Good-bye Thomas, Hello Luke Skywalker!

For the past four years (yep, four years), CJ has been Thomas the Tank Engine for Halloween.  This year, CJ dropped Thomas like a hot potato and decided he wanted to be Luke Skywalker.  CJ is obsessed with Legos and Star Wars.  I guess the Thomas phase is finally over and I have to admit, I'm a little sad about it.

When we went to San Francisco last March, we went to Thomas Town at Six Flags.  Thomas Town is a small section within the theme park where kids can ride Thomas, Bertie and Harold.  CJ rode each ride once then declared that he wanted to ride a real roller coaster.  When I asked him a few weeks later about Thomas, he seemed reluctant to admit that he was ready to move on from Thomas, as if he were having difficulty letting go.

But these days, CJ plays Lego Star Wars with his dad, he builds with Lego blocks every day at school, he listens to my Star Wars soundtrack endlessly in the car (his favorite song is the Imperial March, of course), and he's watched all of the movies.  It started when he discovered a couple of Star Wars Lego kits that I bought when he was about one year old and stashed in our fourth floor library.  He noticed them, asked to build them and he was hooked from then on.

I guess it was only natural that he was Luke Skywalker this year, especially given my love of Star Wars. 

Here's CJ with his friend Ronan, who was Obi-Wan Kenobi

My God, aren't they adorable? There were a lot of Star Wars costumes this year!

Happy Halloween

Thank goodness Halloween fell on a Friday this year.  It's 8:30pm, CJ and I finished trick or treating about 45 minutes ago, and I'm beat.

I started the day with a deficit because I had several proposals and budgets due, and just as important, today was the annual pumpkin carving contest at Matrix Group.  This year, I was the designated carver for Lethal Weapon.  So, between the proposals and the pumpkin, last night was a really late night.  Check out my pumpkin at left and see what you think.  It's a little hard to see, but I carved a cat, spider and pumpkin in a window.

Halloween is always a big deal at school, so I spent the morning at CJ's school.  The kids got dressed up in their costumes, then paraded around the block.  They were so cute!  Ms. Courtney taught them to wave and say Happy Halloween to people on the street.  And they were trick or treating at the luggage shop and the local bank.  Afterward, the kids decorated and devoured cupcakes, listened to stories and put on a little show.  For the show, the kids recited Maurice Sendak's October poem about ghosts and goblins.  Very cute!

I worked furiously in the afternoon to get some proposals out; I didn't get everything done so I have some weekend work ahead of me.  Oh well.  I think half our clients left early today to go trick or treating with their kids.  At 4:30pm, a huge group of families gathered in the park behind our house for a pre-trick or treating playdate.  Then, at 6pm, there was a Halloween parade through the neighborhood, then we got down to the serious business of trick of treating.  At left is CJ holding hands with his best friend, Beckett.  These guys are buddies!

CJ was really antsy to go trick or treating.  Lucky me, the parade started before I had time to give him dinner, so by 6:30pm, CJ was wired from a lot of candy and chocolate.  Good times!  We started at the front of our neighborhood, went past our house and must have knocked on three dozen doors.   It was a beautiful evening; the weather was clear and cool, perfect for being outside.

Oh yeah, this year, I went as a bad fairy.  Check out my pink and black wig.  I got it at Target a couple of weeks ago.  When I tried it on the first time, CJ took one look at me and said, "mom, take it off" in the tone of voice you expect from an embarrassed teenager.  Several times tonight, CJ would say, "mom, show them your bad wig."  Hilarious.

The best decorated house goes to our neighbors, Seana and Duane.  The front of their house was decorated with a ghost, leaves all over the sidewalk and steps, and spooky lights.  The windows had spooky lighting and scary sounds were coming from the house.  The best part was Duane, who was dressed as the grim reaper.  Duane would sit very still on the front step; he looked like another decoration.  When the kids would come near, he would say, "boo!" and scare the daylights out of the kids and even some of the parents.  I thought I did well with my lights, pumpkins and scary skull, but our house had nothing on Duane's handiwork.

Interestingly, when I talked to CJ about trick or treating yesterday, he didn't seem to remember that he had done it twice before.  I wonder if he will remember trick or treating next year.  He's 4, so he should start having memories, right?