Longest Day Of The Year!

Our Halloween day started very early. Paprika had to be at her school no later than 8am for the big Halloween costume parade. They needed parents to help out, so Mr. M and I both went. We were unsure how Paprika would fare because 1) it was an early day (anything before 11am is early for her), 2) the AM and PM classes were going to be combined- meaning Paprika would be in a classroom all morning with 34 boys and 4 girls, and 3) at the parade, there were going to be 500+ kids and a marching band on a field together. A recipe for sensory overload! ;-)



Paprika was very careful not to wake Ginger up when she got dressed in her costume. Grandma Pat stayed home while Ginger slept in...it was so nice to get to go to Paprika's school and not spend the entire time chasing Ginger down from the rafters. Thank you, Grandma Pat!

Paprika loved her mermaid costume. I know I kind of dropped the ball just putting her in an Ariel (Little Mermaid) costume...when she really wanted to be a real blue mermaid for Halloween. She spent much of her time correcting people all day telling them that 1) she was not a princess, and 2) she was a real mermaid (not Ariel!) Ha!

This is me on the way out the door...38 weeks pregnant, and although I also dropped the ball on my costume, if anyone asked, I guess I could have said I was going as a bowling ball thief for Halloween!



After school, the parents put together a picnic and park day for all the kids since we had early dismissal. I went with Paprika, and she wore herself out playing soccer for two hours (and of course not eating a thing at the picnic)!

Then we had swimming lesson...even though it was Halloween, we couldn't miss that!

After that, she came home and took a shower and had just a few seconds to get her face painted before the first trick or treaters started banging on the door!



Now, Ginger went down for her nap right before swimming (Grandma Pat stayed home with her while I took Paprika to swimming). So, we figured she'd wake up in time to get in costume and go trick or treating. But nope! She slept so long and hard that she missed trick or treating entirely! She ended up napping until 8:45pm and then (of course) did not fall asleep until after 2am that night!

It was kind of merciful that Ginger slept through Halloween, and I was just so thankful. First, she did not like her costume. She had a cute Pottery Barn Kids Mermaid costume to wear, and she would NOT put it on to save her life (we did a trial run the night before- it was a no go!) Second, we got over one thousand (yes, you read that right) trick or treaters on our block this year and it was mayhem, pure chaos, and a bunch of words I can't think of right now. It was unreal!

It was soooo loud (lots of music, and partying going on) - I really have no idea how Ginger slept through it all, especially because the biggest party was going on right outside her single-paned window! But, as I said, it was a gift to us all.

Grandma Pat took Paprika trick-or-treating for an hour or so while I passed out candy to the masses on my front porch. Then, Grandma Pat and Paprika came home and we all passed out candy. We had stocked up (because we knew from last year that everyone and their mother's dog comes to our block for Halloween)...but by 9, I was done. We had gone through most of our candy, and it was time. Three hours of passing out candy to one person per second was just about all I could take. We cut the lights and put a sign on the door saying we had run out of candy.

Of course, I had held back all of Ginger's favorites from our bags of candy and made her own little treat bag for her. When she woke up, she was so happy to have her treat bag and didn't seem to mind at all that she had slept through everything!

Here is a picture of Paprika around 6pm, just as things were starting to pick up and right before she left to trick-or-treat. I swear, Halloween really wiped me out this year...but seeing how much fun this little girl had, I would do it all over again tomorrow if I could!