Bringing Up Bella Eveline

The cutest monkey EVER!

I have to tell you, I was SO excited at the thought of experiencing every “holiday” with Bella this first year, even the ones that we consider to be more the Hallmark variety.  You know the ones – Halloween, Valentines, St. Patrick’s Day.  They would all be so remarkably different from previous years, seen through some fresh perspective and the eyes of our innocent sponge, soaking it all up.   It’s very cute to see her absorbing the concepts of costumes or yummy smelling food in the kitchen (I made rice crispy treats for Keith for Halloween!) 

The company Keith and I work for LOVES Halloween.  Because our busy time is year-end, we take Halloween very seriously, parade and all!  So, this was OUR year.  Bella was going to dress up in her MONKEY costume and she was going to take 1st place in the parade.  Of course.  Hands Down!

However, this year, apparently Mother Nature had other plans.  It rained torrential downpours the entire night of October 30.  Lightning storms so fantastic, they woke me from a deep sleep.  By the time we started our day, close to 6 inches of rain had fallen and most of our local streets were flooded.  So much so, that they had things called “pump trucks” combing the neighborhood trying to suck the water off the streets.  They even asked people to stay off the roads, if not absolutely necessary.  I thought “maybe by 3pm, it would recede far enough to be able to pack my monkey in the car for the 30 minute trek west to my office for the parade.”  WRONG.  In fact, right around then, we were issued a flash flood warning and a tornado warning between here and there.  So, in an effort to avoid ending up in OZ with Dorothy, my monkey and I stayed HOME.

We did not, however, let the rains completely wash out Bella’s first Halloween.  Keith and I dressed our monkey and went next door to our neighbor’s house and then further down the street to our friend Barbara’s.  We HAD to show someone how cute our little trick-or-treater was!  We also took lots of pictures (surprised?) to remember this important first!  Unfortunately, there was NOT ONE SMILE!  Maybe the monkey suit was itchy.  Or hot.  Or just plain weird to her.  Maybe she wanted to be a Princess instead?  Whatever the case, we experienced it together as a family and loved every minute.  As for the company parade, there’s always next year!