Halloween night

Well, we apparently live in Mayberry. The day before Halloween I came home from a dispiriting day of running errands to find some cookies on my doorstep and a note: "Happy first Virginia Halloween!" signed by our neighbors. Immediately cheered me up. Then McKinley Elementary, where Rachel goes to school, had a school-wide parade Thursday at 2 p.m., the day of Halloween. I went, because I figured that if I didn't go, and next year this time if I have a job, then I'll kick myself that I didn't attend this school event when I could easily do so.

It was epic. Really.

The parade was led by the Arlington Police; they closed the surrounding streets. At the head of the parade was the Swanson Middle School band, wearing "help the homeless" t-shirts and playing "Louie, Louie," -- their "theme song," explained the band director. Each class had a banner, all the teachers and their aides were dressed up in costume, and Rachel and a classmate, Marat (who speaks Greek at home, he told me today) held the banner. Rachel looked adorable in her little Ariel costume. (She complained it was itchy last week, and Drew was really mad that he had bought a costume she didn't want to wear, so I offered to sew cloth inside the parts she said were itchy, which I did, which took three hours and all of my really bad stitching...only to have her announce on the morning of Halloween that she would wear a t-shirt underneath, which if she had agreed to do so last week would have saved me a lot of time and work and I never would have stabbed myself in the thumb with a needle. Suffice to say that, Mom, I can't believe you made all those dresses of ours when we were kids and I TOTALLY SALUTE YOU).

Anyway.

So, the kids marched around the block while I madly took pictures and teared up, because, really, where else does this happen? Rachel looked SO happy to see me when I just showed up (I had warned her I might not be able to come because I had a dentist appointment for a sore tooth, and even though it took longer than I thought it would, I was still determined to make the parade).  I watched the parade with a mom whose son is in Rachel's class; she was there with her FOURTH child, a toddler, and I marveled at her patience and her slim figure. The high school band played a few numbers when they got back, including "In the Mood." They sounded pretty decent. When the band members were done I went to Rachel's class and watched her eat candy and make a pumpkin face out of an orange paper plate and some black construction paper, then went home to...

prepare for the onslaught of trick or treaters I just KNEW we were going to have. I lit two tea candles in the pumpkin Rachel and Drew carved last week, put the bowl of candy on the hall table and..waited...and...waited. Got the neighbor kids at 5:30, our across the street neighbors at 6:30 and a bunch 'o kids between 7 and 7:30. Drew, meanwhile, took Rachel out trick or treating with Ivy. They squabbled a bit about who would get to say "trick or treat!" first, and he noted later to me that while Ivy is a nice kid, she can be kind of bossy (she's in 2nd grade, I told him, of course she's bossy). We had a fast dinner of warmed-up brisket and cornbread, and Rachel got to eat two small pieces of candy before she went to bed. I kept away from the candy although I was sorely tempted to indulge. As a friend of mine from Portland said last year: must remember to keep away from the fun-sized candy if I want to have a fun-sized body.

And then Drew and I stayed up until 12:30 unrolling our new rug in the family room, hanging art and re-shelving the books, CDs and knickknacks, all of which had to be moved to get the rug in place. Happy Halloween, everyone!