Halloween 2012

Our Halloween tradition continued in the Green River Gated Community at the Cildermans this year.  Since Owen was born we have opted to hang out with our friends at their house, in their community, rather than stay home and bring Owen around our own neighborhood. It all started back in 2009…Owen’s FIRST Halloween…

Ryland, Payton, Tate, Addison and Owen

Back when life was probably simple compared to now…all of the kiddos were the ONLY children in their homes and the world seemed to seriously revolve around them (or my chemotherapy at that time!) 
Halloween is a time of year that I LOVE but its also a time of year that makes me sad as well…I miss being a kid…trick-or-treating with my brother, him HATING that I always tagged along and me LOVING the time with him…but also..Owen’s first Halloween 2009 was a VERY tough time in my life.  I had just finished my 5th round of chemotherapy…my hair was shedding like crazy and a few nights before Halloween that year we decided to shave my head…

”Letting go” of my hair was the most difficult part of my journey…the night we shaved my head was all fun and games…Yosh was trying to keep me positive and make me laugh while BUTCHERING my head…and Mom was there, holding back tears and taking pictures. All fun and games…until Owen woke up in the middle of the night. I went into his room, as usual, and he FLIPPED OUT. He had NO clue who I was. THAT was the single most heartbreaking moment of the battle. BUT it only took him a few minutes for my little 6 month old baby to come around…and then I was just Mama again, never any different! Thankful that he was blind by LOVE (and youth) and always made me feel beautiful…even when I KNEW I wasn’t!

We all probably have great memories of Halloweens in the past…but now we make a point to continue to make great memories for our future as well.

2010 our trick-or-treating group grew…new babies were born and more family members came for some treating fun!

Owen, Ryland, Tate, Payton, Jaxon, Addison, Memphis, Charlotte, Austin and Phoenix. And this Halloween BOTH Jessica and Heather were expecting baby #2.

2011 the group was even bigger…

Tate, Addison, Payton, Jaxon, Owen, Ryland and Tyler (not pictured is Brynn)

And now this year…2012…we continued…and we all love it!
The FULL gang of treaters!: Addison, Payton, Tyler, Jaxon, Ryland, Owen and Brynn. We missed Tate this year!!

Getting all these kids to sit on the wall at the same time was a difficult TASK…especially since we did it twice!!! Either way I love seeing all these kiddos growing. Every year a new baby is there to be excited about, its like its always SOMEONE’S first time trick-or-treating.

And I’ve said it before but seriously…it gets better every year!!!

I sprayed Owen’s hair black, just like Jake's from the cartoon…I thought he wouldn’t like it BUT totally let me do it and loved it. It was weird seeing my kid with different hair…I would overlook him and not even realize it was him most of the night. And when I caught a quick glimpse of him I saw Paul in him…

   Owen was super scared about trick-or-treating…he does NOT like monsters, ghosts, spooky stuff one bit!! But after a few houses he got a hang of it and LOVED it.

He knew that he had to say “Trick-or-Treat” take ONE candy and then say Thank You. I LOVE it. He practiced the spiel at daycare earlier that day…so he was pretty well informed!
These are from his “trial run'” at Daycare…

Martha is always so great with the kids…they get a pizza party lunch and then costumes and “practice” for the evenings treating fun! The first year Owen was walking and actually going to be trick or treating, this trial run REALLY helped it. Such a cute idea!

Owen’s evening was so awesome. He would have to be holding my hand while walking on the sidewalk while poor daddy was on a bike with his broken foot…

and as the bucket got heavier with candy he would politely ask if I could carry it for him. He knew he wasn’t allowed to eat any of the candy until inspection at home, and he seemed to be TOTALLY ok with that…such a sensible 3 year old!

At one point all the group went over to a spooky few houses…Owen wanted to stay away so we stayed across the street and I sent him up to a door by himself. Seemed like a nice normal house…

And then they opened the door and I almost pissed myself…

It was the scariest thing I saw all night…and my brave son didn’t even flinch. I stood there in SHOCK/HORROR…took the picture and then didn’t know whether to cry, pee, go into labor or run and save my child. Don’t worry none of the above happened…I’m not even sure if Owen noticed that scary girl from The Grudge standing behind the candy…THANK GOD. Creepy stuff huh?!?!?

All in all it was a great evening…the kids all did AMAZING and walked FAR for their little legs. They all were on total sugar highs but so delighted with the loot they made out with!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!!