On review, that picture still isn't all that great, in terms of showing what their costumes look like. Nick was the Hooded One, from the Bone graphic novels, just like last year. He wanted Zoe to dress as a Rat Creature, but his pleas were ignored. Instead I made her a puppy dog costume. It's just felt basted onto a brown shirt and pants, and the hat from the peasant boy outfit I made Nick when he was a toddler. I'm pretty happy about how it turned out, and Zoe loved it.

That minivan I was waiting for? Hit by a tornado. Seriously. Before I took possession, fortunately. The dealership it was located in was hit, it was damaged, and that's the end of that. Our dealer has found another, nearly identical vehicle (no cargo net in the replacement - color me undisturbed) so we have to stop by the dealership again tomorrow and sign off on car number two, then wait a few extra days to receive it. Hopefully it'll arrive before we go camping this weekend. Without any more weirdness.

Nick spent most of Halloween day lying on the sofa looking miserable. It was the most boring Halloween day we've had in years. We couldn't go anywhere, and a lot of the fun stuff I'd had planned didn't happen. We ate a dinner I threw together at the last minute, for example, because eating Monster Toes and Cheesy Corns while he was too sick to join us seemed more than a little mean - I always fix something special for Halloween, and he'd been excitedly waiting to see what it would be this year. When trick-or-treat time drew near, Nick decided he was to ill to go along, a decision I endorsed. I got Zoe in her costume, Rich went to the front porch, and Nick settled down to watch Wallace and Gromit. Zoe rode her wagon and quickly grasped the essentials of the evening - she never learned to say "trick or treat", but she was happy to holler out "candy!"."And "tank you", because she is a polite little girl. We walked down the block, collecting goodies and complements and stuffing our faces, for about half an hour. Then I got a call.

Nick had changed his mind. He was desperate to go along, the thought of missing out was just too painful. We walked back, helped Nick into his costume, and set out again. He held up all right. We visited a great many houses, on up to the famous Inflatables House several blocks down. It was jam-packed, but we fought through the crowds, holding hands to stay together. Last year we spent a lot of time looking at the inflatables themselves - this year Nick was interested in the haunted house. Zoe was agreeable, so we went through. That was probably a mistake - it was pretty scary. Nick started off laughing at the people who leaped out at us, but by the end he had his fingers in his ears and was saying "I'm not scared, I'm not scared" in a not particuarly convincing fashion. Zoe was looking alarmed too. No, I don't think I did serious psychological damage to either. But they were glad ot be out of there. Sheer greed and endorphins kept Nick moving forward for almost an hour, when he finally announced that Zoe looked tired. Which she did; I let the comment pass without challengeand we headed home.

Zoe ate even more candy at home. She has never in her life been permitted to gorge on that much junk food, and she clearly thought she was in heaven. It wasn't long before I hauled her off to bed, though, because she was clearly exhausted. I'm not sorry to have missed the sugar crash.  Nick didn't eat a bite, another sign of how sick he still was. He methodically spread out all his goodies and categorized and counted them, instead, which seemed to bring him much satisfaction. I sent him off to bed soon enough, too.

The next morning Nick still looked lousy, so we skipped church and stayed home again. By evening he was much recovered, and finally ate some dinner. I don't think Nick has ever gone two days without eating before; he's in no danger of starving to death but it was worrisome. Today he headed off to school and was just fine. Zoe, meanwhile, wanted to hop in the wagon and go get more candy. I guess Halloween made an inpression on her. 

I don't have a really great picture of the kids in costume this year; that's one of the things that didn't happen this time. This one from Boo at the Zoo two weeks ago is the best one with the pair of them.

I have two bits of important news and absolutely no idea how to segue from one to the other. I suppose I could write two separate entries, but that would be too much like work. So you'll just have to bear with me.

Up first: we bought a minivan! I am totally a soccer mom now, the more so because I am so excited about this. It's a Toyota Sienna. We'll actually take possession early next week, because its being shipped in from another dealer in the region, and then - I say with a mixture of enthusiasm and embarressment - the DVD system needs to be installed. I haven't even mentioned that part to the kids yet; they are totally going to spazz out when they get the news. Meantime, we traded in the Saturn and Rich is driving a bright red loaner car, so he looks all cool for a day or two, till he switches to driving the Camry. Which I also love, but it is probably even less cool than the minivan, being all scratched and battered looking. (But it runs great! Years of use still in that car! Just not even slightly pretty.)

And now to completely switch gears, because the other thing happening around here is Halloween, and Nick is sick. Probably with what I had last week. He was throwing up all night and all morning, and is now lying on the couch, sipping water and feeling miserable and sorry for himself. We're still hoping he might be able to go out tonight, but trick-or-treating will clearly have to be curtailed, and he can't actually eat any candy till he recovers. This is about the worst day of the year for a little kid to get sick. I feel very bad for him.

Zoe made the front page! Full color and everything. Very exciting! And yes, if you are one of her grandparents, you will be getting a copy, I'm talking to you, Mom.

Oh, and here it is directly stolen borrowed off the website:

In other Zoe news, she locked me out of the house yesterday. I went out to wait for Nick's bus without her, because she was happily reading and didn't want to move, and Nick was going to be home in a minute or two anyway, then she apparently decided to join me, mistakes were made, and then of course she couldn't unlock it again. That was exciting too, but in a not so nice way. Fortunately, one of my neighbors is handy with a credit card, and she jimmied the lock for me. Yes, I'm going to hide a key outside now.

Also, we carved the jack o'lantern on Saturday. Zoe was quite interested at first, watching what we were doing, happily scribbling on her pumpkin with the marker, and generally staying involved. But after I'd scooped out the guts, and Nick had drawn the design he wanted, and I started the lengthy process of carving the face, she wandered off. Which, fine, she was clearly going around the side of the house, she's welcome to play in the driveway or on the patio. After a couple minutes I asked Nick to check on her anyway. He couldn't find her. I joined him, not immediately concerned. But I couldn't find her either. We searched the backyard with obsessive thoroughness, the patio, the house, everywhere back there. Nowhere. I wasn't truly panicked, because it's a safe neighborhood and a safe house; I knew there were many possible explanations, and very few of them ended in tragedy. But it's not a good feeling, mislaying your toddler. Finally I decided she wasn't back there, that she must have somehow slipped around out front. I walked up the driveway, ready to start searching the neighborhood.

And there she was, calmly walking home again. I ran to her and scooped her up and hugged her and told her not to scare me like that, Zoe, don't leave the yard, Zoe, and I paused for breath and she smiled happily and said, "Hide!" Because guess what idiot taught her to play hide-and-seek? She had dried corn and sunflower seeds clutched in her fist, incidentally, so I'm guessing she wandered two houses down, played with the bird feeder in their front yard, and wandered home again to show me what she'd found. Which means she was, reassuringly, never was in any danger. Except from her own complete lack of common sense and her incompetent mother, that is. 

But hey, it's a cool jack o'lantern.

 
Let's  see, what else have we been up to. Well, I was sick as a dog on Thursday and Friday last week. That was nasty. And it wasn't even swine flu, I don't think, just a nasty stomach bug, which means I could potentially feel that awful twice this year. Zoe watched a lot of TV those days. Nothing bad happened as a result of poor supervision that time, though. Rich was out of town the whole time I was sick, which sucked. It also meant we missed the first cub scout camping trip of the year. I wasn't convinced I was well enough to hit the woods (what if I'd relapsed?) and there was no other parent to be had, so we all stayed home. I did drag myself and Zoe to the annual school picnic on Friday. I only had to stay upright for an hour or so, it was doable. And I didn't want to disappoint Nick too many times in one weekend. It was fine. We had fun, we sat a little part from everyone and anyway I doubt I was particularly infectious at that point, and Nick felt properly valued. 

Man, this has been a depressing entry. Should I mention that the school bus was an hour late today, or is that just piling on?