Halloween!

  

Happy Halloween!

The kids and I enjoyed a fun-filled Halloween evening yesterday; unfortunately Coleson was sick as a dog and home in bed :( 

We had wanted to go this festival we've gone to in the past, but I decided that would take too much time and get stressful.  So we went to the trick or treating festival at Publix instead and had a really good time.  I wasn't sure what to expect when we got there.  We started at Publix and wandered the store playing five or six bean bag toss type games and collecting candy and cookies.  Then all stores in the strip mall were also giving out candy.  And the best part ... the firemen were there too, perfect for our little fireman and his dalmatian firedog!  We love seeing the firetrucks around town and they are always so nice, letting us look at the trucks, giving out hats, and yesterday we even posed with them for a picture!

Grandma met up with us for trick or treating through the strip mall and then we went to her neighborhood to see Grandpa and trick or treat to a couple of her neighbors' houses.  And a quick stop by our friend Jake's house to say hi too.

We then returned home to trick or treat our neighborhood with Nana.  The kids did great with the trick or treating!  Ryan had done well last year, so he was a seasoned pro.  And Abby really got into it too.  She walked right up to a couple of Grandma's neighbors' house, although when we got home I kept her in the wagon.  But if there was someone on a driveway she'd reach out to them.  And at one house with a really long driveway, Ryan got all the way up there and I heard him asking if he could have a piece of candy for Abby too, what an awesome big brother!! 

Abby loved the lollipops.  She'd never had one before yesterday and then she had three!  She got the first one trick or treating at Publix.  A nice store owner handed it to her and silly me thought, this will entertain her for a minute while she crinkles the wrapper.  Nope, about ten seconds later she was handing me the wrapper and putting the lollipop in her mouth. 

After we came home from trick or treating, we turned on the porch light and took our turn handing out candy.  Ryan enjoyed this just as much as collecting the candy.  He sat in the front playroom, err I mean dining room, watching for trick or treaters and then getting his candy ready to hand them as they rang the doorbell.  Such a great helper!

It was a little rough managing all the fun without Daddy [including a really late dinner and baths to remove facepaint and clean sticky hands & mouths], but we did it.  We really missed having him around to experience all the fun and excitement though!  It wasn't quite the same without him!