Trick or Treating

Halloween, Halloween! For some reason, I haven't a big fan of Halloween. I know getting children to decide what to be and stick with it has been a problem. The cost of costumes (see how appropriate the name is) always shocks me, too. I'm not sure what else got under my skin, however, this year I thoroughly enjoyed myself the entire month! I even decorated the inside of the house (have you seen how cute Halloween decorations are these days?)

One reason this year was fabulous is because I only spent $5 on costumes for four kids! Jonathan and Lindsay were instructed to find something in the house. The big kids even dress up on Halloween at their school as a character from a book. Lindsay wore her Tinkerbell costume and Jonathan wore the clothes he owned that look the most like one of the students in Captain Underpants. Halloween night Jon was cool as a football player and Lindsay wore my childhood witch outfit. I only bought Lindsay some fun socks and face paint. I got Dylan's Power Ranger costume with my Disney card reward money and Lyvi had a cute hand-me-down. But enough about my savvy shopping...

I'm totally over needing pictures with all four kids in them at once. Jon wasn't in this picture because his way-cool mom let him run off and trick or treat early with some neighbors. It must be a magical time in your childhood when you start to gain some freedoms...(there was a parent with them, just not his parent, which makes all the difference in the world.)

We then made it over to a friend's house to trick or treat with an insane number of kids. How would you like this crew to show up all at once? This group of friends even had some bug punch and gorgeous decorated ghost cookies that were the highlight of my night. I meant to get a picture of the made from scratch Marthaesque cookie, but I ate it instead.

At the beginning of the evening, Lyvi thought each liberated piece of candy was a treasure. She did eventually figure out that there was no time to dilly dally as there were endless amounts candy waiting to be acquired.

And Halloween is not complete for our kids until they have had the opportunity to dole out some candy themselves. We got home and they quickly set up a hand-out station in the front yard.

Jason couldn't be in town that night and I thought putting four kids with sugar highs would be painful. Fortunately the sugar high turned into a sugar crash moments after bathtime so all was well and the night ended on a great note for everyone.