Halloween '08

Halloween this year took lots of preparation. First Abra and Daddy found costumes for the babies at the Mother of Twins sale in Sept. They found matching pumpkin costumes, but decided not to go the matchy-matchy route. I thought that was a good decision. Then LR and I practiced the door routine for 2 weeks prior to Halloween. I would put him in the garage, have him knock on the door with pumpkin bucket in hand and say "Trick or Treat" when I opened the door. At one point I said, "say, 'trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat.'" He looked at me sternly and said, "that's not nice." And there you have it - spontaneous moral judgements. Hooray... not only can I feel like a bad mom, he can tell me when I'm being one. Coolio.

So, the day of, I had LR try on all the costumes available to him. My clown costume from when I was his age. His elephant costume from last year. And finally the fireman costume I picked out over the summer - it was a raincoat from Costco which he needed anyway, but doubled as a costume really nicely! Red pants, black shirt, rubber boots and we were ready to go. Well, with child #1.

The babies got baths before we put them in costume so that they could go right to bed when we got home. Abra was intent on being a witch and was really curious about the holiday. She came with us as with toured the neighborhood and helped coach LR at the doors. All that practicing was for naught. Every time someone came to the door with a heaping bowl of candy, his eyes opened wide and he lost the power of speech, struck dumb by the sheer volume of sugar. We would all stand there saying, "what do you say? what do you say?" and eventually, LR would recover and squeak out, "trick or treat," sometimes before sometimes after grabbing a candy bar. Then we'd have to remind him to say thank you. He was also really interested in the other kids out and about and insisted that crowded doorsteps were "parties." I can see how it would look that way.

LR was a little disappointed in only getting 1 piece of candy when we got home. To be honest, I was too - gorging on candy is definitely a favorite Halloween memory, but I guess when he's older.


Getting J Frog ready







Getting Missy ready









Babies are ready to go!












LR standing in the kitchen waiting for the rest of us to get our act together.











We made it out the door! We're standing in our yard, cracking our glow sticks, and posing for one last picture.






Ohhhhh ahhhh.... glow sticks!







LR trick or treating







Back home with his loot. Making a face because I'm making him pose for another damn picture.







The day before Halloween making spider cupcakes with Cheerio eyes. Pretty fun.






Too small elephant costume, but fun to run around in for a little while.











LR with a little bit of self-applied face paint wearing the clown costume Grandma W made for SwingDaddy and I when we were little.