Rainy Halloween fun, and the feast of All Saints & All Souls...

Morning everyone, and happy Monday. :) I'm not really feeling very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but that's just the way things go sometimes, it *is* Monday after all. But I had a very pleasant weekend, so let's chronicle!

Halloween, for the second year running, was rainy here in WNY. But I was armed with my drinky drink, so I was happy. ;-) Although Anne did shed a few tears at dinnertime because she didn't want to eat what we had made (this is a very common occurrence these days, unfortunately), no full out temper tantrums came into play, for which I was supremely grateful. After dinner, we costumed the kids up and waited for it to get dark. Mercifully, both got into their costumes and wore them without incident:

Moment before heading outside, everybody is happy. Including the photographer, with her "water" bottle in tow...

Anne was so excited that as I was getting my coat on, I could hear her outside having a lengthy conversation with one of our neighbors about the merits of chocolate vs. non-chocolate candy. It's been clear for quite some time that Anne is the sole extroverted member of my household. :0

Sooooo, Mike goes out on the porch to hand out candy with our lit Jack O'lantern, a chair, and a bottle of beer, and I head down the street with the kids. The rain did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm, to be sure. I had my rain jacket on complete with hood covering my hair, and was sipping my drink. ;-)

Both kids were very good, saying "thank you!" at each house. Anne's costume, especially her glittery purple mask, earned rave reviews. In lieu of saying 'trick or treat!' she just said "May I have some candy?" and she's cute enough to get away with it. Henry, of course, was horrified by this. :)

We get down to the furthest point of our journey, the very end of our street, and the inevitable happens:

"Mommy, I have to go pee RIGHT NOW! I AM GOING TO PEE IN MY COSTUME!!"

#longsufferingsigh

Back to our house we go, Anne doing a careful pee pee walk, Henry with a sour expression. We do what we need to do at the homefront and head back out. We get to most of the houses on the other side of the street before Anne declares that she is "so tired Mommy!" I drop her back at our house to hand out candy with Mike. I took Henry out for a bit longer, and all went well.

The only difficult part was the inevitable wrangling into bed for Anne, who despite being exhausted, did not want to go to sleep. She relayed the story to me the next day as follows:

"Mommy, I was so tired last night. So I got on the floor and cried."

"How come you didn't just go to sleep if you were so tired?"

"I did not want to go to sleep. So I threw my toys instead."

"But going to sleep would have made you feel so much better."

*thoughtful silence*

"Next time I will go to sleep, Mommy."

Interesting insight into the toddler mind, no? :0

After that big night, I was rather contemplative about it being the weekend commemorating the feast of All Saints, and then All Souls.

I really wanted to go to Mass on Saturday morning (I was sad that there was no official Holy Day of Obligation this year), but didn't end up making it because we had a ton of household chores needing our attention. I eagerly anticipated the feast of All Souls on Sunday, and got my new issue of Magnificat all ready.

#Catholicnerd

The kids were both really good at Mass, Anne even respecting my request to keep the bathroom trips down to one. :0 And it was just one of those Masses that seemed particularly meaningful to me for no specific reason at all. I mean, the feast of All Souls has been significant to me for some time now that I have relatives who have passed away, and I remember them in a special way each November. I write their names each year in our parish's Book of Remembrance. But yesterday I felt it even more so. I just felt very connected to my Catholic community yesterday at Mass - both here and around the world, and from the great cloud of witnesses in heaven. I was able to pay more attention at Mass and simply appreciate everything more, especially the Eucharist, and it made me feel so happy to be a Catholic. So, that's the sappy part of my weekend. :)

I have other good fodder to discuss, such as my ideas for making this upcoming Advent a prayerful one (hope springs eternal!), and I will discuss that tomorrow, so come visit me again then. How was your Halloween and feast of All Souls? Do leave a comment. :)