out her pumpkin.  So I made an executive decision and we left the farm to find a normal toilet.  Sans pumpkin.  Fortunately, she was so preoccupied with her *need*, as it were, that she didn't offer a single complaint.

I found a McDonalds just down the road and when Lily walked into the bathroom stall her entire face lit up into a  relieved smile.  Then she said, "Thank soooooo much, Mommy, for finding me a clean toilet."

Next time we go (and we will be back, since they have all sorts of things going on there from strawberry picking to farmers markets to farm tours), I will stop at that McDonalds and make her use the restroom before we get there.  But bathroom emergency aside, we still had a great morning.