Halloween

Yes, I am aware that Halloween was a few weeks ago already.  I guess it is better late than never.  No, we have not obtained another child, the wet lady in black is a neighborhood friend of Taylor and Liv's. This year it was more difficult than others to get things together.  As it turned out, this semester was so much busier and faster and somehow more stressful than all the others.  So Jon found some costumes for Ava and Wes, and Taylor finally fit into the costume that Livi wore the last couple years.   Livi went with a theme we have been toying with all year, Harry Potter.  She made an adorable Harry Potter... She made it very clear that she didn't want to be Ginny or Hermione, she wanted to be Harry. So Wes was Mike from Monsters University, Ava was Tinker Bell, and Taylor was a dinosaur/dragon.

Halloween happened to be on a day that I had clinical, and it happened to be pouring rain, all day... So I get home from clinical and there is a literal monsoon outside.  Naturally, I know that Taylor and Liv should be picked up from school, but I also know that Wes' center was closed after school and on his way home.  So I think, as I often do, I can super mom this and run to school, pick up A&T and be home before Wes got here.  Well, no, of course he arrived, probably a minute after I left.

Of course the wonderful person who helps us by giving Wes a ride home from school, also has children... fighting to get home in this monsoon...  So this is how we start halloween.  Wet and frustrated :(

So we get in the house and I try to get the kids to finish up homework... reading...  gather all the costume supplies.  Get them dressed for the weather under their costumes.
So with three kids running around like crazy, I am looking out side and I just see rain.  At 4, ten minutes or so after we got home, I turn on the porch lights for trick or treaters.  Usually we have a couple of little kids right away.  So it made me realize that there was a real issue with all this rain.  So, I called Jon and we decided that we needed to stop and pick up umbrellas... for everyone.  Jon picked up Ava and headed to the store.  In the meantime, I was getting the other three costumed up.  Taylor and Alivya were pretty easy.  Wes was fairly cooperative at first.  He put everything on and was running around and jumping and being silly.  Then suddenly he wanted the eye off.  He was getting really frustrated and started screaming at me and then tears.  Everything ends in tears.... eventually.

The worst part is that I usually don't even know why we are having tears.  So I was trying to calm him down, and it occurred to me the irony of it all. So I took a picture.  And, as this is Wes, the camera comes out and the tears stopped.  So now we are all good again.  Just about then Jon and Ava arrived and it was time to get TinkerBell ready.
So eventually we did get everyone costumed and umbrella ladened.  And we hit the road.  Oh it was WET! So Taylor and Liv did well managing their umbrella and their baskets. Wes had no interest in carrying a bag or basket, he was all about the umbrella.  Wes wasn't even too into actual trick or treating.  I think he just loved walking down the street in the rain and playing with the umbrella.  Ava was having a really hard time managing the umbrella and the basket.  She kept bumping into me and every time her umbrella hit me a huge puddle of rain fell on me. I was soaked when we got home.  Eventually, I ended up holding the umbrella over her head.

After about an hour we had made our way around the small block by our house.  And I was soaked and exhausted... hungry.  So I took Ava and Wes home while Jon took Tay and Liv around a little more.  So while it was relatively warm this year, it was just a really wet Halloween.  Lots of candy was collected (and eaten :( and everyone had at least a little fun too!