Happy Halloween, belated

These are Garrett and Laura's trick or treat buckets. I made them myself using new gallon sized paint buckets and my scrapbook materials. Perfect size for holding TONS of candy.


I like for my children to coordinate for Halloween. Two years ago, they were both sheep and I was a farmer. Last year, G was a dragon and L was a princess (a very ill mannered 18 month old princess, actually). This year, G told me he wanted to be a lion, so I decided L could be a cat. You know, keep it all in the feline family. But then, G saw this T-Rex in a catalog, and good grief, what kind of mother would I be if I didn't allow my dino-obsessed son to have the opportunity to actually BE a dinosaur?


I had a coupon for a Halloween photo shoot, so I went ahead and had professional "costume" shots done. I'm glad I did, because I have no other decent photos of the kids dressed up. Um, two and four are NOT the most cooperative ages for good snapshot-taking.


We have a great neighborhood for trick or treating, and the weather was actually quite nice, so we decided to brave trick or treating with no strollers, wagons, or driving this year.

Laura eagerly ran up to each house, every time, and yelled "TWICK O' TWEET!!!!" at every door. And she even said thank you, though the people crazy enough to actually offer the bowl of candy (instead of just dropping a piece in her bucket) got rewarded with the uncontrollable delight and greed of a three foot tall sugar freak, digging out piece after piece of candy while saying very seriously, "Just two. JUST TWO." Yes, Laura. If two means EIGHT. Now get your hands out of the bowl. She did start getting tired on the last street, and made a break for another family's wagon.

Garrett, on the other hand, had apparently used up all his energy asking me, "Is it trick or treat time yet?" approximately 561 times between seven a.m. and five p.m. He was asking to be carried by the third house. On the last street, he actually dropped his bucket and sat down in people's yards while his sister went up to the door. Ah, Cooperation, where art thou? Will I ever know ye?

When we got to our next door neighbor's house, I carried (dragged?) him to the door myself, muttering, "I paid sixty dollars for these costumes, you are NOT sitting in another yard and letting free candy just pass you by." Because I am a good mother. A caring mother.

So after we put the kids to bed, I immediately reverted back to my nine year old self. Meaning I sat down and eagerly began sorting the candy - um, I mean, checking the candy for needles or poison. Back in the day, I would have sorted it into brands, but now that I am a mature adult, two simple categories, "Chocolate" and "Other Crap", do just fine. I put the candy in the pantry so the kids couldn't get into it without my approval. Don't worry, they're getting their junk - I've been doling out candy at nine in the morning (and twelve, and three, and six o'clock) for three days in a row now.

What's that, you say? Have I been in front of the pantry sneaking candy for most of the day? Um. Yes. Yes, maybe I have. I mean, all that sugar will positively rot their teeth. Just trying to be a responsible mom and get rid of the junk. For the children. I do it all for the children, people.