Halloween

This year Halloween actually felt like Halloween - meaning we had colorful leaves and cool temperatures, the perfect backdrop for trick-or-treating.  The only element we were fighting was the rain, which pretty much held off during most of our Halloween activities.

Stevie and the kids carving the pumpkins

The elementary school here actually encouraged Halloween.  Instead of discouraging kids to wear their costumes, they actually hosted a costume parade and most of the classes had Halloween parties.

I went in to help with Emmy's class party.  Somehow I volunteered to help at the "spider station".  I did this because it said I was going to get to read a story, which I love doing.  Turns out it was not a cute spider Halloween story, but a non-fiction detailed book with close-up pictures of all kinds of spiders.  Kind of freaked me out!  Fortunately, the spider craft (making spiders out of lollipops) took the whole time so I didn't have to read the book!

After the parties, the whole school participated in a Halloween parade through every classroom.  It was really cute to see the costumes.  This year London dressed up as "Hiccup", the main character in "How to Train Your Dragon".  I was surprised that Emmy decided to leave the costume choice to me and only wanted to be surprised on Halloween.  I made her into a mommy border collie sitting in the middle of her litter of puppies.  The total costume was very cute, but unfortunately it was a little bulky so she opted just to be the border collie for most of the day.

After school we had a little break before I took Emmy and London to downtown Gig Harbor for their Halloween activities.  It was crazy busy as the whole main street was blocked off and all the businesses were giving out candy.  They must have gotten through tons of candy!  We stayed down there for about an hour before the rain came and sent us running for the car.

This lady was funny - it's a sewing shop and she was a pin cushion!

At home, we had dinner (mummy meatloaf) and regrouped before all heading out to trick-or-treat our street.  Our street is not set in a neighborhood so their aren't many trick-or-treaters that come around and there are a lot of older people who live here and there are a lot of wealthy people.   All of these factors combine to make a trick-or-treat perfect storm - that's right...lots of candy!  The kids were amazed by the number of "full-sized" candy bars they received.  That's like the ultimate in Halloween loot!

I told Cannon he had to do more than wear his bow and arrows so he and Steve came up with this costume when I was in Gig Harbor with the kids!

The loot!