Halloween

Okay, I am seriously behind on posting this to the point that even Steve is on my case. Sunday I was just feeling blah (still getting over a cold) and yesterday I was in Cleveland all day for a meeting, then made a couple stops on the way home to see a very cute baby boy and also run an errand and didn't make it home until after 10 pm! Went to bed with a splitting headache. Okay, enough of my moaning... onto the good stuff - Halloween!

Saturday was both Halloween and trick or treat for us. We had a great day of carving pumpkins, watching The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (the twins' first time and they loved it), no napping (despite our attempts), dressing up and trick or treating.

We took the twins last year, but just around our court and in the stroller. This year they wanted to run... run free and fast. And that they did. The twins were Batman and Robin, as selected by Ethan. And what Batman and Robin would be complete without wheels? Yes, the twins now have their own motorized rides now, which was a last minute surprise to both me and them. The Robin mobile was even tricked out by dad himself - it was previously Dora the Explorer. Now, they didn't actually ride these around for trick or treat, that would have been crazy with all the kids. But they did get to ride in the house (since daddy had them cleaned for inside use).

The masks did not last long on the twins.

Ethan, as you know, was The Flash. Not to be confused with Flash Gordon, which people kept doing. He was the superhero fast as lighting The Flash, Wally West, as he informed me several times. He loved this costume. It's the first time that he didn't take off any piece of it during the night and it was a long night. Side note: in all the chaos of getting everyone ready and the MANY attempts to get decent photos, we lost all our extra time and I didn't get any single photos of Ethan. So, he will get a solo photo shoot this week... I'm NOT doing the twins again... those little buggers will not stay still!

We went with many of the neighbor children, which worked out well as the older kids were running from house to house and the younger ones were not. Therefore we had parents spaced out among the kids so everyone could go at their own pace and never be unsupervised. Oliver kept saying "we are trick or treating" in his cute little voice which cracked everyone up. The twins had a blast running down the sidewalk. We honestly didn't care if they went to the houses to get candy since they weren't going to get to eat it and all they cared about was being out with the other kids and running. That said, if anyone handing out candy said "do you want to come get some candy?" to Collin as we were walking by, he would stop with a screech (no kidding) and ran up to them with a huge smile as if to say "candy? did you say candy?!" (mind you he has had very little of it ever). It was hilarious! Oliver on the other hand would go up and then give the candy to whichever of his friends was standing there, rather than putting it in his bag.

Some of the trick or treat group

Collin loves babies! Poor Ben, who is actually 18 months old, had Collin touching and hugging him whenever we were standing still. BTW, isn't Ben the cutest in that Yoda costume?! And when he toddles along - the walk made him look all the more like him!

They got slower (read: exhausted) as the night went on, so we hitched a ride in Ben's wagon since Ben wanted to walk. They both enjoyed it (Oliver is only getting up because I stopped to take the photo). Check out Collin stretched back with candy (unopened) in hand. The life!

Ethan had a blast with his friends both trick or treating and at the party afterwards. Party you say? Yes, party. As in neighborhood party. Our neighbors at the end of the street hosted a during and after party - with big outdoor heaters, a fire pit table, lots of good food and adult beverages - sorry Christine! The adults passing out candy on our street could go gather in their driveway to pass out their candy and the ones walking with the kids could join afterwards. So we did. Well, Ethan and I did. Steve had taken Collin and Oliver home for bed.

The neighborhood kids all thought it was a blast being out in the dark, which they rarely are. They ran around playing various made-on-the-fly versions of tag, told scary (not really) stories with flashlights under their chins (they are too young to know how spooky that can be), roasted hot dogs and marshmallow (for s'mores) at the fire pit table and generally had a blast. We adults had fun too, especially since there were two teenagers there to help watch and entertain the kids.

Suffice to say, a good time was had by all. Happy (belated) Halloween!