Halloween

Oh Halloween! With a toddler, you never know what you're going to get. We had already tried the orangutan outfit on Preston once for Dylan's costume parade at school. He wasn't happy about it so I kept him home since I was still sick at that point. Marcos just took Dylan, which was fun for both of them! So on Saturday, I knew it was going to be a struggle, but I did not anticipate the tragic battle that took place. Preston did not want to dress up! I already had to convince Marcos to put on a hat with his normal clothes and go as a safari guy and now I stood face to face with an angry toddler who wanted nothing to do with his costume. We were running late for our ward's trunk or treat and had a million things to do since we were leaving right after that to go to my mom's Halloween get together. Preston kept trying to take off the costume. I thought telling him he was a monkey would help, but it didn't. He walked around the house sobbing and yelling, "Mommy, mommy! Help! I stuck the monkey! I no like it!" Poor little guy! I grabbed a back up costume of tools, a hat and a vest so he could be Bob the Builder, but by that point he was mad about everything. "Fine," I thought to myself. "Then I'm not going to rescue you from the monkey costume!" I put on his Little Einsteins DVD and let him hang out in the car to settle him down, hoping he would forget about the costume. Well, it kind of worked. By the time we started the trunk or treat, he wasn't screaming. I bribed him further with glow sticks, which he was quite fond of, and then tried to show him how to trick or treat. A few cars down when he realized people were putting candy in his bucket, he cheered up a bit.

Dylan was just thrilled with Halloween! He disappeared with friends several times and I had to run around looking for my little ninja. He was darling and after he finished trunk or treating, he went back to the car to help Papi hand out candy. He was just so happy and well behaved the whole day. It was a pleasure to have that little ninja with us!

After the trunk or treat, we rushed up to my mom's house for soup bowls and a little party. Grandpa took the kids trick or treating to a few of the neighbors' houses and the parents just hung out at the house. That was nice! Afterward the kids played in the toy room. It was seriously the quietest party we've had for awhile. Kenya was tired and fussy, but all the other kids got along so well. That's the best! It ended up being a nice, relaxing evening hanging out at the Halloween party, which of course meant that Marcos fell asleep in the chair!