A Halloween of many firsts...

Updated at the bottom....

It was Kate Emerson's first Halloween with our family....

It was also the first time Kate tasted candy. She had a little piece of a Reese's Cup and she LOVED it! That photo is in the slideshow. However, she did not love the hat that came with this costume....

She also hated the very lovely Tom Arma flower costume I purchased for her.


It was the first time I met fellow blogger Denise who happens to live near me and recently got her referral for beautiful Maggie.....

Denise and I clicked immediately and could have talked for days! She is so sweet and I look forward to a long friendship with her and our children--all of them! The above photo is Hannah (a sweet little girl that Denise was taking care of), Denise and Katie Ru.


BUT the MOST EXCITING first was...........

Harry lost his first tooth! He will be 7 in about 6 weeks so we have been waiting a LONG time for this. I am really glad I took the Christmas card picture a few weeks ago:)

It was also the first Halloween that Will found out there is not a "Halloween Witch." Will has always been allergic to peanuts and both of my kids are allergic to 99% of candy so Halloween can be tough for them. Many years ago a fellow Mom suggested that I tell the kids to leave their candy out for the Halloween Witch and she will take the candy and leave a small surprise (a book or stickers or Pokemon cards). We have done this for as long as I can remember.

Last night a few of Will's friends were over and he was telling them that he was leaving his candy out for the Halloween Witch. His friends said, "I never heard of that. There is no such thing as the Halloween Witch." He said, "I know. I think it is my Mom. " Then he looked at me and said, "Is it Mom?" I said, "Yes." He acted fine and went back out for round two of trick or treating with this friends and Harry.

However, when he got home, he was devastated. He sobbed in disappointment. He was angry that we lied to him all of those years and he felt anxious that his childhood was coming to an end. He questioned Santa and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Luckily, he still believes in all of them. It is a good thing too because the tooth fairy came last night. I apologized and explained to him that I wanted him to still love Halloween even though he could not have the candy. He said, "I never thought Mom would lie to me." Oh, it simply breaks my heart.

The thing Will was most upset about was that he feels like he only has about 5 more years of childhood. He told us how much he still loves playing with Legos and being a kid and he doesn't want to grow up. It was very sad. He did write me a letter saying that he forgives me and he hopes I leave two packs of Pokemon cards for his candy!

I dread the day when he figures the rest of it all out.
Added to respond to a few comments: Jill and others. I really appreciate your kind honesty and insight. The only reason I did not tell Will about Santa etc. was because during our long talk last night, he told me that most of all he was upset that I told him I was the Halloween Witch. He told me that he still actually believed and still wants to believe. In that moment, I decided that I would wait until he figured it out on his own. I teach my kids the true meaning of Christmas and Easter but Santa is magical and obviously Will wants to hold onto that magic for a while longer. Thank you for wording your response with such kindness. It really means a lot to me. Parenting is sometimes a gut reaction and we don't always do it perfectly.

Here is a little slideshow of the rest of our Halloween photos. We went to a neighborhood pizza party in the park before trick or treating. It was a lot of fun!!

Lastly, I still feel very ill and run down and I am going to another doctor today. I plan to take about a week off of blogging to rest and recover. Have a great week everyone!