Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Halloween 2011: Lightning McQueen, a purple crayon meltdown, and tricks

I didn't have any expectations for Halloween, other than hoping the kids would have fun in whatever way they wanted to. I didn't care if they went to our town's parade, wore their costumes, or danced naked in the street. OK, I might have cared if they danced naked in the street.

Max decided it was his job to put candy into the basket for trick-or-treaters.

Lightning McQueen was looking pretty good, despite the fact that Max has had the costume on nonstop since last Thurday. Except for bath time, and even then he clung to it for dear life.

Sabrina couldn't wait to be a skeleton. Black, she tells me, is her new favorite color. Great. Goth Girl at age 6.

Our town's Halloween parade is a rather insane event consisting of a bazillion candy-scrounging kids, and it tends to freak Max out. But he said he wanted to go and that it was "not scary." So off we went.

Max's willingness to go to the parade turned out to be a ruse. The second we hit town, he dragged us to the ice-cream store. All he wanted was a chocolate milkshake. Dave and him hung out there, and Sabrina went off to be a candy-scrounging kid.

With a new friend

With her favorite mom

After dinner, we went trick-or-treating in our 'hood. Immediately, Max spotted a neighbor, Sam, dressed up as Harold and The Purple Crayon. And Max decided Sam needed a purple crayon handler.

Soon after, Max decided the purple crayon was rightfully his because, you know, it was purple. "INE!" ("MINE!") he declared, and tried to make a fast getaway. I was somewhat mortified but secretly impressed by the fine-motor skills it took to carry that thing. Max screeched oh-so-charmingly when we pried the crayon out of his hands and returned it to Harold-Sam.

Once we were past Crayongate, Max got into trick or treating. He only went for bags of M&Ms and put them all in the pocket of Dave's jacket, preferring to keep his precious purple bucket candy-free. At one house, a guy had one of those fake plastic hands sticking out of the candy bowl; Max grabbed it and started to walk away, cracking up. Trick!

One of the most fun parts of trick-or-treating is having a valid excuse to peek inside other people's homes. Just call me a Peeping Mom.

Back at the ranch, Max handed out candy to kids and sampled the chocolate. Right before bedtime, some late-comers arrived on our porch; Max pushed open the front door, growled and scared the heck out of them. Max is getting very good at tricks.

It was an excellent Halloween. What did your kids dress up as or do?

14 comments:

  1. As usual, I love your descriptive narration...esp. "Crayongate" and "Peeping Mom." Awesome. Our Halloween was similarly filled with, um, unique little "anecdotes" that only moms like us can appreciate. ;-)

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  2. This takes me back to when my kids were little. Billy dressed up like an old woman and his sister like an old man. Brother Tom went along for protection, still latching on to the candy. At one home, the man of the house saw Tom and said "Look at the feet on that kid!" Tom's last Halloween.

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  3. We only got 9 kids on our door last night; one was a little kid of about 6 who insulted the mini bags of popcorn we were handing out and the rest were teenagers who didn't care what we gave them.

    I wish your kids could have come on our door; I would have gushed over them for sure! Do you think Max will go as Harold and the Purple Crayon next year? :)

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  4. I giggled my way through your post. Tricky (get it???) little guy, that Max.

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  5. Your kids are SO cute!

    My 2 1/2 year old, Niko, went as a train conductor/engineer in a white shirt and striped overalls (an outfit he can wear year round because we are cheap. I mean thrifty.). He also had a cap but he mostly refused to wear it.

    I was disappointed that so few of our neighbors were home/answering their doors and don't know if they simply weren't home from work yet or what... but some of them had brilliantly decorated houses and no candy which feels like a cheat. Like you, I snuck peeks into a lot of homes. There are some BEAUTIFUL vintage bungalows in our area, many of them apparently complete with original built ins and stained glass. Niko tried to invite himself into every. single. house.

    We didn't get MUCH candy but 2 year olds don't need much candy anyway so that's alright. Although he keeps asking when he can go trick or treating again. I mean, how great is this deal? Just walk around a little bit, see a bunch of other kids, and get candy and pennies while people tell you how cute are you. Let's do this every day!

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  6. Emma went out as Rapunzel, as in Tangled. She is into that right now. Emma always seems to prefer getting dressed up to go nowhere. She has never really fancied the going door to door for the candy part.

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  7. sounds like a great time! i am also a peeping mom, so i actually cleaned up my foyer and the living room, which you can see from the front door so i would be sure to "impress" any other like-minded folks.

    bonus today - clean house! at least the front half, anyway.

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  8. lol! I totally used the excuse of sharing our Halloween costumes to peep inside neighbors' houses... well, and meet new neighbors and field comments about how freaking adorable my kids are and, of course, grub for candy that clearly the children aren't going to eat!

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  9. Superman and a Little Devil, only our night has been put off until next weekend due to bad weather. That's good because I think I can get the night off.

    Looks like you had some fun!

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  10. I was the proud parent of a $5 yardsale dinosaur. Hubby took him trick or treating while I mom-ed the candy bowl on the front porch. I had the "fun" of explaining that we don't have candy for breakfast the next morning, though. I hope Max and Sabrina didn't try to pull that one on you!

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  11. Heard all about Crayongate directly from Harold-Sam. H-S is busy with purple duct tape... Give us a week or so... So thrilled Max could hold the crayon creation!

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  12. I think Max needs a giant purple crayon of his own. :)

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  13. sounds like you had a blast well MAx did

    great job Max holding that crayon!!!

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Thanks for sharing!