Halloween Eve

 There are so many Halloween activities going on this weekend we got started today in order to get everything in. Little Miss decided to be a Leopard this year.

We had a slight hiccup this morning when her face mask went missing. We tore the house upside down looking for it and I was so frustrated and frazzled I was ready to cancel everything Halloween. Little Miss was most upset that we were upset. We were on her pretty hard about taking care of her things and not being so careless with her stuff. Long story short, we finally found the mask and everyone calmed down and Halloween was saved.

We have a brand new police station opening up next month and today they held a trick or treat open house so that the kids could get some goodies and the parents could check out the new facility. We met Little Miss’ ‘husband’ Jackson, there and they got to hang out and have some fun together.

Iron Man and the Leopard Princess.
Hard to believe when I look at this picture that Jackson is 7
 months older than Little Miss, but at least 3 inches shorter!

Seeing the police cars complete with lights
 flashing was defintely one of the highlights!

Little Miss seemed to enjoy herself early on, but some of the decorations and costumes started to scare her and once that happened, she pretty much just wanted to get through the building and get the heck out. I think she still enjoyed herself but her being spooked and scared is kind of new thing. This kid who loves to talk about guts and death has suddenly become very nervous and uneasy about ‘scary’ things.

This was when we first went in and she was having a great time!

How perfect that the Police Deparment Employees
 dressed up as the gang from Mystery Inc.

This is where we lost her. I have to admit when
 I see this picture, it suddenly makes perfect sense.

She told me a week or so ago that our Halloween decorations in the house were too scary and that she only wanted the fall decorations up. The strange part is that when we decorated a few weeks ago, she loved the decorations and there was no hint that anything seemed scary to her. Plus, I’m not a big fan of the scary stuff either, so I really don’t have hardly anything that I think would be considered scary. Some of the decorations outside maybe, but nothing inside. At any rate, we finished up at the police station and then headed over to a local park to let the kids run around for awhile. Most of the high schools in town host Halloween events where the kids can come in and trick or treat and play games, so after that park we headed over to one of the high schools. Little Miss seemed to really enjoy that until she’d hit all the candy stations. When she found out she couldn’t just keep going around and around to get more candy she was pretty bummed out. In addition to the trick or treating stations they had some games they were doing but she was only mildly interested in that since there was no candy attached. This girl, she LOVES her candy!

One of the games was to use toilet paper to wrap
 up like a mummy. Little Miss got a kick out of that!

Tonight we went out for a nice dinner to celebrate Big Daddy’s new job! I have a girlfriend who also just got a new job this past week so she joined us to celebrate as well. It was a really nice and enjoyable evening. Little Miss was so fantastic at dinner! I was so completely proud of how well she did! We were at the restaurant for two and half hours and she was just as pleasant and well behaved as any kid could be. We made a big fuss over how proud we were of her and what great manners and behavior she had. One of the neatest things about Little Miss is seeing how recognizing her good behavior so often breeds more good behavior. She really, really does want to please. Well, except when she doesn’t. :-)

Tomorrow we have another round of fun Halloween activities and then the big finale with trick or treating in the neighborhood. When I start to feel tired and like it's too many activities for one weekend, I remind myself how quickly this time is going to go! I'm still tired, but happy to create these memories that will last forever!