Harry Potter and the Little Pumpkin

I survived! I survived Conall's intense excitement over Saturday being Halloween -- complete with the up-before-dawn waking and his total fascination with Harry Potter and using "spells" on me.
After the Accelerated Reading Day at school on Friday, Conall's poor T-Rex costume was left to hang in the closet. I think this may be the last year I buy his costume early. So, we ended up with a pumpkin and Harry Potter.

Jana, Tristan and Logan drove down from Conway to Trick-or-Treat with us. Due to a peanut allergy, this is the first year that Tristan has been Trick-or-Treating. I think he may actually have been almost as wound up as Conall. Maybe.

Tristan, Conall, Logan, and Caitlin

Kanton, August and their parents also came over to go Trick-or-Treating, as well as Aunt Amy. Unfortunately, daddy ended up with a migraine from his sinus troubles and didn't get to go with us -- and he was all dressed up!

Stu and August in their skeleton costumes

Before we even left the yard, Conall had lost his wand in the leaves. I found it later in the bathroom, which makes me think it had been there all along. Then, Caitlin fell down and broke her kitty cat Halloween flashlight (Stu thinks a new bulb may fix it).

We had a nice size Trick-or-Treating group, but once again, Caitlin was the only girl. This may have worked to her advantage, because many of the people whose houses we visited gave her twice the candy as the boys. One older lady gave the boys their candy, and as Caitlin went to get hers, she said "Here you go, honey. You can have extra because you are so cute."

 Trick-or-Treating

Caitlin has gotten to the age where she is too old for the stroller, but the hills in the neighborhood are still a bit much for her. Caitlin, Aunt Amy, and I tagged along behind everyone else. Caitlin would not let us her carry her and would only let us help with her bag for a few minutes at a time -- she seemed to think we wanted her candy. She kept saying "I coming" to us as we climbed hilly driveways and the boys ran on to the next house. We skipped some houses because Caitlin was so worried about catching up to the boys. She was one determined and stubborn little girl.

At one point, Aunt Amy offered to help Caitlin with her heavy candy bag. Caitlin said "You have candy -- I gave you candy." And, she had -- every time we'd offer to help with her bag, she'd try to give us a package of candy instead. I really think Caitlin thought we were trying to take her candy.

At another house a lady told Caitlin "Look at that Jack-O-Lantern. You make such a cute Jack-O-Lantern." Caitlin "Uh-huh, I a pumpkin".

A lady at one house was handing out fliers about her missing cat. Poor lady, the cat has been missing for 5 months. It was a black and white tuxedo like Derby, so the kids were pretty interested. The lady asked Conall if he could make the cat reappear since he was Harry Potter. Conall, exasperated, threw his arms up in the air and said "I lost my wand! I can't!"

I think my favorite part of the whole night was when I asked Caitlin if she'd like me to carry her. She was obviously tired and stumbling. Me --"Caitlin, you look tired, do you want me to carry you?" Caitlin -- "Mommy, I not tired. I fine. I happy. See my happy face?" as she pointed to her face and her big grin.

Aunt Amy, Caitlin, and I were the last to make it back home. I had Conall's treat bag because he actually was tired and asked me to carry it. He ran inside as Amy and I were in the yard making sure Caitlin didn't fall down on her way to the door. We had put the candy container out on the porch before we left, since Stu wasn't feeling well. When we got up to our door, Caitlin stopped to Trick-or-Treat from our candy!

Conall was so frustrated with Caitlin because I had his candy bag. Caitlin was determined to put that candy in her bag even though Amy and I kept trying to tell her that she was home and could have whatever she wanted once we got inside. Caitlin was so tired that we weren't sure if she knew we were home -- she was just doing what she thought she was supposed to do!

The kids had a blast and slept well. Conall fell asleep while I was reading Harry Potter to him. Caitlin snuggled down into all of her bunnies and went to sleep. Can you believe this is the first year that neither one of my kids has puked on Halloween? Poor Jana didn't escape it, though, Logan puked in the car on the way home.

Playing with the Percifuls

Jana, Tristan, and Logan came down Friday for the kids to play and to give me a little break. Jana brought breakfast, lunch, and dinner with her for us and for the kids. I also got a short nap in.


The kids played outside in the morning because the weather was so nice. Caitlin and Tristan enjoyed sitting on the glider seat under the Holly tree.

Watching Bob the Builder

Tristan, Logan, and Jana came down to visit Monday. When Conall got out of school, he got to come home to his buddy! They stayed until bedtime and the boys and Caitlin were so worn out!

At one point, they were all watching Bob the Builder. Jana grabbed the camera to get a picture of how cute they were sitting next to each other and how enthralled Logan and Caitlin were.

I Don't Want My Teacher to Get Married

Conall's school district was out Thursday and Friday for an annual teacher's association convention. To top that off, his teacher got married on Friday and informed the class about it on Tuesday.

The teacher left early on Wednesday, which freaked Conall out. He had watched a Clifford the Big Red Dog episode a long time ago in which the teacher tells the class that she is getting married and moving away. Conall put the two together and assumed that was the case for his teacher.

When I picked him up Wednesday he was crying and came running out of the classroom and attached himself to me. Two of the teacher's aides told me how glad they were to see me -- he had been crying on and off since lunchtime, asking for me, and to go home.

It took me the walk to the car and the trip home to figure out what he was so upset about. He kept saying "Why does Ms. Smedley have to get married?" and "I don't want Ms. Smedley to get married." I finally got it out of him.

We spent the next two days and the weekend constantly reassuring him that she was coming back and putting up with a grouchy little boy. If Conall wasn't climbing into our bed in the middle of the night, he was wetting his.

Yesterday morning was the moment of truth! I've never been so happy to hear that his teacher was in! When I picked him up from school, the aide told me that he freaked out anytime the teacher left the room, asking "where is she going?" Isn't that just sooooo Conall?

Anyway, we are all still recovering from having an upset Conall home two extra days ... I've got messes upon messes to clean up around the house. On Thursday, Tristan and Logan came to play. On Friday, we went to a local indoor playground-thing and met a friend and her two daughters there to play. Then, he played with Kanton and August on and off the rest of the weekend. Between entertaining Conall and all of the messes he made playing, my house is a wreck! And Conall's room is beyond imagining. It will take me the rest of the week to get the house anywhere close to where it was.

I do have a couple of photos of Caitlin from yesterday to post, but nothing else. Things were so busy and Conall was so intense that I haven't taken any photos. And, that's not even mentioning the cough that won't go away (mine, from playing in the leaves with the kids a week ago).

Let us Out!

Caitlin's godfather, Matt, and his family came over for a visit Saturday. Matt had a 4 day break before he leaves for Iraq. We were happy and honored that he spent one of his days with us (we all know he just wanted to see Caitlin, ha, ha!). The kids are really close in age and have a ton of fun playing together. At one point the older boys went outside with the daddies to play in the dirt. The babies stayed inside with the mommies, but they both thought they ought to be outside in the dirt, too. They both crawled over to the door and banged on it to be let out.