Jespersen Halloween

Well, Friday night we had a lot of fun together. For starters we were actually together so that was great. Matt has been putting in long hours preparing for his new classes. We started the night with jack-o-lantern quesadillas for dinner. Then we carved our pumpkins. We let Jane draw a face on the pumpkin and then Matt cut it out exactly as drawn. (well, some instruction was given as to which direction the teeth should go). I happen to think it is the cutest jack-o-lantern ever.

Then we made caramel corn and watched Charlie Brown and The Great Pumpkin. Jane was so happy the entire night. She kept saying, "I love you, mom" or "I love you, dad." Jack was equally as happy. He couldn't eat the popcorn because he can't have dairy and the only thing that would compete with that was candy. Jack was thrilled with the discovery that something so delicious exists in this world. I had so much fun that night. I felt like I was watching myself on TV. I couldn't believe that I was the MOM. I am so grateful for my 3 greatest blessings in life. After the kids went to bed I assumed Matt had been feeling the same way so I asked him, "Wasn't tonight wonderful?" He just shrugged and said, "Uh, yeah." I guess we weren't on the same page.

Saturday morning Jane saw her last circle hanging up from the countdown chain. She asked if tonight was the night she got to go trick or treating. I told her yes and she was so excited. (We live in Utah, along with a ton of other Mormons who all trick or treated on Saturday instead of Sunday). Anyway, about 15 minutes after that conversation Jane looked at me in horror and pointed to her mouth. I ran with her to the bathroom where she threw up. She was so upset about throwing up. Knowing what throw-up meant, I was so sad for her I could have cried. After a few bouts of throw up I explained to her that she wouldn't be able to trick-or-treat tonight. She was sad. But Matt told her that she and Jack could put on their costumes and trick or treat us behind our house doors. She seemed okay with that. After a nap she got a lot more energy and was feeling better. She was disappointed to hear she still couldn't go trick or treating even though she felt better.

So, in the evening we put the costumes on the kids. Jane insisted on being a witch this year. It didn't excite my creativity and I rallied hard for other options. For two days I had her consent to be a parrot, but then we took her to Gardner Village where they have life-sized witch displays and she was very firm on wanting to be a witch this year. I made her witch skirt from the under pettiskirt of a too-small fancy dress. I just shortened some layers and added an elastic waistband. I also put on a couple spiders that had fallen off of her witch hat. I had to alter her tights because the only striped tights I could find were for adults. And then, the fun part was making her witch cape. By the time I went to the fabric store the Halloween fabric was all picked over. So I decided on black and white prints with orange on the underside. She was a scary witch if you can't tell.

Jack was a happy little monkey. He loved his costume. Thanks, Aunt Julie. He wore it most of the day because after I tried it on him he kept bringing it to me to put back on. I even got a few ooh ooh aah aah's out of him.

Now for the trick or treating. Matt ran to the store for a better variety of candy. And excuse me, but I never got around to showering or putting on decent clothes. I had to keep going behind one of 3 doors. Jane would knock and say Trick or Treat! Jack never got into knocking. He basically just kept whining at us to open his candy. I was surprised at how much Jane enjoyed our at-home trick or treating. I guess having candy shoved at you is always fun no matter what the conditions. I eventually had to call it quits because I got so bored.

Then we dumped out all the candy. We let Jane eat 2 pieces because of her sickness. Jack ate his fair share. And now we have so much candy left since we weren't able to hand it out.

And now, on to Thanksgiving!