Halloween (The Real Deal!)

So many Halloween celebrations before we get to actual Halloween these days... the grown-ups are already exhausted by the time it rolls around! But the kids were excited it was finally here.  This was our first year to enjoy Halloween in the Historic District as a family.  Our first year in our new house we went to the Floyd's for Halloween, and last year Michael was at LCS watching Wesley in the final performance of Mary Poppins (The cast has still not recovered from that trauma).  Susan was also there watching Claire, so this year we all felt like we had some making-up to do... Susan made chili and I made my pumpkin brownie and we had us a party! 

Playing in the backyard waiting for the doorbell to signal the start of trick-or-treat!  Our crew ~ Wesley, Anna Kate, Claire, Grace, Melissa, Riley, Tate, Taylor, Olivia, Carigan & Jack (Khaysy rolled Hyatt out of the car on South Blvd. on her way to take Emma to a friend's house, so he joined us later):  

We started out in the parking lot of College Heights (Wesley's very first preschool!), where the church hosts a trunk-or-treat. 

I just happened to notice going through my photos this morning that I got the famous "Big Oak" in the background of this photo.  This tree (on the corner of Lake Morton Drive and Success, right across the lake from us) was famous 100 years ago.  I collect vintage postcards from Lake Morton (have them framed in our hallway), and here are two postcards I have of the Big Oak, postparked in the 1920s:  

This house (below) had an in-ground trampoline in their front yard!  Right in the midst of the Historic District!  Either the Board never thought to write a regulation against in-ground trampolines, or they've never noticed it behind the hedge and fence. Either way, I totally want one in my back yard!  All the stories we have heard about the Board have made us think it's impossible to do anything to the exterior of your house, much less put an in-ground trampoline in your front yard!  Awesome sauce.  

You know your kids are starting to show the signs of overdose when you offer to keep trick-or-treating and they just want to go inside and count their candy and play!

Traditional pumpkin brownie!  Carigan, Claire and Riley had more fun handing out candy than they did trick-or-treating!  They were like the Hames Home Candy Valet... they stood in front of the house and walked candy to anyone in view!

Wesley got a hold of someone's wig.  Our roadside candy crew with the giant pumpkin Rich carved:

The highlight of Anna Kate's night was by far playing with Holly in the backyard.  AK is obsessed with dogs.  She was back here on the patio all night while the other girls handed out candy!  She wants a dog soooooo badly.  Apparently Michael made a joke about getting one while I'm gone in Guatemala next week... Susan told me that AK excitedly told her, "My dad said we might get one next week when my mom's in Guatemala!"  Grrrrrrreat.  Michael has always known the deal:  Three boys and we adopt a girl, three girls and he gets a dog.  If there's a dog here when I get back from Guatemala, there had better be a (human!) baby girl waiting for me as well!

School Fall Stuff

The Big Bad Wolf got to parade around Little Shepherd's on Thursday.  I came straight from a celebratory (We're done until next year!) breakfast at KeKe's with the set crew, and Tate grinned when he looked up from under that big wolf snout and saw me.

Several of the moms handing out candy had giant baby faces... Tate didn't want to get too close to this one!  They got to trick-or-treat through the church offices:

It was a little bit of a heartbreaking moment for me when we were all lined up to take a picture of the whole class.  Because of Tate's pronunciation issues, I don't know the names of any kids in the class.  He's tried to tell me before, but I don't understand and he gets frustrated.  And this is really the first event that parents have been invited to at Little Shepherd's (other than the first chapel in September... the October chapel was cancelled due to Hurricane Matthew), so I don't know any of the kids yet.  Both the boy next to Tate and the boy behind him kept hitting him on his wolf snout.  And I mean repeatedly pounding it.  Ms. Darcie and Ms. Kerrie were on either side of the kids smiling at the sea of cameras and did not notice.  Tate was so sweet... he kept asking (eventually through tears) for them to stop, but in between his pleas he would go back to saying "Cheeeeeeeeese."  All with tears in his eyes.  I guess those boys' moms weren't there, because no one told them to knock it off.  I was about to go all mama bear on them, but I didn't even know their names to call them out.  So I just kept saying in my best singy-songy Mary Poppins voice, "Please don't touch the wolf!"  But they never quit.  Tate was such a trooper... I really wouldn't have blamed him if he had turned around and pushed him!

Tate was trying to recover from the trauma, but still trying to smile for the camera with Ms. Kerrie and Ms. Darcie.  But he was still teary after this and I had to take him home.  He didn't want to stay for the rest of the day, which is sad because he absolutely loves going to preschool.

Friday morning I brought donuts for a reception in the cafeteria.  The high school art students drew the first graders, and the first graders drew the high-schoolers, and Friday was the day they unveiled their portraits.  Some of the portraits the high schools drew were breathtaking, and if that was my kid, I'd go home and frame it in a frame of pure gold.  Carigan's on the other hand... I'll give them that it looked like her.  But it looked like her after someone landed a left hook straight to her nose.  I think maybe they should have given the artist her school portrait instead of just a quick mugshot they snapped of her in the hallway.  

Carigan's portrait of a high-schooler, on the other hand, is totally frame worthy!  ;-)  Carigan got big hugs from Selah's baby sister Harper:

From the art reception I went straight upstairs to Pumpkin Centers in Mrs. Nilius' class.  I always try for the cookie-decorating center and let the other moms man the centers that actually require effort! 

Anna Kate, Emma, Henry, Lydia and Jena.  The kids had to write down their prediction of whether a pumpkin would sink or float.  Almost all the kids wrote down that it would sink, and Anna Kate was one of only a few that said it would float.  She did not hold back in her celebrations when Mrs. Nilius proved her correct: 

Several of us moms decided to sign our kids out and go to lunch at Cheddar's.  I had to pick up Tate from Mimi's house first, and apparently Daddy failed to dress Tate before taking him over there this morning, so I had to take him in his jammies.

The revolving door at Cheddar's is pretty the most exciting thing in Tate's little life.  I let him knock himself out.  Anna Kate, Henry, Wynn, Lydia, Kaeli and Marin:

We had yet another trunk-or-treat even at our new church Friday evening, and neighborhood kids showed up early and started going around demanding candy before we even had our trunk decorated!  I had Sherry drop off Henry & Isabel and Khaysy dropped off Hyatt, but it got difficult to keep track of everyone when the sun went down yet the stampede of kids from the community kept coming.  I left Anna Kate to man our trunk with Daddy (who had to wear the M&M costume), and took the rest of the kids inside to race Lego cars. But it even got crazy in there, so Michael finally called his dad to come pick me up.  Ralph's Chauffeur Service took Henry, Isabel, Anna Kate, Carigan, Tate and me home while Michael stayed late with Wesley and Hyatt to break down.  We ordered pizza and watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (the movie), which was so fun after having just wrapped up the play at LCS!

We were supposed to go to Magic Kingdom the next day (I'd had our fast passes reserved for a month), but when Anna Kate crawled in bed with us Saturday morning and I told her we were going to Disney, she whined, "But I don't want to go to Disney!  I just need a day to rest!!"  Wow.  This whole musical/fall festival whirlwind has got us plum tuckered out.  I was a little sad to skip Disney, but Michael took the kids to Mimi & Grandpa's house and the little kids swam and Wesley watched Jurassic Park (with filters via VidAngel) in the movie theater.   And I got six whole blog posts written!  I'm telling you, I am in total awe of this whole productivity thing that occurs in those supremely rare moments that I'm home alone with no kids.  I absolutely could not believe how much I got done.  I was texting Michael saying, "This is unreal.  You must feel so productive every day.  I had no idea you could accomplish this much!"  I'm still in awe.  I never ever ever have the house to myself with no kids.  Even with Tate being in preschool two mornings a week now, I've spent almost all that time this fall working on the set, and even when I'm not on set I'm running around dropping off and picking up and going to centers and receptions and gala meetings and the like.  It's just non-stop.  I used to think I'd go back to my PR consultant job once all the kids were in school... because I'd be so bored and have all this free time.  That's so cute I ever thought I'd have free time!  Four kids in school is like having four balls in the air at all times and struggling not to drop one (Or trying to decide which ball you can drop without everything imploding).  But I digresss...

Khaysy had invited Wesley to carve pumpkins with her community group Saturday evening, but I told her we would be at Disney.  But since we ditched Disney, Michael dropped Wesley off at Hyatt's anyways.  Khaysy texted me these pictures: 

His own creation.  Glad he got to carve a pumpkin with someone else, because I'm perfectly happy to skip that little tradition every year if I can get away with it!

This night belongs to Coach Evans!

Trunk or treat was fun, but we knew that the best part of the night was yet to come, and that it would be something we'd never forget!  But we had to wait until halftime, so we roamed Viking Stadium (which was packed) and had a big time with all our friends.  I had to get a picture of Mrs. Henry with her little bears.  Once a little bear, always a little bear! 

Carigan and her cheer squad were supposed to get to perform at the football game that was cancelled earlier this month due to Hurricane Matthew.  So they rescheduled for tonight, which already had a packed schedule!  It was Brighthouse Night, and the game was being televised live.  It was also trunk-or-treat, so there was a costume parade at halftime.  And of course there was the big special dedication.  But the "junior cheerleaders" got to go first.  Carigan was cracking me up, dancing and cheering there on the sidelines waiting to take the field.  She's pretty easy to spot in these photos because she's the only little kid wearing a cheer uniform: 

I put in her cheer clinic paperwork that she wasn't allowed to do stunts (Her surgeon would kill me if he knew I was letting her do cheer at all!), so Carigan had to hold a leg.  She was definitely one of the most cheerful cheerleaders out there... she's got the sparkle, I'll give her that!

After the junior cheerleaders performed, the kids got to march in a costume parade.  Right as they took the field, Coach Evans walked out to greet them.  I could not believe it.  You would not believe it.  You are probably seriously questioning my knowledge of the facts right now with me even stating it.  Coach had major surgery Wednesday afternoon (like, cut you open and resection your colon kind of surgery) and he walked out on the field Thursday evening.  He was not even back on a liquid diet!  He hadn't had anything to eat or drink since Saturday night.  And he was still wearing his hospital band... a team of surgeons and nurses worked all day long to try to make this happen.  They gave him one hour, and he had to be back at the hospital.  He was up and trying to walk laps just hours after his surgery.  This is seriously the strongest man I know!  Words cannot describe his superhero status, both physically in his battle with cancer, and emotionally, in his love for our kids and their complete and total adoration of him.  You can see it in their faces in this photo - they just light up when they see him!  I can't believe I actually got this photo of Anna Kate and Tate parading past Coach, because this is the point when the tears started flowing, and they didn't stop for the rest of the evening.

All the kids took a seat on the sidelines, and they showed a video dedicated to Coach, that began with him talking about facing death but feeling at peace because of his faith in God.  The football team wore yellow socks (for Appendix Cancer awareness) for Coach, and the cheerleaders wore yellow bows.  After the video, Dr. Sligh announced that the church building on the edge of our property had been purchased (they found the congregation a larger building and purchased it for them), and that much-needed facilities would be built within the next year.  And it would forever bear the name... The Roger Evans Athletic Center. 

Coach Evans' whole family was there for the announcement.  What an incredible moment, and what a joy that God orchestrated everything so beautifully to make it possible!

Luci with flowers for Mrs. Evans.  Teri is as much a hero as Coach is... they are both just some of my favorite people in the whole world.  They are the absolute essence of what makes LCS the indescribable blessing that it is!  I can't imagine going through the dark and fearful moments that Teri has had to endure these past months, all while loving on our kids and tirelessly laboring to put on an amazing production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  I would have quit and gone home to be consumed with worry at the first dark moment.  She is absolutely amazing.  And Coach so loved everyone in the play and so badly didn't want to interfere, that he masked how badly he was doing and how much pain he was in until after the final performance Saturday night.  By then he was in really bad shape and they had a few very scary days there in the hospital before they finally decided they had to do surgery on Wednesday.  They were trying to avoid surgery because they assumed it would mean he would not be able to be present for this dedication.  But the surgery couldn't wait.  But Roger Evans is made of different stuff than you and me.  I still have no idea how this happened.  One day after surgery, Coach stood there on the field as the entire crowd sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness."  Not a dry eye in the stadium. 

The kids all waves goodbye to Coach Evans, who headed back to the hospital, and the costume parade left the field.  What an amazing night we'll never forget!  I texted Trisha late that night and said I think even I could die happy after tonight.  I'm so thankful we all got to make this memory with our beloved Coach Evans tonight.