We weren’t able to decorate like we normally would for Halloween this year due to the repairs and painting on the outside of our house. We kept reminding the boys of this and letting them know we’d likely only be able to have some pumpkins to carve or decorate and that’d pretty much be it. They seemed to grasp this and were a tad disappointed. Then when all the work was complete a full week before Halloween, they were begging to get the decorations down from the attic. Needless to say, the decorations stayed in the attic and they had to settle for pumpkins. Reasoning with a six and almost four year old about how it’s just too much to do all the decorations and work that goes into it and leave them up for a week and take them right back down wasn’t the easiest task.
In lieu of ALL the decorations, they painted some small pumpkins to put on the porch. This went well until I left the garage to do something else and came back to find Thomas had decided to paint his name on the garage floor with black paint. It’s safe to say the painting fun ended shortly after that.
We hadn’t taken part in too many fall activities, and it seems as though we saved all our energy for the weekend before Halloween and Halloween itself. For a solid week we went back and forth over going to Oxford. Then on Thursday the rapid weather change and rain would mean temperatures with highs in the 50s for the weekend. This only made me try to talk myself out of going even more considering I hadn’t even begun getting out long sleeves and pants, much less coats, and I was pretty sure Thomas may only have one pair of pants that fit him from last season.
We mustered the courage to get together everything we needed for all weather possibilities, which is no small task, and ended up having a fantastic weekend. Friday night we met my parents at the basketball Pavilion for Dunk or Treat. The kids had a good time! It was a frenzy of little people in costumes and candy and a little chaotic. They played games, had hotdogs, popcorn, candy, and Sprite (currently a special treat). Add to that watching the basketball team do some fun drills and games, and you can be assured they had a blast.
Tom also got to show off his skills in the three point contest. While he didn’t make all the shots, the boys thought it was pretty fun to watch their dad out on the court.
Saturday morning it was chilly as the forecast had promised, but it was beautiful and sunny and we were on to the next adventure-Ole Miss Football. We bundled up and enjoyed walking to the stadium. The Rebels haven’t had a particularly good season, so we weren’t expecting a great game. We were just hoping for the boys to enjoy the experience of going to a game this year. It actually turned out to be a really good game, and we stayed until the end. Unfortunately, they lost by one point. This was Arthur’s first time to a football game. He loved it, and just the same as Thomas at this age, fell asleep on my lap sometime during the third quarter.
My parents graciously watched JL while we were at the game. That night they also gave Tom and I a chance to have a date night! We helped bathe and feed everyone before we went to dinner and left them to the reading books, brushing teeth, pjs routine.
Sunday morning we headed home. We arrived just in time for lunch and to get in some naps before heading to our church fall festival later that afternoon. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to document this. While we love these festivals and the community it fosters, most of us are simultaneously trying to keep up with several kids and feed them, eat, and visit with friends. Added to that Tom’s deacon duty usually includes a 30 minute window of supervision at one of the inflatables. While this is certainly only temporary in this phase we’re in, you can come away feeling like you really didn’t spend much quality time with anyone in particular.
Monday the little boys and I spent the day at home regrouping from the weekend and getting costumes and treats ready for the Halloween fun the next day! After dinner it was then or not at all for carving pumpkins. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! When Tom got home, Thomas handed him his “sketch” for how he would like his pumpkin to look. Let’s just say Tom did the best he could to accommodate said drawing.
