6:20am - Breakfast and getting ready
Lately Roman seems to be getting sick of the regular routine of alternating between waffles and eggs for breakfast so I had to come up with a plan B. I found a box of apple & orange toddler cereal in the cupboard that I bought a while back so I decided to give that a shot. Well wouldn't you know it he gobbled it right up. I realize I could have just made him oatmeal since I was already eating it but I had the cereal in the cupboard so I figured I might as well use it. No sense throwing away tasty food!
After breakfast we started our morning routine that, like in any normal house, starts with a pony ride! Roman loves this rocking horse that we picked up at Costco when Roman was only a few months old. Not only does it neigh and shake its head and tail, it also doubles as a handy side table beside the rocking chair in his room!
About the time I started getting ready, little Roman started to pitch the mother of all fits. I thought it was just his usual "No you can't get ready, I want to go outside!!!" fit, but it quickly became apparent that it was more than that. Wouldn't you know it, the little turkey needed a nap! I of course was not going to complain. I'm not much of a dresser-upper when it comes to Halloween so a Batman t-shirt and a faux hawk is as close as I get to dressing up.
I was a little surprised Roman was still asleep so I decided to get something accomplished while I could. There is one thing that without fail can completely stress me out and make my day miserable. What is this demon you ask? It's a disastrous kitchen! Because our front door is off the kitchen, the counters and table tend to be a catch all for anything and everything. Pre-Roman I would have been appalled that my sink was brimming with dishes, but now, it's just another day. Once I got most of the disaster cleared I thought it was probably a good time to fill Roman's kitty basket with his Halloween goodies. I needed an excuse to buy him a kitty book I found at Wal Mart, so I picked up a coloring book and crayons to go with it. In case you haven't guessed, Roman has a love of all things kitty!
8:20am - Who is Bruce?
The strangest thing happened. When I heard crying coming from Roman's room I went in to get him but he wasn't there! Instead I found a little boy named Bruce Wayne who requested his suit. And wouldn't you know it, laying out in the closet (to get rid on the wrinkles) was a Batman suit and hanging from a hanger was a cape! I can't believe I didn't know Roman's real name was Bruce and that he was Batman! How does a toddler keep such a secret from his mother!?!
8:45am - Trick-or-Treating
I was so glad that Roman woke up when he did because we had so many places to go this morning. Trick or treating is tough work when you're a little guy. Everyone wants to see how cute you are in your costume and give you treats! We started by visiting Aunt Kathy, who asked that we call her Dorothy, at her work. Roman loved the treats and hugging Toto, but his favorite part was checking out all the cars, trucks, and tractors in the shop. His treat bag from Aunt Kathy so was big the poor guy couldn't even carry it, but he was sure thankful for everything he got!
Next we headed over to visit John at work. This time Roman decided to take his kitty pail in. I was so surprised how quick he figured this whole business out. Without any prompting from me he walked into the building, right up to John, lifted his kitty and said "Ugh", which I'm pretty sure means "trick or treat" in toddler. Here he scored a few suckers and a box of gobstoppers from a very nice lady making a delivery there!
10:00am - Halloween Party!
Every morning we go to a play group at 10am which Roman and I both love, but today was a special play group. Today the centre was putting on a Halloween party for all the little guys! It's a good thing we got there early because it was crazy busy! We kicked off the party by making a super cool ghost on a popsicle stick. Roman was more interested in eating the ghost's head but we managed to finish the craft with no casualties. All that creativity called out Roman's hunger monster so we headed to the snack table next. The ladies did an amazing job with the food. Roman started with some popcorn, moved on to an Oreo spider and finished with a ghost banana. There might have been a Cheeto or two in there as well.
Roman tried to play with his friends but the room was so crammed with kids and parents that there wasn't much space to play. If Roman could talk he would have asked "why are all these people playing in our room?", since there is usually only 3-4 kids there at a time. Unfortunately because the room was so full we couldn't stay as long as we usually do because Roman ended up frustrated.
11:30am - Halloween Lunch
On the way home from the party I was hit with inspiration. I was going to make Roman a Halloween lunch when we got home! I had no idea what I was going to make until I walked in the door. Halloween grilled cheese sandwiches seemed like a good choice. Cute, festive, and all I had to do was make a regular grilled cheese and use cookie cutters to cut out the Halloween shapes! I wish I would have gotten on this bandwagon sooner because it would have been so fun to come up with themed meals and snacks for Roman throughout the week. Oh well, there is always next year. I ended up eating the leftovers from Roman's grilled cheese along with a bowl of John's homemade vegetable soup. Not as festive as Roman's meal but it was tasty non the less.
I was so excited that Roman went down for a nap at his regular time after all the craziness of the morning. Of course nothing is ever that easy. Not five minutes after he went down I had some Steeped Tea delivered to the house and Lola lost her mind. Of course there was no putting Roman back to sleep after all that commotion, so we snuggled on the couch for a bit.
12:30pm - There is a God!
Thank heavens Roman decided to go back to sleep! If there was one day that he absolutely needed to nap it would be today when he'll want to go trick-or-treating tonight! While Roman napped I decided to attack the massive pork loin that was waiting for me in the fridge. I picked this bad boy up at Costco yesterday and needed to break it down and freeze it. These are a great deal and you should definitely pick one up the next time you're in Costco. I cut most of the loin into thin pork chops that I'll likely use for cutlets later on, wrapped them in saran wrap and stuck them in a bag. The rest of the loin I chopped into chunks for honey garlic pork bites, bagged them and added the sauce.
Just as I finished the pork, this nap that we had worked so hard for was threatened again! This time it was a delivery of cups and water bottles from Tupperware. How is it that these people know exactly when a kid is sleeping and that's when they show up at your house? Luckily I was able to bribe Bronx and Lola with snacks this time to keep them quiet! With all crisis' overrated I decided to sit down and catch up on some YouTube videos. I have a few favorite YouTubers that I like to follow and this is the perfect opportunity to watch those videos!
2:30pm - Pumpkin Carving!
Once Roman woke up I decided we should carve our pumpkin! Nothing like leaving it until the last minute right? I had meant to do it with him yesterday but I decided to go to Mom's yesterday, and I didn't have any newspaper to sit the pumpkin on which surely would have lead to a disaster. I thought Roman would be all over the pumpkin guts, but I was really surprised that he wanted nothing to do with them. He was quite happy to poke around inside the pumpkin with a spoon, and munch on the pumpkin. It took him a long time to warm up to the idea of sticking his hand in there. Give it a few years and he'll be flinging pumpkin guts all over the house like his Mom and Uncle Selby used to. It really is a miracle that I survived my childhood. My Mom deserves way more credit than she gets for not killing me as a kid.
With our pumpkin carved, we headed outside to set them up on the planters out front. We don't have a ton of Halloween decorations but Roman loves the ones we have, particularly the giant kitty. He gets so excited every night when I plug it in and runs to the window saying "Kitty! Kitty!". Of course you can't take Roman outside and walk right past his tricycle without going for a ride. The ride didn't last long today since he seemed to have much more fun pushing the tricycle than riding it.
Roman had been eyeing the Teddy Grahams he got from Aunt Kathy in his Halloween bag so we decided to tear into them for his snack. Along with the Teddy Grahams he finished off the Old Fashioned Apple Crisp fruit pouch he started while at Aunt Kathy's work (also from his Halloween bag), a Yumberries & plum with ancient grains fruit pouch and some milk. It must have been a pretty good snack because he even helped me clean up afterwards! What do you think the chances of this continuing in the coming years are? Yeah, I didn't think so either... He did let me color with him in his new coloring book afterwards though! Which is more than I can say for myself because I've hidden my coloring book and crayons from him since he was tiny haha.
For supper tonight Roman and I made a dish that I haven't had in forever. Mom used to make this salsa beef dish a lot when I lived at home, and when she brought it up the other day I knew I had to make it. I was obviously too busy watching Roman eat the corn and handing out candy to take a picture, so you'll have to trust me that it's tasty. Maybe it'll be it's own post one day!
6:15pm - Trick-Or-Treating....again!
After quickly shoveling our food into our mouths, John got Roman all bundled up and headed out to collect some goodies! It was so cute watching the two of them walk down the street with Roman hanging on to his kitty basket! I will admit that I was close to tearing up over the whole thing. Lord help me when he goes off the Kindergarten if I'm getting misty over trick-or-treating.
After they finished half of our street, I ran out to snap a couple pictures of John and Roman. Would you believe that I had to take some of the candy out of Roman's kitty so that they could carry it! Roman must be well loved on our street because a few of the houses had special bags already waiting for him. Our neighbors had a massive treat bag waiting for him which included, a juice box, a cheese and bread stick snack, 6 containers of Play-doh and some candy! What a lucky boy Roman is!
If you read my "What's in your treat bags?" post then you already know what we handed out for treats. I had enough treat bags for 24 kids, which I thought was a safe amount since we had less than 20 kids last year. Well wouldn't you know it that this year we got slammed with kids. By 6:45pm I already had 18 kids and I was starting to panic!
7:00pm - Checking out his haul and Tubby time
Roman was completely wired when he came in from trick-or-treating with John. Be blasted through the door, ran up squealing to give me a hug, and was stomping and dancing all over the kitchen. Every kid should know that the first thing you do when you get home is dump out all your candy and give it the initial sort. Roman had a blast pulling all his treats out of his kitty and putting them back in. Once he was satisfied with his sort he headed off to the tub!
I was honestly shocked that Roman went to bed as early and easily as he did. I figured for sure we'd have a battle on our hands judging by the amount of energy he had in him after he came inside. Of course getting him to sleep, was only half of the battle. With kids still out roaming the streets we then had to keep the dogs quiet and keep Roman asleep. Thankfully our dogs are extremely food motivated so teat bribes managed to keep them quiet for the most part.
8:00pm - The Purge: Anarchy
Why did I let John convince me to watch this movie? I'm not a fan or scary movies or movies that mess with your mind for the most part, and definitely not at night on Halloween. If you haven't seen this movie, the premise is that the U.S. Government has enacted a law that makes all crimes legal for 12 hours and people basically run around killing (purging) people because it "cleanses their soul". Perfect movie for a night when you have random people coming up to your door with masks on right? Ack! The movie was pretty interesting but I could have lived without it tonight.
9:00pm - Lights out
We finally turned the lights and Halloween decorations off because it was getting a little late and I didn't want to risk waking Roman up anymore. The final tally for little goblins was 38! 38 and I only had treat bags for 24 kids. Luckily we had some really little guys that loved getting a couple Play-dohs and I also raided Roman's treat bag and gave out some of the candy/chips that John and I weren't going to eat. I'm just glad I didn't have to turn kids away because we didn't have candy. That's a sure fire way to get your house egged!
Overall it was a great Halloween for Roman! Now to take down all the Halloween decorations and get ready for the ultimate holiday, Christmas!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment