There are two things that I have always loved about Halloween, candy and carving pumpkins. Anyone that knows my husband and I knows that we are addicted to candy...all sorts of different candy. We are Dutch, raised on chocolate for breakfast and a culture that thinks a sandwich of white bread, lots of butter and brown sugar is perfectly fine. We are the parents that will always have candy in the house, although we try and eat it after the girls go to bed. My point is, and I do have one, is this....My kids are NOT going to be those kids who never eat sugar. They are not going to be those kids who at church potlucks or birthday parties are frantically stuffing their pockets full of candy because they are deprived at home. Nope, my kids are going to be the discerning type, who know what kind of candy they want and just take a couple because it is no big deal. Bear actually loves the idea of candy, but never eats it all. Pookie, however, is showing signs of her heritage and a love of the sweet. The second thing I love about Halloween are pumpkins. I love carving pumpkins. When I was younger, I used to doodle different pumpkin faces at school. I would agonize over which face I was going to commit too. Then the search for the perfect pumpkin began. So this year, I decide to share my love of pumpkins with my daughters. Out of the 3 pumpkins we picked from the patch, 2 were rotten. Bad pumpkin season on the Wet Coast! Pookie and I drew a couple of faces and settled on a traditional 2 triangle eyes, triangle nose and a big smile with 2 square teeth. I went outside to get the pumpkin, and that is when the drama began...
Bear had a traumatic experience at the pumpkin patch this year. She was terrified of the pumpkin and corn people dancing around the patch. She screamed the whole time we were there and would not let go of me. It was so bad that we had to go to McD for the rest of her birthday celebration. Apparently, a real pumpkin was just as scary for Bear and she began crying when we brought the pumpkin in the house. I comforted her (like any good mama) and she calmed down...only to completely freak out when I drew the face on. Pookie was dancing with excitement and Bear was climbing the walls in fear. The ultimate Mama dilemma, disappoint Pookie by not carving the pumpkin or have a crying Bear for the day? I looked at Pookie and I looked at Bear...then I picked up the knife and began carving, praying that Bear's therapy would not bankrupt us! Amidst Bear's freaking out, Pookie and I gleefully pulled out pumpkin guts, carved our happy face and found a candle to light it up. Pookie ran around the house to get in dark and I struck the match and suddenly found Bear scrambling up my leg, a quivering mass of fear. We couldn't get Bear to calm down, so the pumpkin was banished to our balcony, facing the other way so Bear couldn't see it. Maybe next year, we'll actually get to see our pumpkin face!
***I must admit, my very favorite thing to do is trick or treat with toddlers/preschoolers. I am convinced that they are the cutest! We went with 4 other families and we had 10 kids all dressed up as various animals. Pookie and Bear were a unicorn and giraffe, we had 2 zebras, 3 lions, a cow, tiger and a little chicken and kitty. So great. Plus, people really like seeing little ones at their door, I swear that they just dumped the bowl into the kids' bags. Quite a stash for mom and dad..I mean, for the girls****
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