Halloween 2016

We walked our town for our last Halloween here which was bittersweet. The last three years we have celebrated Halloween around our town next year comes with new traditions and new a new neighborhood. This year though was so good with the kids. 

Every year I have made A’s costume – first an owl, then a monkey and a Zebra last year. This year with our move I gave myself some grace and A got her first store bought costume. She chose a lion and then she added her own personality to it: a bow and a tutu. Goodness I love that spunky girl. B used A’s monkey costume because it worked out that way and it fits his ornery personality so flawlessly. 

For the past three years we have gone to the local middle school for the 4-H Trick or Treat Street and this year we did the same. The first year we took their great grandparents (see 2014), last year Oma, Opa & Aunt Kylie (2015 here) and this year we got to take grandma and grandpa. I love that we have gotten to include all Colorado grandparents in this tradition up until the end.

For Halloween yesterday I made our traditional pumpkin pancakes in the morning. For dinner I made mummies which was new and the kids really enjoyed. I’m a sucker for silly little traditions and the kids like them too. 

We skipped pumpkin carving this year. The kids decorated two little pumpkins a few weeks ago and the pumpkins from the trip to the pumpkin patch are sitting untouched on the porch. No one is sad about it and the pumpkins will just last longer this way. Next year maybe we’ll decorate or carve some. 

After our dinner we got the kids all dressed up for their big night of trick or treating. Both kids were quite excited about it. Getting a picture of A was easy, getting a picture of B was a challenge (read: such little monkey) and getting one of them together was impossible. Ha! 
We set out into the neighborhood and less participated than other years which was different but we had a great time. The kids weren’t shy about walking up and trick or treating which was great. B was far more eager than I expected her would be but he’s typically a little go-getter. Plus he was right along side big sister, which helped.

We hopped back and forth the street to hit the scattered houses with lights on down our street. Then hit the older side of town before looping back to our house. We learned last year of some hidden little homes that I don’t think get much traffic but seem tickled to have trick or treaters come visit. One home had the friendliest five week old kittens. If A could have gotten away with sticking one in her bucket without daddy knowing, I’m pretty sure she would have done it. 

Since the very first year of living here, we have always stopped at this older bungalow style home where the sweetest older woman sits knitting at her side door waiting for the kids. Her eyes light up every time we come. The first year was some candies, last year it was popcorn balls. This year she wasn’t the one to come to the door. It made my heart a little sad but I decided not to ask for more details. 

We made our final loop down the street and the neighbor kids were all back in their homes by 8pm. Usually it’s a bit later but considering it was a school night, I’m not super surprised. The kids were plenty full by the time we finished out look. Luckily Miss A hadn’t snuck too much candy because she went to bed fairly well. 

Halloween 2016, you were good to us.