Halloween: Mom Fail

Things are a little crazy around here as you might imagine. We are trying to get so much done in a short amount of time that things like Halloween just sort of snuck up on us. At least we already had our costumes picked out ahead of time. And, to be fair, we did make time for the classic pumpkin patch trip out to Lakeview Farms, which was a lot of fun. Until, that is the next day when I discovered that my camera was missing.

The always popular caterpillar tractor ride. 

Neil carried this tiny rotten pumpkin around the entire time. Thankfully, I found a similar one to switch out with it when it came time to buy.

My girls in the bright autumn sun! Love Oregon!

I knew that I had my camera when we got back to the cars in the parking lot. That was the last place I had seen it. I figured it was probably a goner with all the cars that drive through that field on a busy Saturday. Fortunately, when I called, someone had turned it in. I'm so grateful to that random stranger! Thank you, thank you!

The next week we took our pumpkins to Grandma's house to have a carving party along with cookies and cider. Claire got really creative and free handed a snake on hers. She's a pretty good little artist. Pictures are coming. The first of my failures.

On Halloween, I worked all day and didn't make it home until 8pm. By then, the kids were just walking in the door freezing and tired from their trick or treating exploits. They had full baskets of candy and were ready to warm up and get to bed. I was a little bit disappointed because I thought they'd be up for another round with me. Oh well. Claire was a big helper and even did her own makeup for her cat costume. (using my eyeliner...) Grace opted for Pocahontas and Neil straight up refused to wear the dinosaur costume that I had set out for him. I'm sure glad I didn't spend big bucks on his costume. I guess he looked a little weird trick or treating in his regular ol' clothes. He managed to get plenty of sympathy candy out of it.

Here is the fail...I didn't get a single pic of them dressed up that night. I feel like an epic failure. You only get a few Halloweens with your kids when they are still young enough to let you dress them up and walk the neighborhood with you. To add insult to injury, I got a phone call about 9:30pm...."so, are the kids coming over soon?" It was Grandma wondering if they were going to trick or treat at her house. Ummm...ooops. "sorry, they are actually already in bed." Geez, I just couldn't catch a break. Somehow I managed to ruin it for myself and the grandparents.

I guess that's just how it goes when I am gone all day. Note to self...don't work on Halloween in the future. Oh, and yeah Grace's birthday was a couple days before....still need to get some pictures together from that. It's a work in progress.