Happy Halloween

 

Well, we don't exactly go hog-wild for Halloween, but we did have very good evening. We didn't stay out doing to trick-or-treat thing very long because Madison (understandably) would not have lasted, but she loved the whole idea of people giving her candy. This child has a sweet tooth that is certain to get her into trouble later, so she thought this was great. The crown came off about 5 minutes into it, and the lighted necklace came off about 10 minutes after that. She wanted to carry her own bag initially, but after about the 15th house she had me carry it in between and she would just take it up to the door. She didn't say trick-or-treat, but she would worm her way through any kids already there to be at the front and then open her bag for the proverbial offering. It was great. And then she would stand smiling at them (sometimes remembering her 'thank you') while waving and saying bye-bye but not actually walking away yet. It was great. Kellen was originally trying to be a skeleton in a cloak, but he didn't like the smell of the skull mask we found at Wal-Mart and chose the Scream mask instead (refer to the movie Scream, and it's sequels, that came out a couple years ago) and carried a battle-axe while wearing grotesque gloves:) We'll see what he chooses next year because last night the gloves made opening his bag or choosing treats (when offered) rather complicated. He was so excited to be able to take his costume to wear for the Halloween parade at school. They said no weapons (I agree) and there were limitations on masks, but he was allowed to wear his mask so the only part of his costume he didn't have at school was the axe. They were permitted to bring the costumes with them, to be put on right before the parade. I had wanted to take pictures there, too, but Madison was taking her nap and I would've had to ride the bike over there with her.

Speaking of riding the bike...I got my car back today, but only briefly. The mechanic was able to salvage the gaskets and re-use the coolant (I just filled it two weeks ago, remember) so it only cost $510, but there is still something wrong because we were on our way to a Halloween party (being hosted by Kellen's piano teacher) straight from the auto repair shop when my car proceeded to overheat again. I had to pull into a parking lot and shut it off. Called the mechanic, who said that he's not going to be in tomorrow and the soonest he can take another look at it is Monday. Steve and I will drop it off Sunday night and, in the meantime, I'm back to cycling. Oh, well.

Steve went for his ultrasound the other day and, although we haven't had official word back from the doctor, the technician said that he couldn't see any gall stones and all the internal organs look fine to him. On one hand, that's good, because we certainly don't want there to be something wrong. On the other, it's a little disappointing to realize that we still don't know why he was hurting so badly the other weekend.