Halloween thoughts

I returned from California in one piece and my boys were also alive. Now I am re-adjusting to reality. I could have used more vacation time :P

Halloween used to be my favorite holiday. I loved dressing up and all the scary creepy things - decorations, spooky parties, and especially going to haunted houses. Oh how I loved haunted houses. This year has been disappointing though.

See, everyone we've come in contact with over the last couple of weeks has asked Sparrow two questions: "what are you going to be for Halloween?" and "are you going to get lots of candy?" All Sparrow hears is "candy," so he starts freaking out and begging for candy and screaming when he doesn't get any and obsessing over it and it's just been a nightmare. We've gone to 3 Halloween parties and they aren't any fun because Sparrow freaks when we don't let him have more than a few pieces. And then of course Hawk and I eat too much as well.

I'm also bummed about costumes. When I was a kid, it seemed that 90% of costumes were home-made. Now almost all costumes are bought, and they're just not as awesome! I admit, I've bought Sparrow's costumes for the last two years. Last year he was a dragon and this year he was the Cat in the Hat (I got his costume off eBay though.) his first Halloween, he was a pumpkin and I knit his little pumpkin hat and it was really cute. Also, most of the costumes now are either gory, really scary, or immodest. I'm not a fan of that for little boys. I'm not a fan of 3 year olds wearing masks either (a kid in our music class had on a superhero costume complete with mask the other day, ugh.)

I'm totally cool if Sparrow decides he wants to be a Jedi and dress up like one, but I'm not really okay if he wants to be Spiderman or Ironman or whatever. I think the difference is, Jedi are peaceful monk-like characters (at least how I see them, and I do a lot of Star Wars reading because the whole idea of growing up in the Jedi Temple basically is the best thing ever). Also, they don't wear masks. And they promote peace and service wherever they go. I don't really get that vibe with most superheroes, most of them have selfish aims somewhere in their little brains.

We didn't take Sparrow trick or treating last night (in Utah most Halloween festivities were yesterday so as not to interfere with Sunday) and we won't take him tonight. We have one more party to attend, a family party tonight with dinner so it's not all junk food, and then we'll be done. Phew. I don't know how we'll be celebrating Halloween in the years to come, but I do know we will be much more picky about activities we attend and candy we expose the little one to. Because let's face it, sugar detoxing is not something any of us really enjoy, is it?

On a side note, if I lived in California I would totally take Sparrow trick or treating at Disneyland. It's $40 and lasts from 6-10 p.m., and all the characters and rides are done up in Halloween stuff plus you can ride stuff and it just looked like a ton of fun. When I was in Disneyland on Tuesday, we didn't stay for the trick-or-treating but it sure was fun to see all the people dressed up, because 95% of those costumes were very family friendly.


Also, this year Sparrow is the Cat in the Hat and Hawk and I are Thing 1 and Thing 2. Easiest costumes ever - we have on red sweats and taped a circular piece of paper with THING 1 or THING 2 cut out on our chests. Ta da!

Here's Sparrow in 2008 for his first Halloween:



2009:



2010:

Leavin' on a jet plane

Today I am escaping my little family for a weekend. You'd think I'd be thrilled at the prospect - no changing diapers! No tantrums! No diaper bag! But instead, my internal dialogue is going like this: no snuggles! No surprise "I love you Mommy"'s! No walking with Sparrow and him reaching for my hand. WAAAAAAH!!!!

And I'm a little concerned about leaving my boys alone. I am sure they will be fine, but a little part of my brain is worried about coming home to a feral, half starved child and a husband who has died of overexposure to toddler.

I'm going to California to hang out with my two bestest friends, Owly and Dove. Two nights with Owly, two nights with Dove, one day at Disneyland with both of them, and then home. It will be lots of fun.

I just hope the house is still standing when I return! Time for me to PARTY ON!

Pumpkins

I got nothin' to say (or show, really) on the potty front. Sparrow's decided to take it slow and so have we. Because I am lazy. He's pretty good about telling us when he's getting ready to #2, but #1 he has nooo idea. And that was a lot of nothin' for someone who has nothin' to say.

We went to a pumpkin patch at the beginning of the month. This is my lazy blog post with mostly just pictures.

Potty training

I was going to wait to train Sparrow until he was at least 3. He hasn't been too interested, but he does like to flush the toilet when I have gone and sits on his own potty chair occasionally.

He's asked to go sit on the potty a few times and twice has pooped in it, for which he got M&Ms. Most of the time, as soon as he messes his diaper he asks for a diaper change and he's pretty good about asking for a change if he's just wet, but I don't think he gets wet as well as he does messy.

Tonight he was begging to go potty, so I had Hawk take him but he didn't produce anything. Sparrow has been begging to wear big boy underpants all day.

Gulp. I think we are going to start potty training tomorrow. I'm not ready for this, but I think he is. Yikes! Keep your fingers (or your legs, whatever) crossed for us!

This is an awesome site.

Have you heard yet of Groupon.com? I LOVE this website. You tell it what city you live near, and every day there is a different deal available. Let's be honest, I don't buy many of their deals, but the ones I do get are awesome!

I got $80 worth of yoga classes for $20. I got a $100 car check-up for $25. I have a month of unlimited activities and classes at Gymboree Play and Music for $20 plus a waived enrollment fee if I decide to sign up after my month is over. I got a $20 Halloween River Cruise for $7. I mean come on, that is a ton of money I saved!

To sign up, you just go to here and enter in your email address and a password. Then select the area you live in/near, and ta da! Every day you will get a new email with a different deal. If you don't want to receive a daily email you can disable it and just check the site, but I highly recommend the email just in case you forget to check it one day and miss something great. (Yes, I have done this and kicked myself for it many times.)

Okay seriously, go check it out!

I've been married too long

Last night, Hawk and I were watching House. One of the characters was talking about having an affair.

Me: "I'm having an affair."

Hawk: "Oh."

Me: "Don't you want to know who with?"

Hawk: "Is it the cat?"

Me: "... we've been married too long, you know me too well."

Bamboo: "Meow." (You laugh now, human male, but soon your time will come. I will take you down and the large petting one will be mine and only mine, mwahahahaha!!!)

Room re-do

Sparrow's room was decorated in a cute blue and yellow star theme. I loved it. But he grew up way too stinkin' fast, and the room just seemed outdated for him. So I decided to re-do his room with cars, which are his big love of the moment. Ugh. I hate cars. I tried keeping him away from anything resembling a toy car for the first 15 months of his life. It didn't work. He loves the stupid things. Ugh ugh ugh.

I mean, oh yay, cars!

There were lots of really cute car quilts, especially from Target, which is where most of the decor comes from. In fact, I even bought the quilt they had, but then I found one from Sears for $20 as compared to Target's $60. Um, that's $40 I could be spending on other stuff. Like, ice cream. So I went with Sears. An added bonus is that this quilt is neutral enough that if Sparrow decides he hates cars (please) we can change his room easily.

All told I spent about $100 total on the whole thing. I tried to keep it as cheap as possible, while still making it cute and fun and stylin', and also avoiding anything with licensed characters like the plague. Which is a lot harder than it sounds. Try searching for "Car bedding" and see what comes up. Stupid Cars movie.



I snapped these pictures while the room was clean - it lasted about 15 seconds. The car nightlight on the wall is from Circo/Target and frankly, it sucks. It sucks hard. Circo needs to contact IKEA and figure out how to make awesome wall lamps/nightlights, because this thing is useless at best.



The pictures I got off eBay, and the frames are junky $3 ones but they look all right. If I'd gone with the Target collection the art would have cost upwards of $60 alone, this way it was only about $20.


This is the little reading nook. I am going to add a Pottery Barn style bookshelf soon, maybe for Christmas.

I thought about doing a lamp on the headboard, but figured Sparrow would think it was a toy and cause a fire. I also considered simple curtains, but either Sparrow or the cats would try to climb them. He has a set of cotton sheets and yesterday I splurged and bought a set of flannel sheets in the same style. I assume that someday, winter will arrive. I am hoping Autumn decides to visit for a few days first though.

Ta-da!