Halloween 2003
11:40 p.m. x 2003-10-31
Happy Halloween everyone, even though there's only 20 minutes left. I didn't get a chance to get in here before now.
Work was okay but super busy. There was a lot of last minute stuff that people were getting, and a lot of kids walked out in tears because their parents didn't go for their costumes back when we had them in stock. It was sad but that's what happens when you procrastinate over those things.
I'm already thinking about next year for my kids. I'm thinking about a Wizard of Oz theme. Brittany would make the perfect Dorothy if she leaves her hair alone and quits cutting it. I know I could buy the costume super easy but I think the outfit would be easy to make. I'd need a white blouse (thanks to school uniforms I've got that covered) and I could get the material for the jumper for like $2.50 a yard. Then I'll have to come up with something for the other 2. Kimberley will probably be able to reuse her costume next year because its huge so there's my Lion. TinMan or Scarecrow for Ronald? Its a year away. I'll figure it out.
Anyway, back to this year. I wasn't aware of how trick or treating worked around here. See, I don't technically work in Akron itself so nobody mentioned it to me before. I stopped out at Bob and Ronda's to give the kids these candy things I had made up for kids I actually know and she was talking about not knowing where to take the kids. I knew some of the towns had trick or treating on other nights but I wasn't aware of just how bad it is.
There was trick or treating all the way back to last Sunday in some towns. The city of Akron apparently divides it up. Each neighborhood decides when they're going to do it, if they're going to do it at all. Apparently, my neighborhood doesn't do it at all.
I had to drive to Goodyear Heights (a fancy name for the neighbrhood behind Goodyear) so the kids could trick or treat, and I wasn't even sure they'd get to do that much.
Ron went with me so before that, we called the police department. The cop said to call the Beacon Journal because they had a list. The woman at the Beacon Journal told us to call the police department and ask them. I ended up asking my neighbor, Beverly, if there was anything in Akron tonight. She said that they don't trick or treat generally and that people just go to Halloween parties at community centers and stuff. So we go to the community center and there's a cop doing speed checks in the parking lot and he said that Goodyear Heights was handing out candy.
There weren't a whole lot of houses handing it out but we managed to hit about 20. Apparently, the neighborhood association hadn't handed out a flyer this year so people were just winging it and hoping kids would show up. Thanks to the lack of flyers, not a lot of them did so that meant more candy for my munchkins. Grandma Marsha had bought them treat bags that were really average sized gift bags. (She said they looked sturdier. Little did she know, the handles all ripped by about the 5th house.) Anyway, the bags were almost full.
Kimberley told everyone trick or treat but she's got stranger anxiety so she told most people before she got close enough for them to hear her. She said her thank-you's too. I had to tell Ronald "Its as important to say thank you as it is to say trick or treat. These people don't have to sit outside and hand out candy. They're doing it to be nice to you so be sure to tell them thank you." because he wasn't saying it much at first. After that, he started saying it and Brittany said thank you three times at each house. She said she was saying it for all three kids.
After we went trick or treating, we went back to Bob and Ronda's to set of fireworks. They live out in the country and there's only three houses on the street, all surrounded by this big field and there's a highway across from the field. The best firecracker got a trucker on the highway to honk at us so Jamie reached in Ronda's car and honked back and everyone yelled Happy Halloween. I guess you had to be there but it was kind of cool.
The weather was totally awesome. It's one minute before midnight and my heat hasn't kicked in since I've been home but the thermometer on the thermostat says 76. I've always been a Northern Midwestern girl and I still am.. not to mention how close I am to Lake Erie now. I never expected in a million years that my kids would ever go trick or treating in shorts. (Not that you could tell with the girls but you'll see what I mean in a minute.)
One last thought. As I was sitting here typing, I heard this thing on the tv. We all check our candy for our kids to be sure they won't be poisoned or something. Most of that comes from the time when someone put razor blades in some candy and some kids were poisoned. It said none of the kids really died from the razor blades like everyone thinks, and as for the poison, some kids did die. It wasn't from candy from strangers though. It was from their own family.
Here's a picture of all three kids standing up so you can get a good look at their costumes.
Here's a picture of Kimberley. I took two but she wasn't smiling in the other one. This is a picture that is going to eventually go on my wall. Look at the smile on my little lion cub!
Here's Patrick, err.. Brittany. She went as Patrick Star from Sponge Bob. She's a doll in this picture. Makes me want to wake her up and givre her squeezy hugs but I'm not that stupid. She'll never go back to sleep.
Here's my grumpy little Sponge Bob. He fell asleep in the car so I had just woke him up and made him put his costume back on. While I was taking the pic, he was telling me "I'm trying to give my best smile, Mommy, but I'm not in a happy mood right now." (He smiled for the next picture but it wouldn't go because my memory card was full)
