Trick or Treating!

The pinnacle of the Halloween season finally arrived on Monday: TRICK - OR  - TREATING! Obviously I must be somewhat hormonal, but I found myself almost tearing up at the wonderfulness of people who go out of their way, by dressing up, making their houses spooky, and scaring children, to make Halloween fun for everyone. I am not that fun, and didn't even decorate the outside of my house this year.

I have always loved our neighborhood on Halloween, but this last year so many of our neighbors have moved, that I didn't think it would be advantageous to Trick-or-Treat around it. So we traveled to a friends neighborhood, and it was GREAT. However, I felt real guilt as we drove out of our development. It was sad (probably another case of my abnormal hormonal imbalance).

This neighborhood went all out. Sadie was scared to death. She made Eric take her up to quite a few houses:

If you enlarge this picture you can actually see Sadie trying to pull Eric away from the door:

Occasionally she would let Megan escort her up:

Have I ever mentioned how great of a sister Megan is? Seriously they don't come any better.

After we got home we weighed all of the candy the kids have collected during the Halloween season, and discovered a grand total of:

29 POUNDS

Santa led the pack. No one wanted to be on the naughty list, so naturally they gave her more.

See Trunk-or-Treat post below.................

Trunk Or Treats

We attended two Trunk-or-Treats this year. The first at the kids school the week before Halloween. All I can say about the school Trunk-or-Treat is that it was.....FABULOUS! I was ultra impressed at how much work the parents put into decorating their trunks. It is a good thing I wasn't one of those parents who volunteered to decorate, because my trunk would have been a wasteland of nothingness.

Of course we also attended the Trunk-or-Treat at the church. It is more my style. In fact, I make no effort to decorate my trunk and don't feel one part bad about it. I may alienate some readers by saying this, but I truly believe if you have a baby less than 2 months old, and it is asleep in a stroller, you really don't need to collect candy for it. I find it weird, and I think you should just buy your own candy to consume. I'm sorry if I have offended any of you infant Trunk-or-Treaters.

The candy haul after the two Trunk-or-Treats:

The piles would only get bigger in the days to come.

Halloween 2011

Halloween!! Is it just me, or is it an incredibly high-maintenance holiday? I have numerous Halloween posts, but will start with some introductions:

Introducing: Megan as A NERD:

Jackson as a NASCAR driver:

And Sadie as Santa Claus:

This is a conversation I overheard that Sadie had with Megan:

Sadie: "Megan, you know that guy that has a white beard, brings us presents at Christmas time, and says "Ho, Ho, Ho." What's his name?"

Megan: "Santa Claus."

Sadie: "Yes! That's who I want to be for Halloween!"

And she was:

My sweet babies:

And last, but not least....

Eric and I as Santa's Elves:

For the record, Eric wears a size 2X in womens tights.

Skating On Ice

Saturday afternoon we went ice skating again! Miss Sade was really excited to get started.

But.....as we know she is prone to do, she FREAKED OUT once we got on the ice. Crying.....

Crying.......

Still crying.......

And finally.......realizing that ice skating is fun! Luckily it only took about 1 minute:

Oh Jackson. If awards were given for determination, he would win. We will just say that ice skating does not come naturally to him. But....you have never seen a child try so hard, without ever getting discouraged. This is how the 2 hours went for him: Skate, fall down 3 seconds later, get up, skate, fall down 3 seconds later, get up, repeat....

Eric skated with him quite a bit, and finally determined that Jackson's trouble lies in the fact that he continually tries to do tricks (like spinning), without first mastering the basics. At one point Eric looked at him and realized he was trying to break dance while skating. He is the best.

Crash.....

Ice skating DOES come naturally to Megan. She's a pro:

Sade and I relaxing on the sidelines:

Tiny, Sade sized ice skates are one of the cutest things ever:

Not only would Jackson win the award for determination, but also best post ice-skating hair: