Halloween!

After picking up the boys from school, the afternoon passed quickly getting ready for the big night. The kids were SO excited.

The boys were asking why our house doesn't have any "spooky" decorations. I am not a fan of "spooky" on my house. But while they were at school I surprised them and decorated the chandelier with a paper ghost and some doily spider webs that were given to me. They were delighted. :)



This is as spooky as I get.



I managed to set a cute table with things that I already had on hand.



And we had our traditional dinner ~ papa murphy's pumpkin pizza!



Then it was time for some photos.



Matthew was Mario.
This costume was something else. ;)



Andrew was a storm trooper.
Gone are the days of the firefighter and the dalmatian puppy.

Sigh.

And while I miss those sweet costumes, the tradeoff is the joy in the expressions of the children as they are transformed into a favorite character and exuberantly run around the house.



Just like last year, the Bug was not having the photos. Turkey!
She curled up in a little ball and refused to participate.



It worked out just fine as the pouting made lovely photos.

I don't remember exactly what I said that prompted the next photo, but probably expressed some disappointment in her behavior because this was the response....



Which is always accompanied with, "Mama, you made me sad."

That cry is complete fakery, so don't feel too badly for her.  I am a complete cream puff when it comes to my kids being (authentically) sad, so don't let this make you feel badly.  (Ahem, Nana).  :)



She did finally do her signature pose for me.





And then we were off! The kids were thrilled. Katie was sprinting from house to house and yelling, "I LOVE trick-or-treating!!!!" As usual, she was confident and had no concerns about approaching a stranger's door and asking for candy!



Andrew was a little pouty that night, but snapped right out of it whenever we approached a "spooky" house. He would bravely lead his siblings to the steps with scary witches and spider webs, while Matthew and Katie hung back.

Matthew had received an invitation to go trick or treating with some classmates. He really wanted to go, and so after we did some family time, he and Dan broke off and found the big group of 2nd grade boys and dads. We bumped into them at one point...



It was a little bit of mayhem.

Andrew and Katie lasted an hour and then we headed back to the house to hand out candy.  I didn't think they would last that long and felt badly that our house was unattended.

They had a GREAT time answering the door ~ taking turns holding the candy and opening the door.  Andrew saw classmates and Katie got lots of attention from the bigger kids for being little and cute, which she just eats up.



They wasted no time dumping their bags and enjoying the fruits of their labor. Matthew and Dan returned later with cold pink cheeks and a bag FULL of candy.

It was a wonderful night, we had a GREAT Halloween. I admit, I am not a huge fan of Halloween. I don't like scary things and it's just not my thing. But am happy to pretend otherwise for the kids. And I have to say, the kids are just at the perfect ages for these holidays to be so much fun. I'm enjoying every second of it.