A couple days before Halloween we went to the Halloween Party at Grandpa Firetruck's house (a.k.a. the Care Center). On the way there, I could hear Keaton and Lola discussing what they thought Grandpa's costume would be.... Keaton thought he would be dressed up as a farmer....Lola thought he would be dressed up as a 'girl rockstar'..... I told them that I thought he would just be dressed up as a 'grandpa'. (I think I was right...but I thought it was cute that they thought he would dress up!)
When we walked in, Grandpa was already out in the party room with my Aunt Linda (I will refrain from referring to her as Great Aunt Linda....as to not make her feel old ;) (hee hee, Linda....I can't say too much because I am also a great Aunt....) Anyway...thankfully, Linda was there to help out with Grandpa so I could manage the kiddos. I can't imagine this prego lady trying to chase Nash while pushing Grandpa's wheelchair! We snapped a picture of the kids and grandpa right away! (Grandpa is holding a fried green bean...which they were passing out as 'fingers'.... mmmm....of course, Nash was the only kid who would try it.) Grandpa didn't quite know what to think!!!
There were lots of things to do....there was a 'haunted room' which only Keaton and I went into....Lola and Nash chickened out at the last minute...and they didn't have the haunted room wheelchair accessible (????) so Grandpa couldn't go in either. They also had a few games, nail painting....and MOST popular of all...face painting. The lady painting faces was AMAZING. Here are all 3 kids in their finished faces! Aren't they AWESOME????
When Nash sat in the chair to get his face painted, I knew that the "artist" only had about 2 minutes before he was going to move onto the next thing (or sneak into grandpa's room and grab more candy). I told her that she could do whatever she wanted to do that was fast and easy. She whipped this tiger onto Nash's face in NO TIME FLAT....amazing. Needless to say, I was (and still am) impressed. He looked stinkin' cute (and I'm pretty sure he knew it).
When Lola sat in the chair, she requested to be a beautiful leopard...the pictures don't even do it justice....but it was GREAT. She also had Lola's face covered in sparkles. Lola felt like a real leopard (at least that is what she told me). The worst thing about getting faces painted (or things like tattoos and balloons....) is that it can't last forever. After the party we came straight home, ate supper...and I got Nash's washed off pretty quickly...but let Lola and Keaton keep theirs until daddy could stop in the house and see their faces right before bed.
As I was about to do the first wipe on Lola's face, she said "wait...I want to go look in the mirror one last time..." so I let her...then she came back.... and then stopped me again "one more time?" so I let her go back to the mirror. She got to the mirror and started SOBBING. She was heartbroken that we had to wash this beautiful face off of her. When I say heartbroken, I mean heartbroken. I felt SOO SOOO SOOOO bad for her. *But, in my defense, the black paint was very smudgy and would have been all over her bed and pillow and jammies and hair by morning.....and we just couldn't keep it on. (She brought it up about 5 times the next day too....she was so so sad.) Usually Keaton is the one in the bath with his arm straight up in the air, so the temporary tattoo doesn't wash off. Normally, Lola could care less. Not this time.... She did look beautiful!
Keaton chose to have the 'artist' paint a red combine on his face. ('tis the season) She was hesitant, and said that she had never...ever...ever done a combine before, but she would try! She did, and I think that it turned out pretty good. I thought it was pretty creative to put the tire around his eye. :) He was pretty proud of it...but his eyebrows were red and black for the next 2 days!
We had a nice time at the Halloween Party. At the end, Grandpa was sitting at his place at the dinner table ready for supper. We did our normal hugs goodbye...and Nash proceeded to hug EVERYONE at grandpa's table...and then the 2 nurses standing nearby. He was ready to keep going with everyone else in the room, but I stopped him while he was ahead. :) It is like he gets in that costume, and knows he is very cute....so he just HAMS it up.
I am so glad that Grandpa Firetruck was able to see the kids in their costumes...and spend a little time out of his room. We have not been able to visit him as much lately (which is sad for us and him). The kids really miss seeing him more often, but we have a lot going on with school and fieldwork....and we can only visit him between colds! He has good days and bad days....as I am sure that anyone at this stage of life does. We love to catch him on his good days....and I am always glad if we can be there for him for his bad ones. The kids are just SO good to him...and very loving towards him. They never complain about taking the time to see him...when in reality, it isn't much fun for them at all. (Well, except for the candy that they get when we leave....there are perks to not letting the kids have candy very often.)
We love Grandpa Firetruck so much...and we are happy that we got to have a Halloween celebration with him...even though he didn't dress up like a farmer OR a rock star! (maybe next year)
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