Halloween Friends

Halloween Day trick-or-treating with good friends.

Trick-or-Treat | Round 1

In our city Trick-or-Treating isn't until Halloween Monday evening...but where I grew up, 42 minutes from here, it was tonight. So, I gathered up the boys' costumes, and headed back home for a few hours. It started off well; the mist was bearable. But by the time we got around the block, it was getting uncomfortable and the boys had enough.

"No more houses...." they each told me.

And that was OK! Because we're doing it all over again Monday night with their friends.

It was fun seeing the neighborhood again where I grew up; seeing my former neighbors as they answered their doors to my boys, not me, holding out their bags asking for candy, prompted sometimes by their mama ..."What do you say?", or "Make sure you say 'Thank you!'", or "This time..nice and loud - yell: Trick-or-Treat!" My gosh, it was like déjà vu...it seems like yesterday my brother and I were running up and down the driveways to get to as many houses that we could...I still remember the vinyl pants and the plastic face masks. You were lucky to make it home without the crotch ripping open!

It was fun to catch up with the neighbors that answered their doors. We briefly chatted about what their kids (my neighborhood friends) were doing now that we're all older, married, with kids...I was disappointed that a few houses didn't have their porch light on signaling they were giving out candy - I wanted to say 'hi' and get an update on them and their kids.

Maybe next year?

Here are the two munchkins all dressed up at Grandma and Granddad's house...awwww!

Happy Hallow's Eve!

The Law and a Bat

I hear you saying finally!

Well...I know! Really. What is up with me not updating here? I promise to do better. Pinky swear.

Here are the boys at Halloween....Austin was a Policeman, his friend a fireman, and Ethan was a bat. A very cute bat, at that! :) I was unable to get other pictures due to the fact I was juggling those two and a red wagon...and my cup of wine. I'm glad I got these! Gotta love it when a homeowner has their garage open instead of their front door, their kitties wearing halloween sweaters and on leashes, and homemade wine fresh for the drinking adults. So Sam and I took our wine and the kids got their candy/pins/cans of soda and off we went to the next house....sipping, chatting, telling the older boys to slow down, and keeping Ethan from eating his candy. With the wrapper on. He doesn't mess with the wrapper...in his mouth the fastest way possible is his thinking.

FLOin' Straight

So, here we are last night just before we ventured out to the annual Halloween Party at Marc and Janel's house....lovely, huh? I have to say I'm diggin' my straight 'do after being wavy the last year! So Michael went curly this time. Ha!

The Great Pumpkin

Austin's costume ideas for this year ranged from a shark, to a pirate, to a pumpkin. I knew he passed up on the shark idea and was all aboard for being a pirate, so I ordered him a Pottery Barn pirate costume from eBay. The next day he informed me he wanted to be a 'punkin' and that he was not going to be a pirate anymore. We were in Madison and I kept asking him what he wanted to be, and I kept getting the same answer back, 'a punkin'. Katie and I had been shopping, running in and out of my car and in and out of several stores. Before we went out to eat on Saturday night, we decided to run into Marshall's quick. Right smack at the store's entrance were a few racks of Halloween costumes. I asked Austin again, and got the same answer. OK, I thought. If I'm going to have to take him trick-or-treating, I want him to be happy with his costume. I turn around and....what was there hanging on the rack but a pumpkin costume, in size 4T! I swear the lights in the store dimmed and rays of light shone upon the only pumpkin costume in the store hanging on the rack. It was mine. I snatched it up so fast and showed Austin and his eyes got huge and his smile even bigger. I threw it into the cart and all was right with the world. Done. Whew.

Austin Trick-or-treating with a few of his friends from school.