Early Halloween!

Hello!  I'm sooooo done with work right now...and so excited about Halloween!  This has been an intense week work-wise--my work week actually ended today, Saturday, at noon thanks to Parents' Weekend.  It was fine, just made for a long, exhausting week after a long, exhausting season.  And I was bummed because I missed the boys' Halloween party at their Music Together class.  Everyone went in costume.  They had to make "pumpkin shakers" (noise makers) for the class, and Natalie had the fun of doing it with them.  I feel like a bad mother.  :-(

Anyway, both my parents went with Carlos to the class, and my mom took photos.  They are blurry, but they are all I have.

Apparently they were good today.  Sebastian was fascinated with the witch's hat the woman in the background of this picture has on.  She was nice enough to let him try it on, but Carlos told me that Sebastian didn't like it so much when it was on his head.  So, he gave it back to the lady.  They were fascinated with the devil tails that my mother made for them--they loved swinging them around and dragging them on the floor behind them.  I thought the tails would be a hit, and I was right!

They get to use the costumes twice more, which is great.  We'll go trick or treating tomorrow at Derby St. Shoppes and then again on Halloween.

This past Thursday, they also got into costume to take a nighttime adventure to the Roger William's Zoo Pumpkin Spectacular.  http://rwpzoo.org/178/jack-o-lantern-spectacular.

It was so darn crowded that we barely got to see the pumpkins.  I don't deal well with crowds, either.  I HATE being surrounded by people.  But it was still a cool experience.  Carlos had a party for work to attend, so my mom and I took the boys.  We gave them dinner early, bathed them, put them in their PJs, and, then put their costume over the PJs.  We got there right when it opened at 6pm, which was apparently our mistake.  We talked to a security guard who told us the secret is to get there at 8pm.  Would have been way too late for the boys this year, but good to know for future reference!

Anyway, the display was pretty amazing. Thousands of pumpkins carved so intricately...and there was music and fog.  It was festive.  I didn't get any pictures of the pumpkins so I borrowed this one from the zoo's website.

I've been practicing the concept of trick or treat with the boys.  I have given them some Reese's Pieces after dinner, but they have to say "trick or treat" for every piece of candy.  It's like training a dog!!  But now they associate the phrase with candy, which they love.  Sebastian actually says "tic o tic o teet" or something like that.  Adrian comes close, but it's not replicable!

If these boys are anything like me at all, they are going to LOVE Halloween as they get older and understand it more.