Halloween Highlights

This year Halloween was good to us. I don't remember a Halloween that had better weather.

Ever.

I felt like we could've scoured the neighborhood all night if we needed to, and never get uncomfortable. With the exception of our aching feet, of course. Besides the weather being down right gorgeous, the kids were the perfect age. They had so much fun it was just fun to watch.

This year, Hubby was home (as opposed to traveling for work), so he was determined to get in on the Trick-or-Treat action. He missed last year's neighborhood romp, and was still sad about that. It was the year The Little Man really figured out what Trick-or-Treating was all about, and was so giddy about getting candy from every house that he could barely get himself under control. He had to hear all about it via telephone call later that evening. I too did not want to miss out on the fun. I mean, how often are your kids going to be in the age range where Halloween is close to the best thing that has ever happened to them? Not many years. I want to soak each one of those years up.

Well, as long as the weather is as nice as it was last night.

If it is snowing/raining, I can soak that goodness up right from the comfort of my own home. Thankyouverymuch.

So, with the both of us Trick-or-Treating with the kids, that left our home unmanned for our own candy give away. We both thought of this slight detail as, well, just that, slight. We figured, even though we promised the kids we were going to go to every house in our little neighborhood portion of the subdivision, that we would be home in about a half hour, maybe 45 minutes TOPS.

As you can guess, considering the fact that our children are ages five and three, we spent much more time Trick-or-Treating than we had estimated. Which made the fact that I had spent a little over $20 on candy sting that much more when we only had about eight Trick-or-Treat-ers come by after our, almost all night, adventure.

So to say we have a lot of candy, when you combine hitting up the neighborhood along with $20 in candy of our own, is a GROSS understatement.

Hubby keeps mumbling that this slight detail is what might push him right over the edge into chubby-ville.

Oh ya, and don't forget that we had to weed through the kids candy for any and all candy made with peanuts or chocolate (did you know that pretty much all candy with chocolate in it is NOT peanut free?). That left them with about 40% of their loot. The other 60%, is in a bag in our pantry, and it is like money burning a hole in our pockets. So, the running mileage will have to increase starting tomorrow and continue through the holiday season.

Regardless of all the caloric intake going on in this house, we had a great time together as a family. Here are a few highlights of the night that I will remember from Halloween '08:

1. How cute the kids were in their costumes.

2. The Little Man telling us after every house that "Those people gave me candy!"

3. The Girl reading every little sign that people had used to decorate their homes with, and then taking them seriously. For example if someone had a sign in a flower bed that said "Turn Back Now!" she would look at me and say, "Uh-oh momma! That sign says we should go back! I wonder if we should, or if we should just ring the door bell anyways?

4. After going to a house where a real live person was sitting on a bench on the porch looking like a pretend scare crow proceeded to scare us by moving as we walked by, the kids thought it would be fun to do that to the person who answered the door at the next house. After they rang the door bell, they both froze in crazy poses, and then when the person came to the door and greeted them, they both jumped and said "BOO!" to the greeter. The person answering the door totally didn't get it, and the kids just laughed and laughed as though they had pulled off the biggest prank in the world. Hubby and I laughed to, but for different reasons.

5. The Little Man sang to us as we went from house to house. The song of choice? Tobymac, Kurt Franklin, and Mandeesa's "Lose My Soul". Hubby and I thought it was fitting.

And last, but certainly not least,
6. The Little Man going up to a house and instead of saying "Trick-or-Treat", he had already decided what he really wanted, and just flat out asked for it. He asked the homeowner if he could have some Nerds because those were his favorite candy. Surprisingly, they were giving Nerds away which only made things worse because then he said, "Well, I better get two boxes then because I just love them." I, unfortunately, had to show my face to the homeowner and retrieve my son from their porch when he tried to fill his bag with Nerds.

Good times.

Next year, Hubby says he will stay home and pass out candy. I told him it was too much fun going with him. We're working on a compromise, and eating Snickers bars, like they are going out of style, in the meantime.