While I was in Kansas City, Wade’s parents took the boys to the pumpkin patch, where they found pre-carved jack-o-lanterns. No muss, no fuss, no knives in the hands of my hyperactive children. Perfect!
Until last week, when I went out to pick up the mail and realized that the big orange jack-o-lantern was now a big BLACK jack-o-lantern. If anything could make it MORE spooky, it was the thick coating of mold that had taken up residence all over the pumpkin.
Gross.
(No there are no pictures. I was too busy strategizing how the get the damned thing into the trash without TOUCHING it, and THEN I was too busy washing my hands fourty million times. Because GROSS.)
Tonight I’m taking the boys trick-or-treating at a small, chichi mall near us. I love the whole idea of indoor trick-or-treat; it’s warm and there are no cars or dogs or houses where people will jump out and scare the holy living hell out of my kids. Just candy, and maybe dinner at the Mexican restaurant afterwards.
Henry is The Flash; Charlie is Mr. Incredible. In case you weren’t sure.
We have been practicing our trick-or-treat routine for a few days; we have reminded the boys not to say “Trick or Treat, smell my feet!” which is a bummer for Charlie, who has REALLY stinky feet. We have also reminded them that they are to say thank you NO MATTER WHAT the treat is. This has confused the kids a bit.
Me: What do you say if the treat is something icky?
Charlie: EEEEEWWW!
Me: No.
Charlie: Sheesh.
Me: No.
Henry: No, thank you.
Me: No.
Henry: But I always say NO THANK YOU when someone offers me something I don’t like.
Me: NO. You say TRICK OR TREAT and then you say . . .
Henry and Charlie: THANK YOU!
Me: And if the treat is icky?
Charlie: Eeeeewww!
Henry: Oooh! We say THANK YOU.
Me: Sheesh.
Happy Halloween!
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I tell my kids not to look at the treat that’s being put in their bags. And if they go to a house where the people actually tell them to PICK one (what the hell is WRONG with those people? Do they want to be standing there until Christmas while my kids CHOOSE their candy??), I tell them to just reach in and grab one, willy-nilly. They grumble, but they do it. Because the consequence if they don’t? Mom get ALL the candy.
I’m so mean.
By Candace on 10.31.06 11:15 am | Permalink
Going over the rules one more time… great, I’ll add that to my to-do list today.
By Jenorama on 10.31.06 12:02 pm | Permalink
Thanks for the reminder. I need to go over rules with the boogie brats too. Cute costumes!
By boogiemum on 10.31.06 1:15 pm | Permalink
they deserve the best of the best treats, looking like that - adorable!
By mad muthas on 10.31.06 1:38 pm | Permalink
Yeah, last year Bryce, always wanting to talk, always wanting to tell everyone all the details about how he feels, was sure to say, “I don’t really like that kind of candy” if he caught a glimpse of something not chocolate. SIGH. Meanwhile, there’s Quinn, who doesn’t like ANY candy, just thrilled with the IDEA of it, jumping around and asking for more. More of what he won’t eat.
Sheesh, indeed.
By Kristen on 10.31.06 1:50 pm | Permalink
Cute costumes! Have fun trick-or-treating!
By SJ on 10.31.06 3:08 pm | Permalink
I have to work tonight, which I was bummed about, but now it’s raining, so that lessened my disappointment some.
My Lord your kitchen is clean.
By Sheryl on 10.31.06 3:38 pm | Permalink
Adorable. Simply freakin’ adorable.
By Chilihead2 on 10.31.06 4:01 pm | Permalink
I am very happy that your kid is the Flash.
My kids are too busy yelling and looking in people’s houses to notice what they get…they are usually on such a frothy sugar rush by then they can barely see straight.
We will be freezing our butts of in the -2 to -5 weather tonight.
By Crunchy Carpets on 10.31.06 4:33 pm | Permalink
That happened to our pumpkins last year. GROSS.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!
By Jonathon on 10.31.06 4:42 pm | Permalink
Black jack-o-lantern — gross.
The boys’ costumes — fantastic! So cute. And super-powery.
By Kelly on 10.31.06 5:11 pm | Permalink
Mine is hopefully (I think) past the stage where she tries to walk into everyone’s house after she says trick or treat. Maybe a mall is the way to go for us.
Black mold, huh? Last time I had a moldy pumpkin it went blue. I wonder why.
By Kelli in the Mirror on 10.31.06 5:59 pm | Permalink
I did a Susan-Candace Hallowe’en prep combo when my kids were little: Say Thank You, no matter what, or mom gets ALL your candy.
I’m so mean. (But my kids are polite!! At least when I’m around…)
By Mary P. on 10.31.06 6:05 pm | Permalink
I love the way your boys put their arms around each other for pictures. It’s so almost grown up! It also makes me think they might be close as adults. I hope that’s not a stretch.
By educat on 10.31.06 6:40 pm | Permalink
Woohoo! It’s now NOVEMBER which means you have to post EVERY single day!! And wow, am I SO VERY excited about that!! =)
Still loving your writing. Obviously!
By Liz on 11.01.06 5:52 am | Permalink
Charlie is almost the same age as my Drew. He was also Mr. Incredible but Drew doesnt seem nearly as tall as Charlie. Is he very tall? I love seeing your pictures and hearing about your boys. They are so similar to mine. Thank you for making me laugh every day!
By Rebecca on 11.01.06 2:12 pm | Permalink
My 11 year old came out with a very polite “no thank you, I don’t care for them” at the grocer last night.
I told her it would have been better to say thank you and put it in her sack rather than hurt someone’s feelings.
So was I teaching her dishonesty? Maybe but I didn’t tell her to jump up and down and say it was her favorite candy ever. A quiet thank you was enough.
Besides, it was a 3 Musketeers, I knew she didn’t like them, and I knew I’d grab it as soon as we were safely out of sight.
By Granny on 11.01.06 3:18 pm | Permalink
Ann, my kids also dislike the things I like the most. Tootsie Rolls, for example. Mmmm . . .
Rebecca, Charlie is pretty tall for his age; he and Henry are both in the 75th percentile for height (I’m saying it that way because I don’t know how many inches either of them is, not because I’m obsessed with the percentiles. So you know). But their daddy is 6′4″, so they’re pretty much just freaks.
But cute freaks!
By Susan on 11.01.06 3:43 pm | Permalink
Ha, I love this story. So…how did they do? Any social gaffes?
By Mom101 on 11.01.06 4:19 pm | Permalink
They were fantastic. In fact, when I told them that they could say TRICK OR TREAT SMELL MY FEET to my mother-in-law, they were shocked. “But MOMMY, that’s not NICE!”
Sheesh.
By Susan on 11.01.06 4:28 pm | Permalink
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