Halloween was on Monday and I had so much fun. And yesterday I went to Comicon with my Uncle Greg and cousin Vaughan!

He said

This week was all about Halloween! Emelia had been planning and talking up the day for the better part of a month with her friends. She had her Hermione Granger costume sorted out some time ago, but had to help the twins sort out theirs last week. Monday arrived and we were at the big day. I worked an open shift so I was home by five, with a little girl chomping at the bit to get going. Even though it was light out and nary a kid on the street yet trick-or-treating, she was ready to go, go, go! First we needed to have dinner and then, I helped her get her Hogwarts tye knotted properly and we were pretty much ready to go find the twins and her other friends.

Now any of you that you remember last year’s Halloween escapade (lord knows Danielle and I did not forget it), will recall it ended an hour and a bit into the night with a colossal meltdown of epic proportions because Emelia felt (wrongly so) that her friends didn’t care that she was there. It actually ended with me having to pick her up kicking and screaming and take her home early. She was over stimulated, over tired, and over excited and all that got the best of her.

We were hoping for anything but this year… And did we ever get polar opposites! She made it through over three hours of trick-or-treating happily with a large group of friends and happily including and enjoying everyone that was along with her two besties, the twins. She ran, laughed and it was just amazing to see her go. And she and the twins were the only ones to make it the entire night, covering all over the neighbourhood and filling her giant loot bag with enough candy for the next year and a half. We started ahead of six and dropped off the twins after nine on our way back to the house. She actually went so long that by the time we were home, they weren’t any more trick-or-treaters, at the house. She went to bed shortly after, and quick as lightning, and Danielle and I deemed this year’s Halloween immeasurably better.

The other big event this week is something that has become quite a tradition in our neighbourhood: The Grant Holiday Gathering. Friends of ours through the school, and parent of another set of twins that Emelia is good friends with, live down the street, have for years held a gathering this time of year just ahead of the holidays for all their friends to kick off the festive season. We’ve gone for the last four years and its a great time, and we parents get to hang out and be grownups and maybe have a little too much cheer and regret it the next day or so.  There are lots and lots of laughs, great food, and it’s so great to get together with all these families that we generally know from dropoff, pickup and after school at the playground.

But before we got off to that party, hats off to my brother Greg who was taking our nephew Vaughan to the Comicon and with Emelia having such a great time at the last one, he had asked Emelia if she wanted to come along again. She was over the moon about being able to go and to have another opportunity to dress up in her Hermione Granger outfit. By all counts she had a great time and talked my ear off about in the car today when she got back from Mom & Dad’s. Thanks to Greg and Vaughan for bringing her along for the fun!

This Saturday was the date of this year’s edition of that gathering. We had managed to get a  set of tickets given to us last minute for Joni Mitchell: River at The Grand Theatre as one of Danielle’s daycare families had them and had become sick and couldn’t go. Our friends Emm Gryner and Steve Clark were in it and we had been wanting to go to see it, so to have these tickets land in our lap out of the blue (reference, intended) was a delightful surprise. So we started out our grownup night with Emelia over at Poppa and Grandma’s for the night and us at The Grand to see the play. Both Emm and Steve were obviously the highlight for us, but hearing the Joni Mitchell catalogue was pretty great too.
As soon as the play was over we were back home to drop off the car and over the The Grant’s with the festive gathering just getting into the swing of things. Once again, it was great seeing these people we’ve become friends with out of the context of being parents and being funny, amazing, interesting people that we happen all have connected with through our kids going to school and our neighbourhood really becoming this tiny, close-knit community. I am sure I have talked about it before, about how when we first moved into this neighbourhood there were hardly any kids or families and now there’s like this whole slew of families we call friends. It really is home.

We probably stayed up too late and maybe had one more glass of wine than we should have but we certainly weren’t short of great memories filled with laughs and a great evening. There is a reason we really look forward to this gathering every Fall, and last night was just another shining example. What a perfect way to end a great Halloween week!

She said

This turned out to be an incredibly busy week. The week started out with Hallowe’en. Emelia was beyond excited for this year’s festivities, she was determined to put last years drama long behind her and make the most of the night. We had plans to go trick or treating with a large group of Emelia’s friends and had spent lots of time preparing her for the idea of a large group of friends going together and not just her best friends. So with everything in order we ventured out with Anna and Grace and headed over to the Grants to meet up with their three kids. Once we got to the Grants they already had a collection of kids with their children’s friends. It was quickly becoming quite an event. With the herd of kids organized off we went. Emelia had a great night, she ran with her extended group of friends and even when all her other friends were long done trick or treating she and the twins were out closing out the night. She went for 3 hours strong and had the time of her life. It will be a night that she will remember for a very long time.

The rest of the week was more about dealing with the normal life but I had to throw in some fun little wrenches to the already busy week. On Tuesday I woke up and I could not move my neck at all, could not move my head from side to side. After a few calls I was able to find an RMT and get things fixed. So I finally got better with my neck only to end up with a bladder infection and spending Thursday night at the walk in clinic getting meds to get that fun fixed.

By the weekend things started slowing down so we could focus on the much needed downtime and fun with friends. This weekend was the annual Grant wine party. The Grants are neighbours we have become good friends with. We met when our children started school together and have found a great group of friends as a result. We are so lucky to living in a community where the families all get to know each other and our family. Ryerson is a small school that the children and the parents all make a point of getting to know each other. We are beyond lucky to have been part of this neighbourhood for 16 years and the school for the last 6. We had an amazing time at the party and got home in the wee hours.

The week although crazy busy was filled with amazing memories.