Happy Halloween 2011!

Halloween is finally here! I cannot tell you how often Nathan asked me if it was time to trick or treat! Andrew has come over the last two years and was able to come again this year...I think we're making it a tradition which I love! Plus we added Nathan's friend, Jake...they are our neighbors across the alley. I could definitely tell a difference in this year vs. last year. Last year, the kids were happy just going up and down our street. This year, they wanted to go all over the neighborhood! I know I had to burn a ton of calories! And the great thing about going trick or treating in our neighborhood was that when we went by Jake's house, his dad Mike, ran to his garage and got us a few adult beverages for the rest of the night! We had kids, beer, and candy! Jake was Spider Man and Andrew was Buzz Lightyear. We also had our Transformer and Ladybug with us.

After Nathan, Jake, and Andrew showed Charlotte how to trick or treat, she finally got the idea...kind of. Charlotte's idea of trick or treating was to go to the houses and hand THEM one of her pieces of candy. So sweet.

Nathan's Halloween pail

And here is my Halloween pail :)

After going all through the neighborhood, we headed back to our house where the boys dumped their candy and had a ball going through it all. Charlotte and Jake's baby sister, Skylar played and hugged and kissed all night. They were so sweet together.

We had so much candy that I thought it was going to last forever. WRONG! Wayne and I have no willpower when it comes to chocolate so that was the first to go. And Nathan loves the Tootsie Rolls. So between the 4 of us, our stash is quickly dwindling and making its way to Mommy's thighs :)

Neighborhood "Fall Festival"

On the Saturday before Halloween, our neighborhood hosted a "Fall Festival." Normally, they have this party the evening of Halloween and then everyone goes trick or treating afterwards. But this year was different. It was funny to me because when they first started advertising it, they really emphasized that it was a "Fall Festival" not a "Halloween" party, and they encouraged everyone to dress up in costumes that go along with that theme, not Halloween costumes...It sounded like they were trying to be politically correct yet some suggestions for costumes were: farmers, pilgrims, INDIANS (don't we say Native Americans now?) and AMISH! What do Amish people have to do with Fall or even Thanksgiving? As the "Festival" got closer, the fliers changed their wording and said "Feel free to preview your Halloween costume." So Nathan and Charlotte got dressed up again in their costumes and we went to the "Fall Festival" where every other person was dressed up in costumes too! I don't think I saw one farmer, pilgrim, Indian, or Amish person!

It really was so much fun. There was a pony ride, petting zoo (which Nathan and Charlotte LOVED...I think we spend 45 minutes in that one place!) two bounce houses, face painting, caricature drawings, a hay ride, fire truck, ambulance, and police cars, and a snack stand! There is also a small playground in the cul-de-sac that Nathan and Charlotte played on. Oh and when you see the picture of the two of them eating popcorn, it isn't popcorn that I bought. While we were waiting for the artist to finish Nathan's picture, Charlotte apparently saw a man eating popcorn and went up to him and tried to get some. He was really nice and asked me if she could have a few pieces. I said "Sure, that's so nice." And as he lowered the bag for her to get a piece, Nathan stuck his whole hand in and helped himself! I was a tad bit embarrassed, but the guy just laughed and gave them the sack...we're still working on manners :)