Halloween 2009

Did we celebrate Halloween early this year? It certainly crept up on me! Since my middle name lately has been "Procrastination" the kids' costumes were purchased and put together Friday night. Usually, I am the type of mom who pieces together costumes, but not this year. Anna was a skeleton, Ella was a witch and Brennan was some Bakugan character...all courtesy of Target and Walmart. Even so, they were cute as can be and so excited about the day. Brennan woke up Saturday morning and immediately wanted to wear his costume and started asking when it would be time to go at about 7:00 A.M.

Saturday morning the kids were playing outside when our sweet neighbors called them over. Not only did they have a new puppy to show the kids, but they also wanted to carve pumpkins with them. The kids had such a fun time carving their pumpkins with the exception of Ella not enjoying reaching into the pumpkin to get all the "stuff" out of the inside. She's my, "I don't like to get dirty," girl.

This year, we were invited again to join the Lange family and their neighborhood in their annual Halloween Hayride. We went last year for the first time and had a wonderful time. Ella also had a friend who gave us an invitation to their family's Halloween get together. Decisions had to be made. Although I hated to separate our family that night, I agreed to let Ella go to her friend's party while Anna, Brennan and I headed out to Sugar Mill.

For the kids, the day seemed like an eternity of waiting, but when the time finally arrived, we all got ready and headed out for some fun. One of Anna's friends joined us that night so we picked her up. After that we dropped Ella off at her friend's house. Then we were off for our hotdogs and hayride.

The tight-knit neighborhood is set just outside city limits. After visiting a bit with everyone and letting the kids run around and play for a few, we loaded up the trailers and started the hayride. This experience is quite possibly the best way to trick or treat...at least for the parent. Parents sit on the bales of hay, driver stops at intervals, kids run and scatter like little ants up and down the driveways and then race back to the trailers. This goes on for a good 3 to 3 1/2 hours. You can imagine the exhaustion that the kids feel about half way through.

Other than it freezing (not really freezing but we felt like it was even at 58 degrees) it was a close to perfect night. As soon as we got home, I turned on the fireplace, the kids got ready for bed and set up a pallet on the floor in front of the fireplace. Within minutes they were all three asleep. The kids had a fabulous time. And that's what it's all about.