Here's our family pumpkin, courtesy of the chicken lady. Zay and Eliza had a fun time watching my amazing carving skills...I was actually pretty suprised that Zay didn't cry more because I wouldn't let him use the knife! We definitely need to get us a carving kit because the kitchen knives just don't allow for the fine craftsmanship I had in mind. Isaiah was excited when we put it outside and put a candle in it. I put it on the porch but turned it to face inside because he kept going over to the window to peek out and see it. I'm glad he has such happy memories because the day after Halloween, Daddy put our pumpkin in the trash, which Isaiah still talks about. "Daddy throw 'way pumpkin."
For Zay's first Halloween I spent hours (and about $30) making a cute little elephant costume for him. He refused to wear it. A few days later I saw some glow-in-the-dark skeleton pajamas and bought them for him to wear as his costume the next year. But for his second Halloween, he slept right through the ward party and didn't care about trick-or-treating, so he never really knew Halloween happened that year. This year I saw a bunch of animal costumes at Costco for $12.99. Since I still haven't forgiven Zay for not wearing the elephant, I told him to pick one since I wasn't going to make one for him. I thought he'd pick the monkey because he LOVES to watch (and read) Curious George. But he picked the tiger instead. He was much more cooperative this year and even kept is hood up despite the fact that he hates hoods.
And so Eliza got to wear the famous elephant costume. I was pleasantly surprised by how cooperative she was. I pointed it out to Jerel and wondered what was wrong with Isaiah that made him hate it to much. But Jerel pointed out Zay was only 3 months old when he wore it, and Eliza is 11 months old. Okay, okay, so maybe it's a matter of maturity and not actually a character flaw in my then 3-month-old! She was a cute little elephant. We went to the ward Halloween party this year. It started with a trunk-or-treat, which Zay really liked. He wouldn't talk, he'd just walk up to people and hold out his bucket, but I think that's okay when you're two. Some people tried to give me candy for Eliza, but I explained that we have a strict rule at our house--if you don't have any teeth, you don't get any candy! Seriously, when is she gonna get some teeth?! After the trunk-or-treat we went inside where they had some games and a spook alley. It turns out the fog machines were a little overactive, so the fire alarm went off and we all went outside and watched the fire trucks come. It took the firemen about 40 minutes to get everything cleared and figure out how to turn off the alarm, but by that time we'd already given up and gone home to put our little trick-or-treaters to bed. Zay and I did go trick-or-treating again on Halloween night, but he still didn't talk. He'd just knock and hold out his little bucket. Then after they gave him candy, he'd still stand there holding out his little bucket. Not a bad tactic, he got many a second piece as people tried to figure out what to do with the awkwardness! I told him to say "thank you" when he got candy, and at every house I would say "Did you say thank you?" and he would say "Not this time. Maybe next time."
