Halloween Day

Clark didn't do school on Halloween because he got up early and went into work for an 11 hour pizza making day.
Have you ever picked up pizza to eat for dinner on Halloween?  We almost always have.  I never really considered just how much work goes into getting a pizza store ready for the insanity that is Halloween.  So much prep work.
Clark was "Clark Kent".  This made me happy because he was a baby Superman for his first Halloween.  It was fitting he would be Superman again for his last Halloween at home before the mission.

As per tradition, Abe did go in to pick up our pizza and snapped a picture of Clark while he was at it.

Our cutie little trick-or-treaters.
Abe said that in the excitement of the festivities, Peter had some language breakthroughs and even tried saying trick-or-treat and thank you.  Hooray!

Meeting up with friends in the neighborhood.

Bethany took Faith and a couple of friends around and then picked up Sam to go along with them.  Sam is autistic and Abe has worked with him at church since Sam was about 7 years old (he just turned 16).  We all LOVE Sam!

Such fun they are.
Recently the boys were jumping around and yelling and wrestling with their shirts off.  I mentioned to Abe that it had been one of those days and they'd been like this all day.
He suggested that I now had some idea of what most of his childhood was like.

The D&D guys moved upstairs from the basement for the occasion of Halloween.  Cannon so enjoys hanging with Clark and the guys that he cut his trick-or-treating short so he could join them.
Also, he's not a big candy eater, so no big loss for him.
Kind of a big loss for me though, since I can't charge candy taxes on candy that doesn't exist.

Poor Elinor hurt her ankle and couple nights previous and it was still quite swollen and discolored on Halloween.  So after most of the trick-or-treating was done, she and I took a little jaunt to the urgent care for an X-ray.  No broken bones, but she'll be in a boot for a week or so more.
In this picture she looks much taller than me... but this is not the case.  It is the angle!
She is my height, however, and it looks like she may pass me up at some point.  But not yet!

I just like this one.

 What a dream.
She is so much snuggly goodness.

Oh, the cheeks!  THE CHEEKS!  I just want to kiss them all day.

Babies are a lot of work.  It's hard to get things done the way you would like to, when you would like to.  You are always at their beck and call-- they decide when you can sleep, eat, shower, go to the store.  You adjust what you even hope or want to do.  Outings that used to be appealing just aren't anymore.  It's so much easier for everyone to just stay home.
And this isn't coming from a first time mom.  This is my experience after 8 babies.  That being said, the rewards well outweigh the costs.  And when you get a dream baby, like Greta... well, it is a little piece of heaven on earth.

And I'm not the only one who is smitten with her.  George can't stop kissing her, Bethany can't stop  squeezing her, and Clark regularly notices and comments on her her cuteness (which is something).

 I read this fascinating book, which I highly recommend, entitled, "Essentialism"  It was really, really good for me to read at this time in my life when I am feeling stretched thin and torn between so many responsibilities, but not feeling like I'm doing anything particularly well.

Hmm.. safety first.
Do you like the razor sitting right within arm's reach of the toddler?  Speaking of not doing things particularly well.

Here's to a good start to the week, with a whole lot less candy than last week.