It's Party Time is Code for I'll Be Asleep in Ten Minutes

Spidey chasing a pillaging Viking.

Who needs a mask when you can just cover your face with your hands.

Meandering her way down Candy Lane.

The parade. Way ahead. Stella and me. Way in the back. She took her time getting her treats.

Mark just informed me It's party time. Not entirely sure what he has in mind. Currently he is flipping back and forth between Ballroom Dancing on PBS and games of the football and baseball variety. He must be referring to the Edy's Hot Cocoa ice cream thawing on the kitchen counter and the Horror movie, Session 9, sitting on top of our DVD. It's the Eve of Halloween, after all.

Our Boo-tastic weekend has certainly been jam-packed already. We kicked Friday morning off with an appointment with CMC's Pediatric Infectious Disease group. Creepy, right? Stella has an additional noxious antibiotic to add to her twice a day regimen and a looming second surgery that seems to be dialing in on inevitable.

Being scheduled on the Friday before Halloween is actually the perfect time to visit the practice. You get a brainy doc dressed in an orange wig, oversized orange glasses, and a Fisher Price guitar strapped over his shoulder. He looked a cross between Bozo the Clown and a member of Deee-Lite, the long defunct house/dance music group from the early 90's. You also get more than your fair share of candy while they poke you with big needles and draw more blood than you can imagine a tiny girl having in her body.

I managed to throw a 13ish mile trail run in this morning. It was just what this mommy needed to face the afternoon of power outage, no naps, and buzzing children wanting 4:30 to desperately get here so they can dress up in a costume, wander down a neighborhood street, and get lots and lots of treats.

Some time ago, HeHe gave Heath a Spider-Man costume. Some time more recently, Heath talked Mark into getting a Batman costume. And some time even more recently, Heath tried to talk me into getting an Iron Man costume. Or Bakugan costume. Or Snow White costume. Or Cat in the Hat costume. Or some other costume, any other costume, besides Spider-Man or Batman. I held firm--Batman or Spider-Man. Those are your choices. And how nice to have two to choose from.

At 4:20, he made his choice. Spider-Man. No mask. And if anyone wants to know what footwear Spidey wears--running shoes. To run so fast after bad guys.

Stella was, of course, a Pumpkin.

The cutest, I mean, scariest couple of Vikings I have ever seen showed up at our house with their Viking mom and beleaguered Cameraman dad. We all made our way to the start of the neighborhood parade, led by our neighborhood Fire Truck, good ole #16. Stella and I were the caboose of the parade. She preferred stopping at each driveway to collect a piece of candy, then ask me to open it. I would say, No, let's wait until the end of the parade. And we would SLOWLY walk to the next basket, while she would proceed to try to eat the candy anyway, wrapper and all, until we reached the next driveway or person with a bowl of candy.

Heath was ahead with Mark and our friends. When we met at the end of the street, it was clear he had managed to hit all the candy bowls, and had also managed to quickly sneak a few pieces of chocolate in. No naps, jacked up on candy--party, indeed. (I think the party Mark may be referring to is the sound of sleeping children.)

The celebration continues tomorrow with a Halloween party in the morning at a preschool pal's house. We'll see if Spider-Man goes, or if Bruce Wayne will emerge from the Batcave as Batman. Either way, going out again tomorrow evening to collect more candy feels daunting at the moment. I'm starting to think Clover, SC had a good idea with Saturday night Trick-or-Treating.