Avery would say it like this: I doe yike it

I don't like Halloween all that much.

My husband hates it.

Our first problem this year was finding Noah a costume - because he wanted to be something creepy or gross, which I just wasn't having. We finally decided on a black ninja costume, I ordered it, and was glad to be done. I had to pay extra for shipping at that point to guarantee it would arrive the day before his costume parade at school.

The day before his costume parade at school the package arrived. I opened the box. When I saw a bunch of bright colors I knew we had a problem. When I lifted out the most hideous clown costume you have ever seen - I was just pissed.

I immediately called the company, the representative was neither very nice or helpful, and I was informed that the black ninja costume I'd ordered and paid for was completely out of stock, but would I like to choose something else??

Um NO.

So that night Paul and Noah were hitting up every Halloween store in town (pretty much Paul's worst nightmare) and having the same battle with Noah all over again.

There were gone for what seemed like forever. I got one text from Paul while they were out:

"I hate halloween."

Noah came home with a pirate costume - the same exact one I told him before he left that he could borrow from a friend. He insists it's not the same (it is).

Friday I got to haul my 2-year-old to not one but two costume parades at school.

Alex's was first. It wasn't too bad - just the morning kindergarten classes which meant it wasn't too crowded, and Avery only cried a little bit.

But I didn't get very good pictures on my cell phone:

We were back in the afternoon for Noah's parade. A lot more kids, a lot more parents - it's always a madhouse. We got there 15 minutes early and still had to park way too far away. We went to Noah's classroom to snap a few pics beforehand - Avery was screaming her head off and once again I didn't get any good pics on my cell phone:

Then we went outside to wait for the parade to go by. Avery was still screaming so I let her out of the stroller. The parade was passing and I had my phone in hand, watching for Noah's class. Next thing I knew there was a big commotion - and it took me a minute to realize my child was the cause of it. Avery had run into the middle of the pack of kids parading by and basically got trampled, slamming her head pretty hard into the asphalt. As I ran into the mass of swarming and confused children to scoop up my screaming and injured 2-year-old I heard another parent say (loudly) "Whose kid is that??"

I headed to the back of the crowd to calm Avery down - where she passed out in my arms (used to that by now). She came too really quickly and continued to cry. By the time I had her under control...the parade was over. I had missed Noah.

Luckily, a friend of mine was also there, saw what had happened and snapped a picture of Noah for me as he went by.

I also have to mention that just before Noah got trampled I was chatting with the mom standing next to me, it came up in conversation that I was a Mormon, and it seemed to me that she acted awkward. Was it just in my head, because of everything in the media right now? Maybe. I don't know.

Either way, I came home from the school costume parade wanting to cry.

Instead, I laid down on the couch, closed my eyes, and ignored my kids for awhile.

Oh yeah, and one more thing. As we were leaving, I saw another parent using her iphone to take pics of her kid...and zooming in.

what?? my iphone camera can zoom??

I. am. an idiot.

And.

I don't much like Halloween.