The Hallowe'en Post, a bit heavy on the Sarah

 Do I need to apologise for so many pictures of Sarah?  Probably only to her siblings.  I am snapping so many photos of her because her first few years are moving so fast and I have a fear that we will look back for photos of her at two years old and find only one or two while her siblings had several.   But, really, how many photos do our parents have of us at two?  One, maybe two or three.  The digital age has changed everything, including the fact that we never develop any of these snapshots.  So, on with things.  Hallowe'en.

Jacob came home from school at lunch on Hallowe'en with a bad headache and a sore throat.  He fell asleep on the couch and spent the rest of Thursday and most of Friday parked under his duvet.  When he initially fell asleep, he told me that he was going to build his strength in order to valiantly trick'or'treat later that night.  Not so.  He threw up once and was unable to move from his nest.  Luckily, he never emptied his stomach again and slept his way to health.  No one else seems to be affected.
The picture?  Isaac's version of nursing his brother back to health.  Isaac was so excited to have just one older sibling at home that he couldn't stay away from Jacob.  When I told him that Jacob needed to sleep, Isaac replied, "I help," and placed a pillow over his brother's face and pressed down hard.  I said, "While suffocation might induce unconsciousness, that is a slumber from which your brother will never return," and showed him how to place the pillow under the patient's head.  Life lessons.

 Sarah on her way back from helping Isaac nurse Jacob.  She believes that the iPad (the camera) is her's; thus, the hand beginning to reach up to claim possession.

 More on the healthcare front.  You thought that euthanasia was only for Quebec...

 The kids in their regalia.  While the night was not cold, it was pouring out and the numbers were down a bit.  We usually get around 130 kids at the door and there is no leaving the front entrance.  This year, the early evening moved very slowly so I began to give out three treats to each child who knocked at the door so that we wouldn't be laden with chips and candy at the end of the night.  Apparently, one of Hannah's classmates said to her the next day, "Wow! Your mom is super nice.  She gave me three bags of chips!"  This is how reputations are built, my friends.  However, the numbers began to pick up and we had to rifle through our childrens' loot in order to feed the town.  Corporal work of mercy.  (No, our dining room wall is not neon green, more of a ripe avocado.)

 Sarah discovered the joys of Hallowe'en this year.  She was allowed to sit at the front door with an open bag of chips and access to much, much more.

 However, her greatest delight was greeting all who came to her door.  I had no idea how much both she and Isaac love people.  They insisted on answering the door and handing out the candy, all while showing no fear.  Isaac so enjoyed this task that he turned to me at one point with a look of absolute delight and proclaimed, "I LOVE the peoples."  Later that night as I lay beside him trying to get him to sleep, he heard someone at the door, sat bolt upright and yelled, "The peoples!  The peoples!  I need to feed the peoples!"  Extrovert?

 And look:  I decorated!  Joseph won this webby stuff in a classroom draw at the end of the day.  (I imagine that this is how his teacher gets rid of her Hallowe'en decor in a fair and just manner.)  I decided to string it across the front door - it was so easy and spooked things up appropriately.  Sarah was surprised to see her brothers and father at the door and almost didn't let them in.  One look in their loot bags was enough for her to grant admission.  Beware the mono-shod baby, she's a tough one.