I miss the old Halloween.

It's almost time to dress the kiddies up in their Halloween costumes, get their treat bags ready, teach them to say "Trick or Treat", and take them to the mall.

What?  Huh?  The mall?  What for?  Are we eating there before we go trick or treating????  I'm confused.

When I was a child, most of the costumes I ever had consisted of a plastic mask that was secured to your head with a rubber band, a highly flammable plastic cape or dress depending on what you were gonna be, and a round orange plastic pumpkin to store all your loot in.  The plastic mask had 2 eye holes, 2 small nostril holes and a little slit in the mouth.  Have you ever gotten your tongue stuck in one of those masks?  Anyone?  Please tell me I wasn't the only one with a shredded tongue from one of those things.  And God help you if that rubber band got snapped against your head somehow.  You saw stars for quite awhile after that. 

For the actual trick or treating, we were let loose in a neighborhood and got to go to people's actual houses.  And we ate the candy in the back seat of the car on the way home with no worries of it being messed with in some way.  And please don't forget that wonderful stomach ache later on that night.

Those were the days.

I feel sorry for kids nowadays.  Granted, I'm sure there are still neighborhoods around that you can trick or treat in.  I am hoping to go to one of those this year with Bean.  But for a while now, the trend has been to take the kids to a mall or a store and let them trick or treat there because "it's safer".  Our town also used to have an amazing Halloween carnival at the elementary school.  I don't even think it's still called a "Halloween Carnival".  I think to be politically correct, they've changed the name of it to Fall Festival or Harvest Celebration, or some stupid crap like that.  Some churches have gotten into the act, too, and started their own Fall Festivals to compete against Halloween since it's the devil's day.  You know, I dressed up in plenty of costumes and celebrated plenty of Halloweens, and ate plenty candy and I'm pretty sure I'm still a Christian.  I don't have any worries there.  I don't think I'm going to hell because I dressed up as Plastic Princess Leia one year.  I just think it's sad that kids can't enjoy Halloween like we used to.  You have to worry about people doing things to the candy that they give out.  You have to worry about crime and people way scarier than any boogeyman we ever made up stories about.

It's just sad.  Now, I will admit that I do not miss those costumes.  But I do miss the free spirit (no pun intended) of the old Halloweens.  It's just a shame that this world has changed so much that our kids probably will never know how much fun Halloween used to be.

*Picture courtesy of http://www.beckyhiggins.com

Wordless Wednesday - Being Silly with the Bowl

"I love you"

Two days ago Bean told me for the very first time that she loves me.  It was so sweet and what I've been waiting forever to hear.

Does she know what she is saying?  I don't even care.

The PawPaw

Bean loves her PawPaw. She has, at times, woken up, waved to me, said "Hey Mommy", and then the next thing out of her mouth is "PawPaw". She is probably his biggest fan.

I'm hoping she'll grow out of it.

That's really an inside joke between my father-in-law and I but nevertheless, I hope she grows out of it.

She is fascinated with him. She thinks he's the greatest thing since her discovery of candy, which I might add was helped along by none other than "PawPaw".

This kid even knows exactly where he works. Now, she is small for her age so she still sits rear-facing in her car seat. She doesn't get to see much when she's looking out the windows while we are driving. It all has to be a blur, especially when Daddy is driving. But as soon as we start driving by his shop, she starts yelling out "PawPaw! PawPaw!". It amazes me that she already has this figured out.

The Pumpkin Patch

Here's some pictures of Bean on her inaugural visit to the local pumpkin patch last year.

This is Bean this year (2009) at the pumpkin patch.  As you can see, my seasonal clothing coordination has flown out the window.

 

We had a great time, all except my boots which got quite up close and personal with a pile of goat poop.  We got to pet goats, sheep, and rabbits.  We got to run from chicken and turkeys, and got to be grateful we aren't that one solitary pig playing around in all that nasty mud.  We walked through the corn maze with Bean leading the way.  For some reason, she only wanted to take right turns.  We went on a hayride, too.  And Bean ran through the pumpkins trying to pick them all up.  We did so much that by the end of the trip, Bean was crawling back into the stroller herself.  She had conquered the pumpkin patch and was completely over it and just wanted to take a nap.  Me, too.

Wordless Wednesday - In Daddy's Arms

21 months old!!!!

Bean was 21 months old yesterday!!! Woohoo!!!!