Happy Halloween 2008

Every year since we moved to our neighborhood, we've gotten together with our neighbors for a little Halloween potluck party at the "entrance" to our cul-de-sac. The best part is that we set up a table and everyone sets their candy buckets on it. The kids just come and pick out what they want, and the rest of us can sit back (at least the ones that aren't trick-or-treating with the kids), enjoy each other's company, and not have to greet kids at home by ourselves.

We were out there tonight by 5-5:30PM setting up the food tables and such. Most everyone was out there by 6PM. DS#2 took forever to get ready. At first he complained that his costume was too short, even though he tried it on before he got it and knew it was going to be short (they didn't have any bigger sizes). DH convinced him to put black pants on underneath (instead of shorts). He still didn't come outside for a while. DH went to go check on him. He convinced him to wear pants with pockets, since his mask has glowing eyes that need batteries, and the pockets would give him somewhere to put the battery pack. When DS#2 finally came out of the house, at first he had his black dress socks on with his black dress shoes. I didn't want to tell him, but he looked a bit silly, like he was wearing a dress with socks. He must have figured it out or something, because he went back inside and again didn't come out for a while. When he came out, he had black sweatpants on instead. It looked much better. The length of time it took him to get ready made me think that he seemed uncomfortable in the short costume at first, but finally felt comfortable when he got the look he wanted (with the black sweatpants).

My reluctant Grim Reaper is the one on the right. I could not get him to stay still long enough to take a picture. As you can see, his whole face is covered up. What you can't see so well is that he has glowing red eyes in there. I'm just glad he found a costume he liked so that he could enjoy trick-or-treating this year. I wasn't so sure he would be going trick-or-treating a month or so ago. He mainly went around with his friend E (the "Scream" character next to him on the left) and I tried to keep up with them.

At first, DD was way ahead of us, running from house to house. DH and I followed behind with DS#3 in the wagon. We only took DS#3 up to a few houses. He seemed intrigued by people putting candy in his bag because once that bag had candy in it, he held on tightly. He looked so tired, though, and DH ended up taking him home after a couple of long blocks. The main reason was that he was poopy and had leaked, but we had planned on getting him home then anyway. DD had already asked to go home. Her bag was already getting full and she wasn't interested in walking anymore or in holding that heavy bag any longer.

This is probably the best photo of the evening. I had merely wanted a photo of DS#3 sitting in the wagon with his little basketball, but when he looked up, he would see the camera and immediately break out into this cheesy smile. He made me laugh and he made a few of the neighbors that saw this laugh too. I wanted to get a full length photo of him so I could show off his whole ensemble, but he just didn't stop moving enough. In all, I would say that he enjoyed his second Halloween much more than his first. :)

I almost forgot to mention DS#1. He was going to walk with us, but then a school friend came by and they started playing some soccer. Later, I saw the two of them walking around the neighborhood. The next time I heard anything was just a few minutes ago when DH said that DS#1 was over at a girl's house. Her mom used to be his CCD teacher way back in second grade. He was a good boy and called us from his cell phone. DH expects to be pacing around tonight until DS#1 gets home. Right now he is muttering "How did he grow up so fast?!!"