Preschool Halloween Party

I took the day off on Halloween to volunteer at Ronan's preschool and it was precious! It's hard to imagine 40+ little 2-5 year-olds all dressed up in costume, walking hand-in-hand to Golden Gate Park (a looong walk), trick-or-treating on the way back from the park, and then partaking in a huge potluck lunch back at school. It was a whirlwind of cuteness, chaos, candy, and a healthy dose of stress for us parent volunteers who were charged with not losing any costumed kids along the way. It's hard work!! I think I was just as tired as Ronan come nap time at 1 pm. The difference was Ronan wore a delirious, I-can't-believe-how-simply-magical-this-day-is smile the whole day (and I would wager throughout his entire afternoon nap). He is attached to his homemade trick-or-treating bag like, well, sticky candy. He LOVES it. Uh-oh.... I think Halloween may very well be his favorite holiday.


Snack time at school. The kids (including Ro!) wait patiently till everyone is seated and then they eat their snacks. How's that for self-discipline and manners!


Circle time in Ro's class of 2-3 year-olds. Today, they were pretending to make pumpkin pie, singing the alphabet, and playing with a parachute.


Lining up to get ready to trick-or-treat!


Little Fireman. The funny thing is this "costume" is actually an outfit. Ro wears it almost everyday over his regular clothes, so dressing up today was actually, surprisingly, very easy. He wore Daddy's compass, too, so that he could show people where to go....


Ronan and his friends in Golden Gate Park


Loving his Halloween bag!


Whew, gotta rest. Trick-or-treating is hard work!


Back at home, Ronan couldn't get enough of his bag and his candy. He clutched the bag all through dinner, potty time, and book time, and only VERY reluctantly let us take it away for bedtime.


And yes.... Ronan had his very first two pieces of candy.... He started with this lollipop, which he proclaimed, "This tastes very, very good, Mommy!" And then he had a long skinny Tootsie Roll, which he also loved. I can see now how kids' sweet teeth (tooths?) get out of control. It's hard to have to decide between hiding the bag of candy and breaking your kid's heart or letting your kid indulge in sugary artificial junk food!
(Thanks, Auntie Kristine, for the cute Halloween shirt! Ronan often looks down at his chest and says "Mummy! I love my mummy.")



After Nini's bedtime, we took this pic of his first candy bag and the first pumpkin that he helped carve... and his awesome parents, of course! :-)