Halloween

i have come a long way.  last year, i did nothing for halloween.  seriously.  i went to hobby lobby and then went to my mother-in-law's house and ate pizza.

this year was a different story altogether.

first, i must point out that i didn't procrastinate to the max, and actually had a costume for ethan weeks before halloween.  thank you very much costco.

we had time to try the costume out a little.  he had time to break it in... he ended up wanting to wear it all the time, and i had to put it up so that it would all be in one piece once we needed it.


we even went "trunk or treating" the weekend before halloween {and tagged along with ethan's 3 sweet girlfriends}  ethan learned the art of trick or treating...


so the evening of halloween, we were all ready.  i have a sweet friend that invited us to join her family and friends on a hay-ride trick or treat extravaganza, complete with a chili dinner pre-party.  we had a lot of fun.

ethan enjoyed his pirate costume


and his little parrot sidekick.



**** i really must be somewhat honest though, and tell you that savannah's costume was crafted the week of halloween.  and i might have stayed up to an ungodly hour working on it.  and faustino might have told me that her headpiece made her look like a ranger's fan wearing a yield sign.  so we might have just been working on the hat portion of her costume a couple hours before we needed to leave.  i will also say that faustino's superior craftsmanship of the parrot beak was the best part of the costume.  he saved the day.  just didn't want you to think that i was a super star.  i'm not. **** 

i did try to make sure that her gumdrop paci matched her costume.  i know, i'm a weirdo.

she wanted his sword...


he said "arrgg" or something like it...


she was in her own parrot world


we had quite a good time.  savannah wasn't too fussy {we were past her bedtime} and ethan was only scared twice.  and not too badly.  very brave and tough!  he was the most worried about the truck/trailer circling around to join us down the street while we were out trick or treating -- i think he was worried we would be stranded.

aren't his little girlfriends cute??


and isn't it completely rare that we have a family photo??


we concluded the night by lighting our jack 'o lanterns.  daddy even let him have a sucker {mommy never lets him have a sucker}


the only real puzzle of the evening was when i realized {once we got home} that somewhere between the trailer of hay and our car, the trick or treat bag disappeared.  definitely a trick, not a treat.

and then, after the kids were down for the night, at 9:45, kids knocked on our door {to be fair, our pumpkins were lit} but seriously??  what were their parents thinking???  yikes.

i hope that you had a wonderful halloween.  and i hope that you are eating all of your kids' candy...