Yesterday the kiddos had their Halloween carnival at school. The school always does a nice job of putting on a little carnival for the kids. They get more excited about dressing up for that than they do for actually trick-or-treating. Honestly, I wish we could get them all done-up for the carnival, enjoy the day and then call it quits. But today, after soccer, after volleyball, after grocery shopping, after carving pumpkins and after getting dinner into the oven, we will put everyone’s costumes back on them and send them out into the neighborhood to trick-or-treat for candy that I will ultimately confiscate and have disappear. Then, tomorrow, we will throw away the pumpkins we spent time on today and start getting ready for Thanksgiving. I think I’m letting my true Halloween feelings show…oops!

But yesterday was lots of fun and I do love to see the kiddos all dressed up and having fun. After the carnival, we had a birthday party to go to, which made for really tired kiddos. But there was something in the air yesterday, because even though I was super busy and pretty darn tired, I felt really good. Sometimes the San Diego air has a magical quality to it that makes me feel so good. Yesterday was one of those days.

My older girls went to a friend’s Halloween party last night and I had all the little ones in bed, so the house was quiet. But I kept hearing a funny thumping noise. After a few times, I went to investigate. I REALLY wish I had taken a picture because what I found was Pumpkin Head dog. My dog had put her head into one of the trick-or-treating jack-o-lanterns to check out the contents and the handle latched over her ears. She was thumping into the wall, unable to see. My immediate reaction was to get it off her head and THEN I thought about the camera. Poor thing! But it sure was funny! So tonight I will be sure to put all the jack-o-lanterns out of dog’s reach!

Happy Halloween! I hope it’s a great day~

Lang Kiddos and a friend at Oma’s Pumpkin Patch

Clay and Luke-Xavier in the petting area

Max and Tristan petting a calf

The Lang Clan and a friend on the hay ride, ready to tour the dairy

Twins had been born just before our tour. They were still trying to stand when we went by. Very cool for the kids to see!

Tristan really enjoyed the cotton-seed slide! It’s one of the kids favorite parts of our annual trip!

A couple of cute pics of the kids enjoying their day!

Have a great day~

P.S. Thank you for all the wonderful “Welcome Home” messages and comments that have been left! They are greatly appreciated!

One of the older kids wanted to go trick or treating with friends instead of staying with us. Our policy has always been that anyone who wanted to come with us was welcome, but that our kids stayed together on Halloween. It makes sense because of the area we live in. When you’re in military housing (for the most part), it’s considered a safe area. Our housing is not on a base. It’s just in the middle of town and easily accessible by everyone, so LOTS of extra kids come into the housing for Halloween. LOTS! Well, this year I considered the request to go with a friend, because Clay is out to sea so we all went to a party at a friends’ house. BUT, I needed details. I was told they would be at a school campus for a “like a carnival”. Parents? “Oh yeah. I think so”. So, when I dropped her off, I decided to go in and confirm with the parents. What I was told and what was happening were two very different things. No school carnival, just trick or treating in the area around the school (FAR from the house I was dropping off at) and “no” the parent or parents would not be staying. I told my daughter that I was sorry but that she had to grab her things and come with me because that didn’t fit my criteria for going out with friends on Halloween. EMBARRASSMENT! ANGER! YELLING (once we were away from the other people). So, when we arrived at the party that we were going to, she stayed in the car……the whole time! She refused to attend and I simply let her stay in the car. Why argue?

Ok, what’s your take? I felt that it was vitally important that I hold my ground because I was uncomfortable with the situation of no parents and not knowing more than 2 of the other kids that she would be with. Halloween can be a dangerous night! AND I have several other children coming up behind this one, that would surely point out that So-and-So got to do such-and-such back in 2007!

On that note, I say………………………………………………………………

When I ripped October off of the calendar today and felt how thin the rest of the calendar is, I was in a mild state of shock! Did you realize that it’s New Year’s?! The minute Halloween hits, it’s all over! The stores are filling up with Christmas decor to make me nervous and antsy about all those lists that I really haven’t thought about yet. Sure, Tristan and Max wrote their wish lists to Santa a week or so ago, but those were for Santa! But now I have to worry about Christmas! Yikes!

Happy Halloween!
Good night~