Last day of eight

I was giggling about a scene from "Finding Nemo" this morning while waiting for Liam's bus. It's one of my favorite scenes because Nemo is bursting with excitement about the first day of school. He's swimming in circles around Marlin, his dad, who is still asleep, and he's exclaiming nonstop, "first day of school, oh boy, I'm so excited, first day of school, first day of school, first day of school, oh boy, oh wow, first day of school!" Meanwhile, Marlin stirs and mutters, "I don't wanna go to school," and Nemo just about erupts. "Not you, Dad, ME! First day of school!"

I was doing the same litany this morning to Liam with, "last day of eight, oh boy,  oh boy, I'm so excited, last day of eight!"

Tomorrow our Liam the Lionhearted will turn nine.

NINE!

In the midst of all the costume craziness (we don't have all ours yet) and the school parties (Damon's today, Liam's tomorrow) and the encroaching cold and falling leaves and spider/zombie/ghost/Jack o lantern decor sprouting everywhere, our sweet boy has a birthday.

Last year I had the brilliant idea to celebrate it the day before, since actual Halloween day with kids is insane. There are the aforementioned school parties, possible homework, the mad costume scramble, and Trick or Treat is from six until eight, at which point you've gotta get home, sort candy, crow over candy, show off candy, be shoehorned into pj's and reminded twenty times to brush teeth that just got coated in candy...

so WHEN exactly are you supposed to A) have dinner and B) celebrate a birthday?

Tonight we'll have crock pot beef (not that he likes it, but I have too much to do to actually "cook" now) and a cake that is decorated as a purple minion from Despicable Me 2. Liam loves the minions. So do I, I must confess, but I was surprised to hear he wanted the purple, spazzing, freak out minion . Especially when he's loved yellow his entire life. Whatever. It's your birthday, kid.

Tomorrow we'll just pick up some pizza, like every other family in America, and have that before the descending madness of Halloween hits like a tsunami.

At any rate, now that I'm done with my Count Chocula cereal (hey, being a mom DOES have perks sometimes), I better go tackle all the Stuff that the Dratted Kitchen Fairy didn't before Grandmama comes, takes one look around, and gets back in her car to get outta Dodge.

Happy Halloween, everybody! Happy last day of eight, Liam!