Halloween!

Starting the morning off with an eyeball cake pop. Breakfast of champions.

Halloween is easily Addie's favorite holiday, closely followed by Easter. Gee, I wonder what those two things have in common?

She loves dressing up, she loves candy, and she loves any deviation from the routine. Taking a walk at night, in a costume, for the sole purpose of collecting candy... yes, this fits the bill. 

Graydon really had no idea what all the fuss was about, but he was pretty into the whole scene when he realized it was basically an all you can eat buffet of candy. Here you see my main issue which is that he kept trying to eat the candy without taking the wrapper off. I had a lot of unwrapped but totally mushed up chocolate to dispose of last night.

Every time he slipped away, I knew where to find him.

With her bag of goodie bags for her preschool class

We spent much of the day moving the candy from bowl to trick or treat buckets. And then reversing the process. Over and over.

For some reason, every time G says "Cheese!" he squashes his nose.

Still stacking candy.

She's been asking "Is it time for trick or treat yet?" for about a month. Thank heavens we could finally say "YES!"

 It's a little hard to see, but Addie went as Cinderella and Graydon was a little monster. Ads also had her face painted at preschool and did not want her face paint taken off. And she also refused to take off her jack o lantern shirt. And she wanted to add a tiara and magic want to her ensemble. Her inner diva was in full force last night.

"Mom, take a picture of my curtsy"

 One of the things you have to plan for when considering a Minnesota Halloween is that it is likely to be really frickin' cold during prime trick or treating hours. Hence why Ads got a cheapo Costco Cinderella deal and Graydon is basically wearing a sweatsuit with a face on it. Most of their "costume" is going to consist of outerwear, when all is said and done. Otherwise, it's just too miserable for them to be outside for any length of time.

Sometimes the misery starts early.

Fortunately a good tickle usually restores happiness

We usually just walk around our street, going up one side and back down the other. We get in visits to somewhere around a dozen houses and that's usually plenty of candy and exercise for the little ones. Addie enjoyed it as much as she ever does, always shouting "OK, time for the next one!" the instant candy hit her bucket.

Graydon was really the one who cracked us up last night. He is in a phase where he narrates his entire stream of consciousness, which is really entertaining. Last night it sounded like this:

"Walking! Walking outside! Dark! Dark outside walking!"

"Bucket! Mama, I carry bucket! I carry pumpkin!"

And when he fell down (roughly half a dozen times):

"Falling! Daddy, falling! I'm ok! My candy! Candy falling! Get it!"

When Tim dared to take his bucket and try to carry it for him, G had a full on meltdown, lying down on the grass and howling:

"My pumpkin! Daddy take! Daddy take my pumpkin candy! Daddy, LET GO! Mama, Daddy take it!"

For only the millionth time, I wished fervently for a smart phone to record this monologue. Soon, self...soon.

Off they go, buckets in hand!

At the end of the night, I decided we should probably take a picture of  E3 on Halloween....starting to pop out!

Little Treats

Sweet little treats!

Addie loves our pumpkins. She treats them like pets.

Tim said she was telling him that they were orange.

Here she is showing off the little pumpkins. These little white and orange pumpkins are called "ghouls", which I think is pretty cute.
Calum is a total ham. I'm so jealous, because I would love to have Addie actually sit still for a photo. We've come to despair of getting good shots of her! He was an Ewok, by the way, but he refused his headpiece.


Asher, the Cuddly Lion




The Swanns



I originally planned for Addie to be a peacock this year. But the costume arrived and it was ...well...cheap looking. The feathers were faded and imperfectly dyed. It was like a depressed peacock. Peacock in need of Prozac. That wasn't really what I was going for! Plus, she hated it. She screamed like a banshee when we put it on her, I think because there was a bird's head on the hood. She was NOT pleased about having a bird's head on top of her own head. Moreover, Tim didn't like it because he rightly pointed out that peacocks are male and peahens are nothing special to look at anyway. I didn't think of this until he pointed out, but I had to admit he was right.

So, long story short, Ads was a butterfly again. Last year's costume was huge on her, and this year it actually fit. And she loved it. As soon as we put it on her, she exclaimed that it was "awesome!' and "Bee YOO too" which is how she says "beautiful".

We had a few friends over to have some chili and cornbread and to trick or treat. Addie LOVED trick or treating. She was thrilled to be outside, taking a walk at night, with some of her favorite friends. AND we went to people's houses, knocked on their doors, and they let her choose candy out of a bowl. What could be better from a toddler's point of view? Every morning since then, as soon as she wakes up, she runs into the kitchen and asks for a "tweet" from the candy bowl. She has most definitely inherited Mama's sweet tooth! Her favorite candy seems to be York Peppermint Patties, although she will also eat...with great relish and many loud MMMMMs... Rolos, Whoppers, Almond Joys, and Twizzlers. Thank heavens we just bought her a new toothbrush. She wanted the kind of that buzzes and rotates like Mom and Dad have, so we upgraded her to a fancy new Hello Kitty electric toothbrush. And not a moment too soon, either!