Some days don’t turn out quite the way you picture them. That was the case this Halloween. I pictured an evening trick-or-treating with friends….smiles, laughter…basically a scene from a Hallmark commercial. With children though, there’s always a risk of a wild card. This time the wild card came in the form of surprise fevers on Halloween afternoon.

I’m blaming my mystery neighbor for this one. I woke up Halloween morning to find a plastic jack-o-lantern filled with candy on my doorstep. Attached was a note, a chain letter, telling me that the Hallowen phantom had come to my house. To lift the curse, I only needed to pass the jack-o-lantern filled with candy to another neighbor.

Shortly after making this discovery, the day went downhill. Mila spiked a fever around lunchtime, forcing us to bow out of a scheduled Halloween dinner and trick-or treating with friends. She rallied in the afternoon, but by that time, Siler also had a fever. Mark had to stay home with Siler, who was one grouchy little dude by dusk.Poor Siler never made it into his Halloween costume.

We finally got around to  taking Halloween costume pictures of Siler yesterday, but his nose was so snotty that he looked like one of those Garbage Pail Kids from the 1980s. I”m scheduling a make up day of his make up day pictures later this week. It’s bad enough that he’s baby No. 3 and subjected to having fewer pictures and milestone documentation. I couldn’t let him down by posting embarrassing Halloween photos online.

Getting back to Halloween night,  I set out with Mila and Eli, who were decked out in their Max and Ruby costumes, on a quest for sugary treats. Mila, our resident chocoholic, wasn’t feeling 100 percent but nothing was going to stand in her way of getting some candy.

The real frightful festivities kicked off after midnight. Being up all night with a sick child is a nightmare. Siler woke up with a fever of 103 at 3 a.m. The little guy was completely miserable. After giving him Motrin, I rocked him and he’d fall asleep only to wake up instantly every time I tried to put him in his crib. It was an exhausting night for us both.

Then as luck would have it, the evil Daylight Savings Time kicked me in the rear. Due to the time change, Mila and Eli woke up at 5 a.m. (or as my friend likes to say, the butt crack of dawn) with an abundance of energy.

It’s too bad Halloween wasn’t on November 1 because I had the scariest homemade costume. Thanks to my sleepless night, I woke up with blood shot eyes with dark circles and bags underneath them. I was a walking zombie. Here’s hoping the Becker house isn’t cursed next Halloween.

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