Halloween 2012

I hope you all had a fun and candy filled Halloween! Ours was perfectly low key... just what I was hoping for! Last minute I was able to wrangle Parker into his costume (it was a 2 person job) despite his insistence for a month that was would be "nothing." If he genuinely was having a terrible time, I wouldn't have made him dress up but sometimes he just needs a nudge and then he has a great time. Avery was SO excited to get dressed up again and even got upset when we had to take her fairy wings off for bed. I was sure they would only last for pictures but she wore them (and the hairbow!) the whole night!

 

I was admittedly a bit of a Halloween scrooge this year. It was Wednesday night and Parker had school Thursday morning so we were dressed and trick or treating by 6pm. We hit up a few friend's houses around our neighborhood and then came home to hand out candy. Parker was comfortable to just be along for the ride. Avery, on the other hand, was on a mission for copious amounts of sugar.

Once we got to houses he recognized, Parker came out of his shell a bit and enjoyed the trick or treating experience.

Note the smurf is picking his nose.... I love finding treasures like this on my camera the next morning!

Grandma (Daniels mom) joined the trick or treating fun. It was nice to have an extra pair of eyes even if we did trick or treat while it was still light outside! 

Avery cracked me up. When someone opened the door, she would just walk straight in as if we were touring homes. She would check everything out and then come back to the candy bowl. I suppose it's a good thing we only went to our friend's houses! Stranger danger! Girlfriend had a great method for picking what piece of candy she wanted.... 100% of the time she went for the shiniest package so we scored a lot of TWIX! 

Parker went with the "Bigger is better" method which worked out really well for avoiding smarties and tootsie roll pops Come on people... no one wants those!  Parker requested to come home after about 8 houses and I was totally fine with that. He enjoyed a showing of "Thomas and Friends Blue Mountain Mystery" courtesy of his dad who brought it home from Redbox, scoring mega Parker love. Avery helped us hand out candy to the rest of the trick or treaters while showing off the dog's costumes. 

Before we had the kids, we dressed our dogs up for Halloween. I'm a bit ashamed to admit they have 6 costumes. Daniel picked these out of their dress up bin (yes.... I just admitted my dogs have a dress up bin). They hated it were thrilled.

Moses is supposed to be a hot dog but looks more like a bratwurst since he's a bit on the rounder side and Ellie is a dragon. Heaven forbid Daniel put her in a girly costume! Poor thing... she pretty much just barrel rolled until I saved her. I wouldn't want to be a dragon either, pretty girl!

I was successful in my mission of having a fun Halloween while still getting the kids to bed on time. I forgot to turn our light off so we did have a group of trick or treaters ring the doorbell and wake A up but all things considered, a great night! Avery even slept through the night (7:30-6:15! WOO HOO) Best night's sleep EVER for her and Mr. Parker was bright eyed and bushy tailed for school today! :) Score one for keepin' em on a schedule and still having Halloween fun!

Today I went to 2 different Targets trying to find princess dresses and super hero costumes for a dress up box for Christmas but others mamas must have beat me to them! I did find a garden gnome, colorful witch and lady bug for Avery and a firefighter for Parker but I've still got my eyes open for costumes on clearance! Let me know if you see any!

Halloween is officially over... onto Thanksgiving!!!!!