Halloween 2009

Every year, I'm amazed at the fact that Halloween becomes a week-long celebration. As if one gigantic bag/bowl of candy isn't enough. No, we need two. Or three. Or four. This year was no exception.

Every year, I'm also reminded that I'm a completely pathetic Halloween mom. I see so many fun crafts, treats, and decorations that other mom's do, and every year I vow to be more creative. But alas, it just doesn't happen. And this year, I finally accepted it. Halloween's just not my thing. Oh, we manage to make it to the pumpkin patch, and we manage to find costumes. But that's about it. We finished carving our pumpkin 15 minutes before trick-or-treaters arrived on our doorstep. And we never lit it. Because, well, we forgot. Pathetic.

But before you feel sorry for my kids, let me remind you of that week-long celebration that others throw for my children to enjoy. Because, above all, Halloween is about candy. And let me assure you, they got plenty of that.

We started with the ward trunk-or-treat, where Marie spent the majority of the evening like this:

The car next to us had a singing ghost hanging from the trunk and she was enthralled. She just stood, fixated, and pointing. She eventually charmed them into taking the ghost down and letting her play with it, which allowed her to spend the rest of the evening like this:

Hot dog in one hand, bun in the other. She loved every minute of it, and had no idea she was missing out on candy.

Kyle, on the other hand, is a seasoned pro. He and Libby ran from car to car, as fast as they could. And I'm pretty sure they made the rounds two or three times, judging from his overflowing bucket. This was also the only time my little ninja's face was covered because he lost that part of his costume shortly thereafter.

Then we had the school celebration. They started with a parade, and never quite made it back to schoolwork. They painted pumpkins, made crafts, had treats, and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Some parents were bugged about the waste of a school day, but Kyle's class gets so few opportunities for fun, that I was happy for him.

In addition to this, we had a party over at Kevin's office. So by the time we got to the actual day, I thought they'd be burned out. Judging by this face, I think I was wrong:

They had a blast. They ran from house to house with friends, and collected more candy than I care to look at.

Even Marie had caught on by this point. She didn't have a bag, but she'd join the big kids at a door, collect her piece of candy, and immediately open it and devour it while the others hit the next 10 houses. When her candy was gone, she'd join the kids at another door and start the process all over again.