Halloween

Our town does a Halloween parade every year, which is surprising given the religious nature of the community, but whatever.  We loved it.

This year, the town decided not to do a parade for "safety reasons."  Yeah.  I'm 100% sure it had more to do with some religious zealot getting their underpants in a wad, but the decision was made, and there was nothing we could do about it.  We called the school, and the principal dodged our calls.  Like that.

The benefit to living in a small town, though, is that you hear things, and you run into people.  I ran into the mother of one of Marissa's friends while shopping the other day.  She told me that there was a group of mothers who were planning to take their kids out of school on Halloween to do their own damn parade.  I smiled so hard I thought my face would crack, and told her to count us in.

There was a huge turnout -- I wasn't expecting so many kids.  Tons of people lined up on the street to check out the costumes and wave and cheer them on, and a few officers blocked traffic for the kids to cross streets and such.  After the parade we went to the Municipal building and the kids had pizza, chips, cupcakes, cookies, ice cream, candy, soda -- you name it.  All provided for free, from parent volunteers, who put the whole thing together at the last minute.

I have to say that as much as this place disappoints me sometimes, other times it rocks my damn socks off.

click to view our whole Halloween extravaganza

He's the best.

Making dinner tonight, I cut not one, but two of my fingers.  Simultaneously. What is my damage, man?  Bryan was headed to the store so I had to run outside, flag him down, and make him fix me up before I puked.

What would I do without him?  Probably chop food with a spork, for starters.

In other "how-much-does-my-husband-love-me-and-put-up-with-my-craziness" news, I sent Bryan to the store the other day to get material for my Halloween costume. He knew which material to get based on this description: "You were with me when I pointed it out the other day, remember?"  I am nothing if not specific.

When he went, he couldn't find anyone at the counter to cut the fabric, so he measured and cut it himself.  And!  He measured exactly right, and cut the correct amounts.

Amazing, right?  I think I'm going to have that man's babies, y'all.

How we get our kicks.

So, Charlie has this thing with masks.  The Halloween-type hood masks that invariably look completely fake.  They Freak. Her. Out.  Naturally, we exploit her abject terror, because it is damn funny.

Tonight was a full (or almost full) moon, so the girls and I were talking about werewolves.  Serendipitously, Bryan had just picked up a Halloween wolf mask, so the deal was: He would go outside, put on the mask, and knock on the door. 

He knocked, and Phoebe answered.  She stood there for a brief second, and then slammed the door in Bryan's face.  Charlie was off to Phoebe's right a little and couldn't clearly see what was at the door, but she saw enough.  The child lost it all over the place.

Marissa ran over to let Bryan in, and Charlie ran over to me and literally twisted herself up in my skirt, yelling her head off, refusing to look at him.  Even Soli got all freaked out.  I sat down with Charlie, laughing my ass off, which clearly wasn't comforting to her, because she was still screaming.  Directly in my face.  Mind you, Bryan was just standing there, wearing the mask.  In her vicinity.  How scary.

He took it off, and everyone calmed down, and then we watched the video.  Did I mention I recorded it?  Oh, you bet I did.  Anyway, watching the video she was completely fine, and even laughed about it, but she's not fooling anyone.  The next time she colors on the walls I think Mr. Wolfie might just pay a visit, if you know what I'm sayin'.