Halloween Weekend

Boo! Does the sight of my disco ball belly scare you? It's beginning to scare me. All of the anticipation, all of the unknowns, all of the changes ahead...only 11 days to go until our induction date. We're hoping that inducing my a few days before my due date will prevent this baby from reaching nearly 10lbs like his brother who came barreling through the birth canal. But we'll see! He'll be well worth it. Can't wait to meet him.

We spent the Saturday before Halloween creating costumes, celebrating my little sister's bday with a surprise morning breakfast (which turned out to be extra frightening when the responsible older sisters set off the fire alarm on our way her room with a 14 candle-banana en flambe...lots of laughs, no damage). Then, since the little birthday ghoul didn't have a costume prepared, we played with hair and make up until we came up with the "haunted ballerina" get-up. Sometimes we have a little too much fun together. And isn't Amy the cutest witch you've ever seen? She could never scare a flea.

We then paraded down Spanish fork main street with some of the sweetest and scariest trick or treaters in town. Michael had the trick or treating down to an art. Aaron marched, and sometimes ran faithfully behind him, always anxious to keep up. His little dino tail wagged to and fro in front of me as he carried his blue pumpkin full of goodies. I loved holding each of the princesses hands, discussing the all important matters of their palaces. Grandpatty and pappy were great main street trick or treating hosts.

On Halloween day Grandpats (as Aaron occasionally calls her) created a scrumptious pumpkin feast-- delightful decor, dinner, desserts, and all of the spooky dressings to boot. As if the miniature haunted house that lights up, screams and spurts out other scary sounds weren't cool enough. How did I get such a wonderful mother-in-law? I adore her. So does the little dino...er, I mean dragon.

Poor Jonny wasn't able to come parading or trick or treating with us. He was the lucky med student who got stuck with the Halloween overnight shift. Aaron kept saying, "Poor dada has to work...Poor dada is so tired..." He was right. But, we had a great time at the ward Halloween party the night before.

We went the easy, predictable route with our costumes for the ward party. My doctor outfitted me with a gown from the hospital that I will be wearing again in just a few days. Jonny wore his med student scrubbery, and Aaron was decked out as the attending in charge, ready for baby J's delivery. Oh yes, he also insisted on wearing his soccer shoes. What a cool doctor.
Aaron also did a great impression of his dad's sleepless OB rotation face:
Thankfully, we'll have a schedule that is a bit more manageable until the end of the year while we welcome another little one into our home: ophthalmology, then family practice. But, I'm sure my eyes will be looking like that in just a few weeks here...
We trick or treated with Paul and Amy's family. It's always a treat to be with them. The rain made our night rather tricky, though Paul made it an adventure with his suggestion to load all of the kiddos in the back of the Pilot as we rounded the neighborhood. We had a ball. It was fun to see how Aaron wanted to eat everything that night. Good thing we didn't visit many houses.
Some of my favorite Aaron Halloween phrases were, "Trick or treat!...ok let's go to the next house!," "Hurry, let's hop in the back of uncle Paul's car," "Where's Bellzozo (Ella)," "Put on your sparkly belly mom!" "They're not scary, they're just pretending." And, of course, "ROAR!!!"