Happy Halloween!
We have had an amazing day so far, and with
my sofa sleepover plan for Michael and me more likely than not; the rest of our
night should be great too!
As usual, our day started out with Tai Chi,
but we were indoors today thanks to a bit of wet weather that was still hanging
around here – even though it wasn’t much more than a sprinkle with roving bursts
of showers. Michael stayed for breakfast
again; but then he needed to head home to do some work around the house while Rebecca
was helping out at the Inn during the breakfast rush. They were tag-teaming the work there because
she had the entire evening off so that she and Lucas could hand out treats at
Rebecca’s house; and then go to his farm for the rest of the night with his
brother, sister, and one of their friends each while his parents went out to
Sheldon’s with our parents and the rest of their friends. Rebecca’s spending the night there too; so
Miranda and Jacob are getting a kid-free night.
While Michael was busy at home and the Inn,
I was busy with chores at our house too.
Doing some of them while it was still raining wasn’t much fun, but Dad
and I didn’t melt; and we kept the yard work to the must-do jobs that included
another round of mulching and vacuuming leaves that was a bit tougher for the
lawn tractor because of all of the overnight rain that had everything
soaked. That made hauling those bags of
wet leaves tougher too; which is why I’m glad that we didn’t try to work all
day.
With the Halloween fun tonight, Mom and Dad
decided to spend most of the afternoon working in the office so that Dad could
keep up with his weekend homework; so I got to spend that time playing with
Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden. The
best part of our afternoon was the break time that Michael spent with us; and
that was entirely because the three boys came up with an idea that allowed
Shimmer and Shine to actually ‘fly’ on their magic carpets for
trick-or-treating; and then we made that happen before Michael needed to get
back to the Inn to help with the dinner rush.
No, we didn’t use our telekinesis; though
it would have been awesome if we could have done that and gotten away with it! ;^)
What we did do was to take two wagons; hook
them together so that I could pull both of them; wrap them in black fabric
skirts so that it’d look as if our flying carpets were floating on air – at least
in the dark; and make comfortable mats for the boys to lay on so that the girls
could sit on their magic carpets and fly as we walked between houses
tonight. It was all low-tech; but worked
great – and we even made it easy for Ethan and Aiden to get on and off the
wagons to go up to the doors with Ehlana and Naomi and get their treats
too. It was also a lot of fun to do that
with my brother, sister, and their best friends; and having that play time with
them when I haven’t been able to do that enough lately was really special for
all of us.
We kept Naomi and Aiden for dinner while
three out of four of their parents were still busy with work; I helped with the
cooking and the clean-up; and then it was time to get into costume and get
ready to head out for our trick-or-treating fun. Actually, the four kids got into their
costumes; and I mostly dressed in black so that I wouldn’t distract from their
Shimmer and Shine act; though Mom didn’t let me go out without wearing some
glow in the dark bracelets so that I was as safe as the rest of the kids
were. Ehlana and Naomi used quite a few
of those bracelets too; putting several on each wrist and a couple woven into
their genie caps so that it looked even more awesome when they floated along in
the air. The boys ended up with glowing
edges to their carpets; and that really looked cool from above – especially for
everyone seeing them from the vantage of front porches.
Once we were ready to go, Dad needed to
take a hundred pictures or so, and while that seems like an exaggeration, it
technically isn’t; because he recorded a video too while having me pull the two
wagons through our front yard Halloween display. At thirty frames per second; a thousand
pictures would be more accurate. Dad
wasn’t the only photographer needing to snap shots of us over the next two and
a half hours as we toured around as much of the town as we could cover before
we were all ready to head home. I had to
do most of the walking, but the boys still had Ehlana and Naomi sitting on them
for the rides; and they had to get up and sit down at nearly every house –
except for when the candy was brought to them instead by enthusiastic adults or
teens that wanted to get a closer look at how their magic carpets worked.
Highlights for that part of our night
included the visits to our aunts and uncles’ houses; the Seager and Draper
homes; and our tour along Witch Falls Road.
Cameo moments with our friends and cousins while they were out having
fun too was always entertaining; though not always fun for Ethan and Aiden –
especially when Zack and Eli wanted to go for magic carpet rides too. We did get some adorable pictures of Brianna
and Ehlana sitting on magic carpet Aiden, and a couple more with Naomi,
Brianna, and Ethan; but the boys drew the line when Aunt Leanne teased them
about wanting a turn too.
The wagons came in handy for hauling all of
the candy and treats that four kids collect during an extended round of
trick-or-treating, and Michael had thought of that while we set up the wagons;
so we had room for everything while keeping the extra bags hidden underneath
Ethan and Aiden. We were home again by a
bit after eight-thirty, and since it was full-dark by then; Dad took another
video and a few more pictures before letting the four kids go inside with their
loot while I dealt with getting the wagons back into the storage barn and
returned to normal.
I didn’t have a lot of time to do that
because I needed to be on the front line for incoming kids that we’re
babysitting tonight while Mom and Dad wrapped up their front porch fun with the
straggler kids and teens that were still finishing up their rounds with the
walk along our street. Rowen and Tim
came over as soon as they could after handing out treats at her house; but mom
gave me a hand while waiting for them once I had seven of the eleven kids we’re
watching at the house. Zack, Brianna,
and Eli were all dropped off together before Aunt Leanne went home to get ready
for the party at Sheldon’s; while Caleb, Hailey, Leah, and Sebastian were
dropped off after their parents were ready to go out. Rowen and Tim were with me by then; and Mom
and Dad had taken turns getting ready for their party so that they were ready
to go along with Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah when they dropped off Leah,
Hailey, and Sebastian. Uncle Mark and
Aunt Grace left Caleb with us at nearly the same time; and both sets of aunts
and uncles were driving because Uncle Mark and Aunt Deborah had drawn
designated driver duty for the night.
This is totally off-topic, but I’d like to
mention here that Hocus Pocus has scarred me for life when it comes to thinking
about the favorite adults in my life and Halloween parties. Now I’m sure that Dad would love it if Mom
dressed up like that movie version of a Madonna costume, she didn’t; and I’m so
glad that we won’t ever have family photos of that nature in our family
albums. I could totally picture Aunt
Leanne wearing sexy costumes, and she’d look hot if she did – or does; but I’ll
guess that Zack and Brianna will feel the same way about their Mom for
something like that as I do about mine.
Having mentioned that, I can also report
that Mom and Dad did not go with any exotic or kid-scary costumes for their
night out. This is one of those cases
where I don’t mind having conservative, responsible parents, and while a
blood-sucking vampire lawyer and his beautiful, but geeky computer nerd ‘victim’
isn’t much of a stretch for costumes; I’m sure they’ll get laughs at the pub
anyway.
I returned the favor for picture time for
them before they left; but then I was in full-on babysitting mode after that
for the next two and a half hours. We
were in the lounge and my room for most of that action; the kids watched
Halloween shows that ranged from Dora and Friends to Charlie Brown. They didn’t need help with snacks that they
all had with them from their trick-or-treating stashes, but we took care of
drink orders; and had a bedtime pizza snack too – for the kids that weren’t
already sleeping by then. The games were
in my room; some music fun was also an option; and Michael and Tim led one
video gaming intermission between two of the Halloween shows while most of the
girls were happily playing in my room instead of watching the shows anyway.
The last two kid shows were the wind down
time before we took the last four kids downstairs and tucked them in for the
night; with the pizza snack starting before the end of that first show and
wrapping up with the clean-up that Rowen and Tim handled while Michael and I
got the twins, Naomi, and Aiden off to bed.
Once that was done, Michael and Tim took a football update break to get
the scores they hadn’t already heard about before we started babysitting; and
then we settled in to watch one or two last Halloween movies for the year and
enjoy some quality cuddle time.
I didn’t end up getting to do that for long
because Brianna woke up and needed me to take care of her for a while; which is
why I’m writing this report now instead of in the morning or doing a
double-update tomorrow night. While I’d
expected her to sleep longer and need an early-morning bottle and diaper
change, Brianna had other plans; and she wanted a diaper change, a bottle, and
some extended cuddle and singing time with me.
That’s cut into my cuddle time with Michael, but Brianna has me wrapped
around her little finger too; so I’m sure that Michael will understand.
Brianna still isn’t in any hurry to sleep
again yet, and since I’m pretty much done with the news of the day for this
report; I think that I’ll just wrap this up now so that we can both go and
cuddle with Michael until she does go to sleep again – or until Mom and Dad get
back from Sheldon’s; if that happens first.
The play fun is winding down on us for this weekend, since I’m going to
be helping out at the Inn at lunch and dinner tomorrow, and we’ll have a crazy
morning here to get eleven kids, four teens, and two adults fed and ready for
church; so I really should get back to having fun with Michael, Rowen, and Tim
while I can – even if that also means we won’t get much sleep before getting to
all of that busy and work.
I really want to have that sofa sleepover
with Michael too; and we might not get away with that if we’re still awake when
Mom and Dad get home. Brianna’s giving
me the ‘yes’ signal for that comment, and while I’m not sure how I should take
her interest in cuddling with my boyfriend, I don’t mind sharing him with her
for a while too; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
