Octoberfest

Harrison's 13th week marked the beginning of the Halloween festivities and all things pumpkin. As usual, we don't do much halfway and sign up for every activity we can possibly imagine to enrich our boy's seasonal experiences. 

 First off is the annual Pumpkin Patch visit with our besties the Mitchell's and the Fisher's. All of these babies were thrown up on the hay stack with their best October appliqued t-shirts. Everyone is looking in the same direction and happy. The two tiniest ones of the group remained tucked happily in their Ergos and Bjorns because it was frankly just too big of a pain to get them out of there to put on top of the hay stack. But they were also in their finest pumpkin attire.

What is a pumpkin patch without bouncy houses and slides?  The boys were in heaven climbing and sliding and jumping.  It was way too hot for an October afternoon, but they never seem to notice or pull up a sleeve no matter how wet the tips of their hair get.

Next up for a day on the farm is pony rides of course.

                                  
Tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch. Spencer didn't want to sit with us at all. We thought that he was just really wanting to spend some quality time with his Godparents, however, it seems that he was just enamored with the tractor.  Tractors are the closest thing to trains in his life, albeit a distant second.    

                                               
 On the way to the patch, you have the plan that the five of us would walk around and find the perfect carving pumpkin together. Not so much. I sometimes forget that I am not a boy. There are what seems like miles of open field and hay and big orange pumpkins that can be kicked, thrown, tossed,  and chased, and numerous Jack O' Lanterns imagined. So, you divide and conquer. Joey ran with Alden who began dutifully searching for the perfect pumpkin and poking a few ant hills along the way.
                                                
Mommy ran with Spencer, Harrison, diaper bag, and camera.  Spencer was determined to run across the wire into the neighboring field. He really was not all about finding a pumpkin at all. I could only coax him back into the patch with the pumpkins when I told him that the other field was where the Troublesome Trucks went and he had to run the other way (for all the Thomas the Train aficionados out there this makes sense to you).

Loving all the pumpkins.  This was the one he picked out. It was cast away in all of his excitement somewhere amongst the rest, but it was his little pick nonetheless.
                                                  
The chosen one. The first pumpkin of Halloween.

 Little boy joy: A giant haystack.

 And that is my Alden. Wide open, never a foot on solid ground.

Precious one slept through the whole thing. He doesn't even know he was there. 

The two things we always bring home are a pumpkin and hay allergies. Let the sneezes begin!     

                                                

Alden had me decorate the entire house. He came up with the idea that he wanted to have a monster party, so I acquiesced.  He is also a lover of decorations, and I love my boy, so once again and spent a days hanging spider webs, orange lights, monster eyes, Halloween banners, etc. all over the house and planning a party via endless Pinterest. It is amazing what I will do to see them so excited. And this is the beginning of the end of Halloween photos.  There is at our house a Halloween Curse. Since our little baby Alden was born he has never had a Halloween where he did not pick up a trick or treat virus. We have a Halloween party each year, and he has never attended. The curse continued. The morning of the party he wakes up with fever, headache, and his throat hurts. Off to the doctor we go to verify what we all know is true: he is missing his monster party. Have you any idea how excited he was about his monster party?  Broken-hearted we were. So, we tried to buy his happiness. I went to get him Halloween cookies, and a monster stuffed animal, and even a new three-headed monster play mobile for his quarantine. We were going to have his grandparents come get him and all his loot and let him have a special one-on-one movie night, but he felt too bad to go and asked to stay home. So, true to tradition Daddy dutifully stayed upstairs with the kid and the virus and Spencer, Harrison, and Mommy had a party. Needless to say, I became a little overwhelmed amongst the chaos and the camera stayed put on the counter.  Alden watched a bunch of Netflix and the party was super fun. No worries, we were having a big Halloween dinner party at our house on Halloween night. Monster party part 2.

Luckily, Alden was well and ready to go to our annual pumpkin carving, movie night, buffet dinner at the club. He invited his favorite friend to come with him. We are all dressed up in our orange and brown and right there on time when, are you shocked, chaos unfolds. Daddy had put Spencer in the car without shoes. Home they go to get shoes and stay I do with friend and her parents and the two other children. It started at 6:00 and we are there at 6:04 and there are no places to sit. Since I paid for a table, I uncharacteristically get fired up and hunt down the person in charge and tell them they need more seats and to please set them up. I abhor confrontation, but this made me very proud of me for speaking up. I was a little tired of Halloween already. The fun continued when Harrison started screaming and blew out a diaper. Alden picks out his pumpkin and his template and about ten cutting tools, baby is crying, poo is obvious, no place to sit, and Joey off to get shoes. Bless our friends who watch Alden while I change Harrison's diaper in the bathroom and then hold screaming Harrison while I attempt to carve a pumpkin. Spencer and Joey appear and this does not help matters as Spencer wanders off, Alden looses interest and wanders off, Harrison is still not happy, and our friend's pumpkin is long carved. Boys in all directions, baby screaming, Mommy still carving.

I don't remember why, but I do know that Spencer is in time out. Over-looking the best view in the city. I was somehow able to bounce Harrison to sleep while fixing Alden's plate in the buffet line with the other hand so that we actually sat down to a semi-peaceful meal at the table I fought so hard to get.

 Like the hot weather, they notice not the chaos. Our friends promise they will actually go out in public with us again, although we haven't had time to test that theory yet, and we have an oddly carved pumpkin that looks great to a 2 year old and a 4 year old. Strange how we measure success.

But any night that ends in a hug like this is certainly that success. 

                                            

Still well and happy to be back in the Halloween spirit, the boys gear up for Community Helper Day at School . This was second most important thing of his Halloween to Alden, and I couldn't bear the thought of him missing something else. Alden was all geared to go in his doctor's outfit (the one that cost and arm and a leg and so he had to promise me was for both this day and Halloween) and I assumed, I mean who wouldn't, that Spencer would want to go as a train conductor. He refused to be anything but a train for Halloween nor is anything in his life not to do with trains. I ordered him the little striped Osh Kosh overalls and had my cap and bandana ready to go. He wakes up and tells me he wants to be a fireman. You don't want to be a train conductor?

 Nope. I am shocked but just go with it.  Good news is that the fireman outfit was packed up in the dress up box from last year, so off my fireman and doctor went to school.

 This is what came home. I should have known. I just should have known. When I picked him up he was laying on the floor of his classroom. His teacher told me that he "had a big day," but it didn't add up. When he cried entering the house, I was pretty convinced. About ten minutes later, I had taken two more kid's temperature. Baby #2 at 104. Baby #3 at 99.5. This is when I am blessed beyond belief to have a husband whose job is flexible. Daddy to the rescue to help me carry them all up to the doctor. There are about nine hundred sick people there and I am not happy to have my newborn there. Luckily, he started fussing enough that I got to take him to a private room to eat leaving Daddy with 104 and the brother who infected him. Everyone determined to have a sore throat virus and sent home for humidifiers and tylenol and a prayer that Baby Harry escaped a climbing fever. We had no choice but to cancel monster party #2. Alden's Halloween curse continues. Mommy and Daddy are bummed out.

                                                

And so we start week 14. Halloween night. Harrison's nose and fever at bay, and Spencer's fever only slight, we decided that we could go to the yearly Trick or Treating at Daddy's office. It is quite an exercise for Mommy to get all three kiddos up from naps and in costumes and in the car and diapered and pottied, and into an office building, but it is important to all four of my boys, and like decorations, I ask how high and jump right in.

 Mickey Mouse.

Wilson the Chugger.

And our doctor.

I sometimes bypass the little tidbits I am supposed to pass on to our children. Like, how to Trick or Treat. Spencer assumed, or his sugar addiction demanded, that he should just continue to take candy out of baskets and hands and buckets until the person moved away or told him to stop. Who is going to tell this little choo-choo to stop? He would have robbed them blind if we had let him. 

Once again, he was there and never knew it.

Two floors, a lot of loot, and a happy little family. 

 Oh, we are finally here. Halloween night. Do we or don't we take slightly still ill Spencer? Do we or don't we take stuffy nose baby? Plus, it was definitely becoming more and more apparent that it was Mommy's turn to share in the family virus. Baby doesn't care. Spencer does. We make a plan: Take Spencer and not let him breathe on people, not risk taking the baby in the cold night air, pick five houses. They were bathed, in pajamas under costumes, we already had enough candy to last them two years, and this was to be short and sweet. We enlisted the grandparents and bribed them with some take-out food to come over and answer our door and watch Baby Harrison for our 20 minute up the street trip. Of course, do my plans every really work out? The answer is no. Our over-the-fence-only-next-door-neighbor little friend and his family just happened to be right in front of our house when we left. So, Alden had to follow them. House, after house, after house. Hill after hill after hill we climbed until I finally found a way to say it was enough. I had to carry poor little Spencer the last leg of the journey. I do have to admit it was fun though.

Farewell Halloween 2012. You brought us a lot of mess. You brought us a lot of gross germs. You brought sugar into a house that does not need any more hyperactivity. And yet, we still love you. You put big smiles on the faces of our little men, you gave us an excuse to spend time with friends,  and left us with some pretty swell memories in the long run. And one or two cute photos...