Halloween Weekend

Halloween

First, the kids celebrated Halloween at school. They had a parade around the school grounds around 10a, despite the earlier rain, followed by indoor trick-or-treating from classroom to classroom. I had run home earlier to get Maile a change of clothes since she was only wearing a too-small long-sleeved shirt and cropped leggings under her costume. When I arrived back at their school, they were about to start the parade. Beck's class was going to be first since his class is the youngest. Beck actually let me put his pirate hat on him. Leading up to Halloween, he hadn't liked wearing it. I think seeing all the kids in their costumes got him into the spirit.

So the boys wore a mix of costumes -- superheroes, pirates, trains, animals, etc. But the girls for the most part were princesses. Maile was Sleeping Beauty, according to Maile, although her costume was just one of her princess dress-up outfits (thanks, Aunt Anita). Her walking partner for the second year in a row was cute, sweet Eva, who was dressed up as Ariel from the Little Mermaid.

Maile's class was last in the parade since it's the "Kindergarten" class. So, I was busy running back and forth during the parade to cheer them both on and take photos.

The trick-or-treating was a little chaotic since they did it in the dark, and there were a lot of kids, teachers, and parents trying to manuever around 6 classrooms. Good thing I was there to help Beck, and it was a good prep for the night's trick-or-treating.

When I picked the kids up from school, Maile's class was outside playing. She came running up to me in her undersized shirt and tight, cropped leggings. So much for running home to get her a change of clothes.

As I was putting Beck into his carseat, he said something about trick-or-treat, so I figured he'd be really excited about trick-or-treating that night.

We went to my cousin Eric's house for a dinner party and trick-or-treating. While the kids ate dinner, I was busy sewing Maile's two pieces of her costume together, so the skirt wouldn't slide down. As the parents and the kids rallyed to head out, Beck was playing with Russell's trains. After asking him a few times if he wanted to go, I ended up staying back with him. Admittedly, I did not mind as I was already kind of Halloweened out by the earlier school activities.

The trick-or-treaters were back after 1/2 hr and even hit a haunted house. After we left my cousin's, we headed over to University Ave in Los Altos. My cousin Richard had hosted a Halloween get together at their old house the previous year. That year Hansel also took Maile trick-or-treating while I stayed back with Beck. It was the best trick-or-treating experience Hansel had ever had. Maile had enjoyed it, too. Since the beginning of October, Hansel had been talking about going back to University Ave for trick-or-treating. He got his wish. All four of us went to about four houses along University. By then, it was past 8 and the only trick-or-treaters were junior high and high schoolers. They weren't shy about reaching over Maile and Beck to get treats.

We put the kids to sleep around 9:00 vs 8:30. Needless to say, they did not fall asleep right away. We could hear them talking and singing. So after about 50 minutes, I said we should separate the kids. I put Maile to sleep downstairs, and both kids were asleep within a few minutes.

Mia's Birthday Party at My Gym

Sunday, November 2, was the day of Mia's 4th birthday party. That morning Beck woke up really lethargic. His body was warm but his head seemed normal. We had a leisurely morning and Beck was eating but eating slowly (which is normal esp since we let them watch preschool cartoons while they eat). AFter breakfast, Beck just wanted to lay in my arms or Hansel's arms, which is unusual.

As Hansel was putting Beck in his chair for lunch, Hansel said "I hope he doesn't get sick." I then heard a burb sound come from Beck, and I said "What was that?!?" I ran over to his chair just in time to see him throw up onto his tray. Poor guy. I helped to get Beck all cleaned up while Maile ate her lunch. She commented that it smelled, but she didn't lose her appetite.

We picked up Christy and Marcus and then met up with Leilani in Mt View. I suggested to Leilani that they drive separately because, although Maile was fine, I was fearful she might show symptoms later and I wouldn't want everyone to have to leave early if we had to suddenly leave. Thankfully, Maile didn't come down with anything and, as you can see below, spinning around on a hanging bar didn't even get her sick.

Mia's party was a lot of fun, and it was great to be able to talk to people and not have to constantly keep an eye on Maile. This My Gym wasn't the biggest, but it had a lot of great, fun equipment. But Maile's favorite was...the ball pit, of course.

P.S. Beck was fine after his throw up. We gave him some fever reducer, he took a long nap, and he was pretty much back to his old self.

P.P.S. Maile threw up this Wed morning but was pretty much fine not that long after. What a strange, slow-arriving but quick-going sickness.