Halloween

The kids were the ones to suggest a family costume this year, so this girl was all kinds of excited. Early in the summer they decided on Star Wars, Force Awakens version. We pulled up photos of our characters and figured out which specific pieces we needed to buy or could make. Then I went to countless Goodwill stores over the course of the next few months. Eli's was a no-brainer to pull together, but Maddux's and Ruby's were trickier. The weekend before the Little 5 Points parade, I caved and took them to Target. All three for $20 each. Honestly, cheaper than it would have been to make them, likely.

In the end, Lehr didn't end up dressing up - we just couldn't pull his Han Solo together. Next year is his year, he says.

Ruby was allowed to dress up for school; I went with the bat fairy from last year for school because it was less likely than her 'real' costume to come home stained. After a quick Halloween party, the parents got to take the kids around the parking lot for a trunk-or-treat. Given the afternoon ahead of us, I didn't want to stick around too long for that (Ruby needed a nap!), but we did hit a few cars. And wow...they were awesome! So many parents took the Trunk thing to a whole new level!

The kids had a great time on Halloween, even though it was a Monday night. We did our annual neighborhood thing and 'paraded' down to the pool for pizza followed by trick-or-treating. Everything started right on schedule and we got started on the main event earlier than usual.

We brought a wagon for Ruby; I was not going to be able to carry her much and there was no way she could walk all that way. (It's a mile just from our house to the pool.) She got out every few houses and trick-or-treated with Lehr or one of the kids. She loved every second of it. A few lollipops, but no major damage in the candy department.

 The big kids had a great time, running around between us and houses with their friends. The early start allowed for more of our trek back to be in daylight. They seemed to have a steady stream of candy consumption, which I totally chose to ignore. We covered even more houses than last year (as we do each year), and they were still in bed at 8:30. Life is good!