Halloween 2013

This year we decided to do traditional trick-or-treating in a neighborhood, rather than go to the Lawn at UVa. The Lawn can get kind of chaotic and crowded, and the grown-ups just weren't up for it this year. So, since our neighborhood isn't great for nighttime walking, we went to our friends' neighborhood to do ToTing. The neighborhood had a little parade around the block, and then a family hosted pizza and snacks in their backyard, and then ToTing began.

Before I post those pictures though, I need to explain the costume sagas. Lucas decided early on that he wanted to be a fireman. Easy enough, since we already had a costume in our dress-up collection thanks to Grandma Di. Then the girls decided they wanted to be police officers/other rescue workers in order to match Lucas. Awesome. I scoured the internet and our consignment stores, asked to borrow things from friends, and eventually came up with several rescue-worker themed outfits.

Then, the girls started saying they wanted to be a ladybug (Zoey) and Abby Cadabby (Abby). Ok, still no problem. We had both of those on hand too. On Halloween morning, the kids wore their costumes to school. Here's what they ended up with:

Abby head w/butterfly wings

Monster fireman

Construction worker

The final ensemble

Then, since my parents were out of town, Jason picked them up from school (a rare treat!) and they played outside all afternoon:

I left work early and came home to help get them dressed. Dawdling and many outfit changes ensued. None of them ended up wearing what they said they were going to.

Lucas the dragon. Yes, same costume as 2 years ago. Barely fits over his head anymore.

Abby the butterfly. At first she was going to wear Elmo, which explains the red pants. Then at the last minute she decided butterfly.

Zoey the ladybug, except she wouldn't wear the red tutu that came with the wings because it is "scratchy" and she did not want to wear the antennae headband either. That pink tutu was worn by Abby at their first birthday party. It still fits.

The kids learned the routine pretty quickly.

I was so proud of them for going up to the door and talking to people. They didn't even need us to go with them after the first few houses.

At Amanda & Jason's house, with kids Molly and Will, counting candy and resting before going home.

Counting...

...and sorting.

It made us so happy to see them having such a good time. Another long-awaited parenting moment. They all said they had fun, and they were obsessed with eating their candy. Zoey said it was a little "scary" - mostly being in the dark, and having to talk to the people at the houses. Turns out that getting candy is a pretty great incentive for getting past shyness, though!

To wrap up, here's a link to our past 3 years of Halloween. They're growing so fast!
Halloweens Past

Happy Halloween!

For the third year in a row, we took the kids to UVA's Halloween on the Lawn, where the college students hand out candy to what feels like the whole town. It's always crowded, but fun to look at all the different costumes and run into friends. This year the kids seemed to understand the idea of trick or treating more and were excited to get candy, but too shy to say "trick or treat" or "thank you" or even "hi". And then we had to explain why they had to wait until after dinner to eat any candy. And the whole time I was assessing their bags for choking hazards. College students don't really think about the perils of small round candies, I guess.

On our way to the Lawn

As usual, we were quite the spectacle

Lucas refused to wear his Cookie Monster costume, so Jason wore it instead

Hat-Dad joined us

This green guy was weird but the kids didn't mind as long as he gave them candy

People-watching

Stomping in the leaves

After trick or treating we went out for pizza. The kids kept their costumes on. We need to check the Elmo fur for crumbs and pizza sauce...

It was an exhausting afternoon, but fun! Click on the dates for a peek back at Halloween 2010 (7 months old) and 2011 (19 months old).  I can't believe how little they were and how big they're getting!

Halloween 2011

First, let me say that I am very behind in my blogging. Grandmas Di & Peg visited last week, and the babies turned 19 months old, and our new nanny started two months ago, and I haven't blogged about any of it! I will take care of Halloween first, and then I'll get back on track the rest of this week.

We spent most of the day at home, hanging out in our pre-costume Halloween-themed outfits.

Oh the drama!


His shirt says "here comes trouble"






Late this afternoon we took the crew to UVa's Trick or Treating on the Lawn. It's a big community event each year. My parents came with us, which was helpful for wrangling our wayward fairies and dragon. (thanks to Grandma Di for the costumes!)

Trick or Treating!






Oh no - not enough candy!


Snack break!






Playing in the leaves






It all went much better than last year (when they screamed whenever anyone looked at them). They had a good time wandering around and looking at all the costumes (a duck! a dog! big bird! a cat!), and we snagged a little bit of candy. We also ran into lots of friends and their kids. And the best part was, they were exhausted and went to bed without any trouble tonight!

Halloween, part 2

I've spent a lot of time this fall remembering what it was like to be pregnant last fall. I loved being pregnant and anticipating the arrival of our little pumpkins. Here are a couple of pictures from last Halloween.

Our pumpkin family of 5 from last year


The babies were a little better disguised last Halloween


The babies had a total of 9 costumes to choose from this year, due to all the boxes of clothes that were given to us. Here is another set of 3. (stay tuned for the final set sometime soon)







My own little pumpkin patch