Halloween was great and I'll get some pics posted as soon as I get some. We're waiting on a film camera. LOL As soon as the family pics were taken, Deedee ran over to Carey's mother saying she wanted to see and it took a bit to get her to understand that this camera had no view screen.

In the early afternoon my friend Bernadette stopped in for a bit before she had to meet her husband at the mall for the Halloween functions that had been planned there for kids. Kitty got hurt when Charles hit her in the head with a piece of their toy box that had come undone. It's actually an old printer cabinet but it works perfectly for toys. Unfortunately, I didn't find it before one of the plastic clips on the back punctured the skin on Kitty's forehead. She's ok, it bled very slightly (especially for a head wound) and if there was a concussion, it's only minimal. There was no swelling or bruising, and is wasn't as deep as the subcutaneous fat so no stitches were needed. She might have a slight scar when it's healed but so far it looks great. It was a hassle trying to get her to hold still long enough to clean her up and put the bandage on (one of the mini ones was sufficient to cover it). But what to do about Charles? He had to apologize and he then spent the rest of the day in his room with the toy box in the hall. I honestly don't think he meant to hurt her. There was also discussion about him not going trick or treating but in the end we decided he'd atoned enough and he was well behaved after he came out of his room.

I put all of the kids in their cool new fleece sweatshirts that Gramma Sue made them for Halloween. I had picked them up on Monday after a Halloween party I took the kids to at a local non profit organization, Success by Six. They made pumpkin muffins, colored pictures, and made ghost feet. One of the women dusted a foot with white chalk and then pressed it onto black paper. She then traced around the foot with a white crayon, adding arms on each side. So the heel is the head and the toes are the "ruffles" at the bottom of the the ghostie. She drew faces on each one with a black crayon. They're awesome and they're certainly going into their baby books. James had to be a complete stubborn booger and didn't get to participate in most stuff. He sat in time out for almost half the time. Sigh.....

So the kids were really psyched to be putting on their cool new sweaters for the party on Wednesday. They're bright orange. I loved the embroidery and also that it was kind of hard to miss that orange. With the kids in all similar orange shirts (a couple had black sleeves, and two had pockets) with Halloween embroidery, it was hard to miss that they belonged together. This was especially helpful in keeping track of the little buggers since I was by myself! Carey was in class until 6:30. :( I mainly took them for the free pizza but they did have fun. There was a little haunted house with three rooms (James refused to go past the first room), and a ghost pinata that they got to hit. My little ones managed to get a few pieces of candy apiece. I was especially proud of James. He came running up, showing me his candy all proud that he'd gotten "a lot": two pieces. Most of the other kids were crying that they'd either gotten none, or that others had gotten more. Even Deedee managed to get a piece, which she promptly shoved in her face. We left early since I had to get the kids into their costumes to head out the door for trick or treating by 7. Once again the awesome sweaters came in handy in keeping the little buggers warm in all of their layers.

Originally we'd planned on going to the mall. Warm, safe, and BORING! Instead, I dug out the warmest costumes I could find, layered them well, and we did it the old fashioned way. Kitty was a ducky & Deedee was a bunny (for those of you that have pics from last Halloween, I'm sure you recognize Charles' & Deedee's costumes respectively). Both of those were one piece outfits, and the ducky was heavy fleece. So the girls stayed quite warm. We couldn't really show off James' costume very well, but his skellie face worked quite fine. Besides, everyone was too busy looking at the lights on his coat. Charles was a witch (wizard). His costume consisted of a cape and a pointy heat, both easily worn over a coat and stocking cap. I was a witch: long black dress with lots of layers, striped socks and awesome purple hat with black netting, a black rose and even feathers. I love it. Carey was a serial killer, as in no costume. He says they look like everybody else. Bleh The kids did great, and no one complained. They were almost always polite and always said thank you and happy Halloween at each stop. They all netted about half a bag full, not including the apple and little bag of chips they scored from Gramma Sue on their first stop. One of the houses we stopped at was really decked out: graveyard, spooky music, fog machine, etc. At that place, there was a gorilla handing out the candy. As we were walking away, Charles called him Nilla. LOL We hit several blocks, but we decided to pack it in when Kitty started falling asleep on Carey's shoulder. So we loaded up and went to see family friends of Carey's. He's known them for 17 years and their son is a good friend of his. They were excited to see us, and they loved the kids costumes and gave Carey some ribbing for not wearing one. We were about there for 20 minutes and arrived hom right at 9, which is when we wanted to be home.

I hauled the kids upstairs and gave them a bath to get rid off all the makeup. Charles was disappointed to see his silver eyebrows and beard go away (I used shimmery face paint for this, it was cool) and his shimmery blue eyeshadow. Deedee's pink nose was long gone but James' was still in relatively good condition so it took a bit to scrub all of that off and his lashes were still dark when I was done. I also had to wash that critter on his head calling itself hair. It's high time for a trim. As they played, I read them some Halloween stories and then they quietly went to bed (after eating their one piece of candy and brushing their teeth).

Thursday, they were running around and pretending to trick or treat again. It warmed my heart to hear one say trick or treat, and then say thank you and happy Halloween. LOL That afternoon we had our followup visit from the CPS and passed with flying colors. Yay. Hopefully I won't have to worry about that anymore.

Today, Deedee went to visit with my friend Bernadette for a couple of hours. She was well behaved and had lots of fun. She says she wants to go back. :D James and Charles played quietly outside for over an hour. They went around with a small pack of boys (those that are well behaved and with whom I'd hope for friendships with) and never once did either of them come running tattling that either of them had been hit or hit someone else, no one was being called names, and no one was being left out. The only time my two separated from the pack is when they realized I had candy, so of course they came running.

This evening Charles and I had some errands to run. We stopped in at the drug store to look at party favors for a certain someones birthday party later this month. He has chosen a wizard theme so I thought small geodes, polished stones, etc. would work well. We stopped in at Carey's parents for Charles to have a quick potty break and it was off to the library. He was well behaved and was excited when he got to pick out a dvd to watch tomorrow. He broke down at the store, which resulted in him not getting to ride the little mechanical toy they have their. All over a stupid piece of candy. Bleh How do you explain to an almost 4 year old that has no concept of amounts that 1 cent will not pay for something that costs over a dollar? I guess it's time to get a money set and start working more on their numbers.

We also had our weekly appointment with the woman helping us in the parenting department and we got some helpful info to ponder. She also brought to our attention that Kitty might have an ear infection. Most of the week, she's been really fussy at night and sleeps well only while sitting up. It never entered my head it might be her ears, the poor little thing. If she's fussy again tonight, I'm thinking of taking her to the emergency room. It's been bad every night, with last night being the worst so I'm worried that it's not getting better and is only getting worse. :(