Costume | All In A Dad's Work

I logged in to WP this morning to write this post. I was going to write it last night but the kids were late going to bed and I had to get a walk in so I could try to keep up in the FitBit challenges. Anyway…

Last week was Literature Week at Crash and Bang’s school. It’s probably the best week ever! Books! How cool is it that when the students hear *DING DING* on the intercom they are to stop whatever they are doing and read? Shouldn’t every work place have this feature?

Wednesday was a special day because family was invited into the building to read for a half hour with our kids. We all gathered in the gym on the little blue mats and we read. They read. We shared books with other kids when we finished the ones we had. It was amazing to see the gym packed and everyone kicked back reading to each other.

Then Friday was supposed to be “Dress as your favorite character” day. But because of impending weather (a snow storm that dropped a foot of snow) it ended up being a half day of school and dress up day got moved to Tuesday.

We scrambled to figure out who Crash was going to be. He wanted to be the infamous Harry Potter. While I was thrilled at the idea, it wasn’t practical because we had nothing he could wear that would even remotely look like Harry. Crash is blonde like Draco, but who wants to be Draco?

On Sunday he changed his mind. He has been reading “Castle in the Attic” by Elizabeth Winthrop. He found it on his own and started reading it on his own. He loved it. And that was before he met Sir Simon, the knight in the castle. Mind you, Sir Simon is only three inches tall, but there is a wizard, Alastor, too. There is also a magic token that can shrink people to Sir Simon’s size and there’s a quest to embark upon to stop Alastor after Mrs. Phillips and William are shrunk. It certainly is among my favorites and I couldn’t be prouder of Crash for choosing it.

Anyway, he decided he wanted to be Sir Simon for Dress Up Day so we had to figure out how to make him a knight. Flash forward to Monday night and DW has an idea to make it all work out. She and Crash hit up the Dollar Store and find a sword/shield combo. They pick up two aluminum oven trays, some silver duct tape, and a red balaclava.

Introducing…. Sir Simon!

Now to get the science fair project underway….

If you missed my earlier post, please visit Bradley Wood’s Fundraising Page. You can read about Melina, a 10 month who had retinoblastoma, a malignant eye cancer. My brother is raising money and riding in honor of her for The Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY.

I hope everyone has fully recovered from trick or treating. Whether you were the one passing out the treats or you were escorting minions to do the tricks, it was a night of fun (mostly).

Sticking to tradition, we traveled to see Crash and Bang’s grandparents (Nanny and Guppie), first. We stopped at some friends houses while we were there. One house was done up as a haunted house. Inside was decorated to look like a church, there was a coffin (with a “dead” person lying in it) at the front, while park benches represented pews. There were zombie nuns sitting in those. We both figured Bang (the four year old) would get scared and not want to go in. We couldn’t have been more wrong. He was leading the way! He was amazed. “Whoa, awesome!” “Sick!” “Awe man! Look at this!” He loved it. Granted, it was still light out. His story may have changed had it been dark. Maybe not.

We returned to town for a quick supper at McDonald’s. In costume. Yes, DW and I were in costume, too. It was a family theme this year. Then we drove to visit a few more friends who lived slightly farther away than walking distance.

Once done driving around, we dumped the loot they had collected to this point in the living room. We threw on some jackets under the costumes because 6C (42F) is kinda chilly. With empty loot bags, we started hoofing it.

I’m hoping it’s not just my kid. Well, I know there was at least one other – I heard about another on the radio this morning. We walked to the top of our street, had stopped at about 15 or so houses and Crash said he was ready to go home. Huh? One night of the year you get FREE candy and chips (and sometimes pop, juice boxes or bottles of water) and he’s too lazy to walk and go get it? I suppose next year the candy passer outters will deliver to the trick or treaters. You know, so the little tricksters won’t have to do all that walking.

Once he realized we weren’t turning around because we still had more friends to see and more places to stop along the way, he stopped complaining. Of course, when you’re walking with a four year old you have to walk a bit slower. It’s more like the zombie shuffle than actual walking. Finally, we had reached the last house at the end of the street – the house we had visited last weekend for the Halloween party. They, too, like to go all out. they were dressed as pirates. Their house was complete with a fog machine, skeleton sailor, and scary lights. Crash and Bang loved it. Bang wanted to stay and play some more. But we had to walk home, trick or treating the other side of the street on the way back.

This is where Bang got tired of walking. Which is baloney because I’ve seen him walk all day. But it was past his bedtime, so I’ll give him that. Once back home, they each got a small treat, then they were up the stairs, washed off their yellow face paint, brushed teeth, and tucked into bed. The “parent tax” was enforced so we helped ourselves to a bit. There’s so much though, they won’t even notice.

Now to ration it out. Bang was already busted (he ratted himself out, actually) eating four tootsie rolls. He says he gets four because he is four. In that case, I get thirty-nine. Hand ’em over, buddy!

Hope your sugar crash wasn’t as bad as your sugar high!