c spot: happy halloween morning

i had forgotten why i never ask chad to help with the pumpkin carving.

last year...i put him on research duty...finding the best pumpkin face ideas.

you know? it's kinda kin to the thanksgiving job of "putting ice in the classes" or "watching the rolls."

you make them feel important...but you don't put them in charge of anything they can screw up.

this year...i made the mistake of asking him to clean the pumpkin out and get it ready for us to carve it while i showed the kids how to make their spider craft. i thought they would like having something to do while we were cleaning it out. they usually get bored with that and disappear and then i'm all yelling from the table with my hands stuck in goop...

"HEEEEEEEYYYYYY? WHERE DID EVERYBODY GO??? WHY AM I DOING THIS MYSELF??? THIS ISN'T FUN!!!! COME IN HERE AND ENJOY THIS TRADITIONAL HALLOWEEN EXPERIENCE!!!!"

alas...i think i enjoy all of the traditional holiday activities way more than the kids do. and certainly more than chad. he all but tolerates them. sometimes...i actually have to physically force him to stay in the room. i mean...i don't tie him to a chair or anything.

last night i kept calling for him and he was going back and forth between the kitchen table and the clogged bathroom drain upstairs. i think he liked having a legit reason to flee the premises.

however...he did "start" the cleaning out process. how could that go wrong?

i'll tell you how.

have you ever seen such a small, clean-out hole? it was big enough for annslee to get her little fist in there...but that was about it.

"now what," i asked?

at least this kids were still at the table.

colton said, "i got this."

and alas (that's the second time i've used that word) the pumpkin clean out torch was passed to the eldest child.

in order to truly complete the process to my standards...i had to cut a hole out of the bottom and finish. and i must add...that was chad's idea. so he redeemed himself. because do you know what? you can now set that thing right on top of a candle! that's what!! genius...my husband.

aiden had made this dessert with granna on saturday and we saved it for the perfect night.

while we ate...each kid was responsible for one part of our jack-o-lantern's face. aiden drew one eye...and she took much care doing so.

colt drew the mouth.

annslee drew the nose.

and chase was supposed to draw the other eye. he didn't want to do it. i told him that if he didn't draw it...our pumpkin would be one eye short.

he found me a solution.

nice.

yesterday was my pre-school class' party. the kids dressed up.

this was my raggedy ann costume that my mom made for me when i was little. my brother was raggedy andy. i remember having a busted lip that year because my dad tripped me to keep me from scoring a "touchdown" in the living room while we waited for mom to finish getting ready for my soccer halloween party. if i made it to the love-seat (that happened to have a wooden frame) i won a point. well...i got a little too close and my dad yanked my leg out from under me and i went down like a ton of bricks and whacked my mouth on the wood part of the couch. i started screaming and he carried me into the kitchen and put ice over my mouth and kept telling me to stop screaming because mom was gonna go berserk. i went and told mom on him, of course. she was going as a hobo...and i remember her telling me that my fat lip would go really well with her costume.

and then at my halloween, soccer party...guess who couldn't bob for apples?

raggedy ann. that's who.

luckily...yesterday, annslee's lips were fine.

chapped. but fine.

we're creeping.

well...we're not gonna use that spoon in the sprinkles any longer...

last night, as i was getting settled into bed...i remembered that i hadn't washed the darks since sunday when the girls wore their orange and black halloween outfits. that translated into staying up until midnight...folding laundry...and waiting for the load of darks to wash and dry.

sister got to wear her shirt and tights today.