Trick or Treat!

Oh Goodness.  

Halloween on a Friday.  Trick or Treat, on a Friday.  Excited, ramped up, sugar filled children, running on nothing but adrenaline.  My children on Friday evenings tend to be train wrecks waiting to happen.  Add in all the Halloween festivities which lead to extra late bedtimes and things have been known to get, well, scary.  

Matt and I made A.J. and Peter both spend some quality quiet time pretending to sleep in their beds before dinner.  They both swear they really did nap.  I'm almost certain neither did, but if nothing else there was some calm before the storm.  

In any case, after dinner, it was time to get the kids ready in their costumes to go out.  

Some of the neighborhood kids were already knocking on our door.

In the past, I've taken the kids out first and we've done the bottom half of our street.  When we get back to our house, the kids empty out their buckets to lighten their weight and then they go out to do the top half of our street with their Dad.  The trouble was, this year there are three.  I mean, last year there was too, but Lucy was teeeeny weeeeny, and stayed with me in the Baby Bjorn the whole time I was out.  She did have a costume, but she didn't need or want candy.  This year she wants very much to do everything her brother and sister do.  We probably could have put her in a stroller, but she was much happier to be carried by one of her parents or to walk along with us, chasing after her sibling, proudly carrying her own bucket and collecting her own stash of candy.  

Neither Matt nor I really felt like dealing with the 3 of them all by ourselves while the other stayed behind to hand out the candy.  We hemmed and hawed for awhile about and then Matt looked at the sizable bucket of candy to hand out.  Screw it.  He made a "Take one" sign, stuck it to the bucket and left the whole thing on the porch.  We would both go out and the kids could help themselves.  If we ran out, well, tough break for the trick or treaters.  

He headed out....

We started out crossing the street to our neighbors house.  We don't see them as much now the the kids are older and in school so it was nice to catch up a little.

Then we headed on down the street.  It was a beautiful, cool evening.  Perfect for trick or treating.

The kids had a great time.  They were so cute thanking everyone for their treats and then wishing each and every person a Happy Halloween.  Except Lucy of course, she just held out her bucket and smiled sweetly.  Sometimes she made random little babble noises or squealed with delight.

She wanted to walk but we carried her most of the way so that she could keep up with her siblings.  

Matt and I took turns with her actually because MY GOSH is she getting heavy.  

When we passed our own house and headed up the second half of our street there was still quite a bit of candy in our bucket.  That made us happy.  Nice to know the kids around here are good and honest and not too selfish.  

The top half of our street was not nearly as fun as the bottom.  A lot fewer houses were "open," and as a result there were a lot fewer people up there.  The kids didn't mind, much, but it was definitely not as much fun.

Lucy got restless and started digging through her bucket.  She selected an Almond Joy and then clutched it tightly in her hand for several houses.  Eventually she began trying to get the wrapper off and when she didn't get anywhere she started trying to tear throw it with her teeth.  Clearly this didn't seem like the best idea to me.  She could choke on the almonds or something.  We dug around in the candy buckets until we found some M&Ms and then I fed those to her one by one until we were almost done.

Boy did this make her happy, except goodness did she also make a mess of herself.

Seriously.  In the dim light she looked like a teeny little vampire who had just finished a meal.

We wrapped up trick or treat and went inside to let the kids sort through their candy.

Peter and A.J. each got to select a few pieces to eat, but since Lucy had already had some candy, she had to settle for a bottle, before everybody got ready for bed.  

It had been a great night, and I think everybody went to bed happy.

Before I blew out the candles, I also got a couple pictures of our jack-o-lanterns all lit up.  

Sleeping Beauty

Goodness.  So many posts about Halloween fun already and I STILL haven't gotten to Lucy's costume.

It's kind of a big deal, actually, and was a really tough choice, because honestly, this is probably really most definitively going to be our very last Halloween with a baby around here.

*siiiiiigh*

And there are SO many great baby costumes.  I fell like with three kids we've barely even touched the surface.  Peter was Mickey Mouse and then a dragon.  A.J. was Tinkerbell and then Rapunzel.  Lucy was a jack-o-lantern last year....

But what to choose this year?  

One of those furry hooded suits to make a cute kitty or a bear or something?

A baby superhero to go with her brother?

Something silly and cute like a tootsie roll or butterfly?

I just didn't know.

But when I went to the Disney store to get Peter's outfit I couldn't help but look for Lucy.  In the baby sized their choices were limited.  For little baby girls they had Tinkerbell, Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty.  Obviously, A.J. had already done those first two, so it didn't leave me much choice.

It took me awhile to decide honestly.  She has years and years to be princesses if she wants.  She we do it this year too?  Already?

I wished Peter was there to help me decide.  It was his idea to make her a pumpkin last year.  I studied the gorgeous little dress.

Oh heck.  Who could resist.  

So this year, Lucy was sleeping beauty.

I know.  Right!?!?!

Between my camera not cooperating and HER not cooperating, it was tough to get the picture of her in the outfit that I really wanted.  These are the best I got (that were actually in focus.)

So cute, even if my little photo shoot didn't go exactly as well as I'd hoped.

Halloween fun at School for Peter (and Mommy)

At long last, Friday morning and Halloween Day itself arrived.  

Because honestly, this October might seriously have been the longest month of my entire life.  I'd gotten the kids costumes taken care of set aside early, like when it was still September, but after that, aside from putting out a few decorations around the house mid-month when I returned from Chicago, I hadn't given the Holiday itself much thought until the actual week of, when suddenly everything I'd put off all month (pumpkin wise) needed to be taken care of the the kids wanted nothing more on Earth than to wear their costumes.

Especially Peter.  He had to endure A.J. wearing hers to dance and to school before him and he was just bursting to be able to show off his.

That child had been begging to be Captain America since the previous Halloween when one of buddies at school at been the super hero and Peter had been quite envious of the other boy's costume.

Not to worry, I'd hit up the Disney store (just as soon as their costumes had gone on sale for 30% off at the end of September ) for the best possible Captain America costume I could find (for a reasonable price.)

Friday morning he was up extra early and ate his breakfast extra fast so that he could get dressed at long last.  And I put my own costume on.... which really I have only because I am running the Avenger's themed Half Marathon up at Disney in a couple weeks, and I thought it was kind of cute that I semi-coordinate with my son..... and we got some pictures on the porch before school

Captain America Peter

Captain America Peter and Iron Mom.  

He's so happy.

I hovered extra long in the morning to get some pictures of Peter with his class.  Here they are lining up for morning Flag Salute and prayer.

At recess, the room moms set up a whole Halloween themed snack.  

It was the last day of the marking period so the kids had an early release day.  They all thought it was for trick or treat, which was convenient, but completely not the case.  The kids all had kind of a fun, relaxed morning and then the whole entire school gathered for about a half hour in the Holy Family Center to sing some Halloween karaoke songs.  

Afterwards, the kids in the younger grades all went back to their half of campus to parade around and show off their outfits.

Our priests.  Lol.  They were on a Mission for "Gawd."  I love that they have sense of humor.

The P.E. Teacher and his son.  Nice job coordinating as well.

The kindergartners were the first to parade through, so Peter was easy to find as they wove through the classes and marched across the playground blacktop.

It makes me so happy that our school still lets the kids do this.  It's such a fun tradition.  

I love Halloween and not because of the grown up parties and haunted houses or any of that.  I never did any of that.  Halloween for me is about the kids and this silly innocent fun of dressing up.  I love it and I can't wait to see why my kids want to dress up as every year.  

Halloween Fun at Preschool for A.J.

A.J. originally premiered her Wyldstyle ensemble for dance class on Wednesday afternoon.  But much more exciting was when she wore it to school on Thursday for her preschool class's Halloween party.  (Her class is only on Tuesday and Thursday, so they wouldn't be in class on Friday to celebrate with the rest of the school.)

Here she is all dressed and ready before school that morning.  

It was first thing in the morning, of course, so she was in a great mood.

Like every morning we packed up all our things and loaded the car.  When we got to school we parked and walked Peter down to the lunch tables where he meets his class each morning.  Onec his teacher arrived we bid him farewell and then I walked with the girls over to the preschool playground to sign her in and wait for her teacher's to open the doors.  

The older kids we passed along the way were all very excited by A.J.'s outfit and she was thrilled with the attention.  

Once we got there, A.J. and Lucy played dinosaurs.

As usual, it wasn't long before A.J. took the dinosaurs over to the sandbox.  It seems to be her favorite place to play.  I'm not entirely sure why.  Peter's teacher from last year came out first.  Her own students were all fine so she went to say hello to A.J. and Lucy in the sandbox first and check out A.J.'s outfit.

I'm fairly certain the teachers didn't know who she was supposed to be, since they hadn't seen The Lego Movie.  They did a good job of not letting on to her though and she went on feeling pleased with the awesomeness of herself.

So I took Lucy and we left.  My intention was to try to come back at 9:30 to get some pictures of her party.  In the mean time Lucy and I went to Target to pick up some things and baby food.  When we were done shopping though, Lucy was in full on meltdown mode.  There would be no party for us.  Nobody wanted a screaming baby ruining the kids' fun.

Luckily, a few of the moms shared some pictures they took, so here they are....

Obvously A.J. wasn't the actual main subject for this photo, but I like it anyway.  She's talking to one of Peter's
(and hers by default) kindergartner friends through the fence.  The bigger kids were out on recess at the same time.

Here they are enjoying their little feast....

After they ate, the children lined up to parade through the Kinder through 3rd grade classrooms and the office to show off their outfits.

I heard from quite a few of my students the next day about how A.J. was really working her outfit
and had tons of attitude as she showed off her outfit.

I guess when they came back they all gathered together to take some pictures.

Apparently Firefighters were popular this year.  

At 11:00 after Lucy had gotten herself some sleep and I went to pick A.J. up, I got a few more pictures of the kids walking out.

So much fun!

I'm sad I didn't make the party, but I'm thrilled the other parents shared so many of their pictures.