Happy Fall-o-ween!

For those of you who know us well, you know that Halloween is one of those 'holidays' that if given the choice to 'take it or leave it,' we'd probably leave it. I won't get into all the whys. We celebrated it as kids and dressed up and knocked on the doors of neighbors and took candy from people and were told not to eat the apples and don't stay out too late and watch for cars and stay together...and we turned out reasonably well. I mean, Halloween didn't cause any issues for us and we were not scared or scarred for life. Yep, it was all pretty innocent back then.

But as a parent, you wonder if you should let your kids dress up, and if they do, should it be scary or cute, do you trick-or-treat or trunk-or-treat or do you stay home with all the lights off and watch a movie and be really quiet when all the costumed little buggers come-a-knockin' at your door wanting sweets or do you go to a church-sponsored activity that serves as an alternative???? Wait...did I just say be quiet? Hahahaha. Okay, that's not a viable option for our family. Maybe for yours.

To be honest, this is an issue I revisit every year. What are we going to do? Do the kids even want to dress up? Can't we just skip the pumpkins and move on to the turkey? So this year, I decided not to stress. To just take it all in stride and hope that I am not screwing up my kids, that one day when they are lying on the couch of some highly educated, well-meaning, I'm sure, psychiatrist, psychologist, counselor, etc., to trust that they won't be saying, "...and my mom would/wouldn't let me be a superhero, ballerina, vampire...and I...didn't get to have candy or I had a horrible stomachache and false teeth by the time I started junior high... You get the point. They will no doubt have many more important things to discuss. I'm sure of it. I understand that there are those who believe we shouldn't even be celebrating such a 'holiday' in the first place and those on the other side that say, "just let 'em be kids for goodness' sake!"

With all that being said, I'd just like to give a shout out to Judith and a big "thank you" to everyone at Northshore Church who organized a Fall Festival and gave our kids a chance to dress up if they wanted to, have candy, play games, and overall enjoy a fun, safe time with their friends. THANK YOU!

And the winner is.....RYAN VICTORY!

Ryan won the costume contest for the youth. It's a little hard to see at this angle. He was a baby riding on Granny's back, complete with old lady stockings and shoes. We went shopping at Good Will and found this lovely floral number that as an unexpected bonus even smelled old. No wonder he won!

And here's EMILY!

She was a puppy. The sign says "FREE to good home." She definitely would have won for cute and original. This was a perfect costume for her because she still loves dogs and horses. Besides, a box full of horses would have been heavy and just plain odd.

And here's Wyatt. His expression pretty much sums it up. What is he, you ask? A basketball player, of course. (thank goodness he'll be too young to remember he got the un-costume). But he had his face painted. It's a spider. He was SOOOO tired by the time we got there, he ate a hotdog, played a few games and had a meltdown upon departure. A normal night for him.

"Hey, wait! Don't they have 4 kids now? Oh my goodness, maybe they forgot one!" Gimme a break. We didn't forget Elijah. He just got swooped up the minute I walked in the door, and I had to ask for him back when it was time to go. No, he was not in Halloween get-up. But he was still very cute. We don't have a picture from last night because we couldn't keep up with who had him, but here's a recent pic anyway.

YES! He is this happy all the time. Elijah is almost seven months old now. He has decided in the past two weeks to grow up all at once. He has two teeth now on the bottom and doesn't mind showing you that he is learning how to use them. He is sitting up almost unassisted (you actually have to be left alone to practice this skill, and somebody is almost always holding him). He will nearly rip your arm off to get to his bottle which he has decided to hold by himself; he's ninja-like. Oh yeah, and he's saying, "Dada." Whatever. He is rocking on his hands and knees as if his life depended on his getting somewhere...and fast. But since he's the last addition to this Victory clan, I smile and gently push him over and say, "Not yet." I know I can't stop him forever, but perhaps I can postpone his mobility and the subsequent insanity that I know will ensue once he starts crawling. I know what you're thinking. One day when he joins the others in the supine position on "the couch" (because he hasn't learned to sit up yet) he'll be saying, "...and she kept pushing me over and saying, "Not yet." It was really embarrassing when I had friends over..." Oh well, a mom just can't win. As my friend Kirsten always says, in lieu of a college fund, we are saving for therapy.