"Gourd" Times On Halloween Weekend

This year's pumpkin: the silhouette of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

It's always a little bit of a bummer when Halloween falls on a weeknight. Everyone has to work or go to school the day of, and you can't stay out late without worrying about how exhausted you'll be the next day. Or maybe some people can, but I'm not one of them. We're early birdies in this house. Anyways, we were able to do some fun Halloween activities this weekend, and I'm so glad we did, since tomorrow will be pretty low-key over here.

We found out that our ward was going to have a Halloween party on the 28th, but they decided to buck tradition and not provide any trunk-or-treating activities. I was a little bummed, because Jace can actually walk this year, and one of his favorite words is "treat," so I was getting excited to be able to take him trick-or-treating. I knew we probably wouldn't go out on Halloween night, because our neighborhood is kind of hilly and remote and nobody trick-or-treats over here, and I didn't want to drive all the way into town to take my 21 month old trick or treating to three houses before he decided that he was over it. Thus, we felt the right thing to do, the ONLY thing to do, was to head down to my parent's house  for the weekend, seeing as their ward had made the correct decision and decided to include trick-or-treating as part of their Halloween party festivities. 

We drove down Friday afternoon, and Jace spent the remainder of the day playing with Papa and getting muddy in the backyard. In the morning, we went for a walk/run at a local park, and Jace carried a soccer ball up and down the hilly trails the whole time. After he woke up from his nap, we decided to spend the afternoon at Fir Point Farms, a pumpkin patch in Canby that we frequented every year when I was growing up. It's definitely changed a lot since I was a kid; they've gotten fancy with tractor rides, bounce houses, and more extensive dining options. But it's still beautiful, and Jace loved the slides, homemade cinnamon sugar donuts, and the animals in the petting zoo. He had so much fun. 

Also, just because I don't want to forget this, I have to share what happened when Jace went on the tractor ride at the pumpkin patch. First off, it's imperative that you know that within the last month or so, Jace has started calling me by my first name. When I leave the room, or if I'm outside his line of vision, I'll inevitably hear his little voice calling for me: "Sami...Sami? Sami?!", followed by him barging in on me as I'm trying to use the bathroom. When this began, I thought maybe he was just stringing random syllables together, because he'd often say my name over and over again for no discernible reason; however, countless witnesses have independently concluded that he is clearly using it for beckoning purposes, and we are now operating on a first-name basis. So, the story: Fir Point hooked up a train of little cars to the back of a John Deere tractor, and you could pay a couple bucks for a ride. My dad offered to take Jace on the tractor-train, and although little man was excited at first, he became a bit apprehensive once they boarded their car, and the tears started to flow. We knew once the ride began he would love it, but I felt bad that he was a little nervous. Anyways, the tractor started up and sure enough, Jace stopped crying, but he still looked a little bit worried. The train looped around on it's way out and crossed in front of us spectators, and as I smiled and waved to Jace, he reached his tiny arms out to me and plaintively wailed "Saaaaaammmmmiiiiii!" as he passed. It was hilarious and a little heart-wrenching, but mostly hilarious. I don't want to ever forget it, because I assume he'll decide to start calling me "Mama" again at some point, and I think I'll miss being his Sami. And, just for the record, Jace ended up enjoying the ride immensely. 

After an hour or so at the pumpkin patch, it was time to head home for dinner and get ready for the Halloween party! We decided to dress Jace up in the same costume I wore when I was his age: a blue crayon. My mom made the costume  for me 27 years ago, and put it in storage after all of us outgrew it. But she pulled it out, cleaned it up, and JJ got to wear it this year.  He also got to use the Halloween candy pails that we had as kids, and I think it made my parents a little nostalgic. As long as we didn't use the chin strap on the hat, Jace did a great job keeping it on, and he really seemed to enjoy all the action at the party. He loved trick-or-treating room to room inside the church building (although he was too shy to ask strangers for a "teet," so he just smiled and grabbed his candy, ha!), had a great time playing Halloween games, ingested way too many sweets and punch, and stayed out well past his bedtime. He had so much fun, and Colt and I got a kick out of watching him enjoy himself. I love that little boy (and my handsome man, too).

On Sunday, we were able to go and see my sweet Grandma Carol and visit with her for a little bit. Then we packed up and drove back home so we could get a head start on the week ahead. We had such a great weekend. Thanks mom and dad for letting us crash your party! I hope we didn't tire you out too much. 

Since we had such an eventful weekend,  I feel ok about not taking Jace trick-or-treating tomorrow. I think I'll dress him in his Halloween jammies and his monster hat, we'll make dinner in a pumpkin, and probably watch Curious George's Halloween Boo-fest for the last time this season. And I'm sure we'll munch on a little Halloween candy, for good measure. 

Happy Halloween! I hope all you ghouls and boys have a frightfully good time :)

Also, in the interest of full disclosure, our pumpkin was carved last weekend, not this weekend. Just needed to get that off my chest.