Halloween 2009

For us Halloween being on a weekend means that we have soccer like every other weekend. We started out today with two soccer games, both at 8:30AM. It was in the 40s, clear and COLD! I was asking the other parents, "Now why am I doing this again?" It's because the kids love it, of course! DD and DS#2 both lost their games, unfortunately. They both said they enjoyed playing and that's what matters.

This is the only photo I took of DS#1 today. He also had a soccer game today at 2PM. I stayed home because DS#3 badly needed a nap or he wouldn't make it through to the Halloween festivities so I didn't get to see that game. They were playing the team who is ranked second in their division and they lost as expected.

As you can see from the picture, DS#1 is wearing his "costume". He told me this week that he was going to be a "ninja". When I asked him what he was going to wear, he replied, "Ninjas don't let anyone know that they are Ninjas." :) He did, however, invite four school friends over to hang out and watch movies. They decided on our house because they determined that we have the biggest TV. DH and I loved that at least we would know where he was and what he was up to. They did wander around the neighborhood for a bit before coming home and watching a movie and eating pizza. A couple of other neighborhood friends from middle school came over also. They were surprisingly quiet and the our other kids surprisingly left them alone.

In the previous picture, DH put DS#3's conductor hat on to try to entice him to put his hat on, as you can see, it worked--at least for a few minutes. He at least finally agreed to wear the overalls. We had to tell him that if he wore the conductor overalls, he could go outside and get candy. That worked like a charm. We also turned the house upside down to find his Thomas the Tank Engine pail. I was just happy I got a picture of him in the whole ensemble.

The first thing we did was get DS#3 a chocolate tootsie pop. He didn't end up really eating any dinner, unfortunately, but DH and I have decided to choose our battles. Our cul-de-sac has a Halloween party every year located outside at the entrance of our cul-de-sac. We've been fairly lucky with the weather in the last eight Halloweens and it's the one day of the year that most of our neighbors meet and get to know each other. There is always kid-friendly food (hotdogs or burgers) as well as something like chili for the adults.

We didn't start trick-or-treating until around 6:30. DH stayed behind to keep an eye on DS#1 and his friends. I took the other three with friends and their two boys. DS#3 rode in a stroller most of the time, only getting up to go to the doors. This was easier for me because then we could actually keep up with the bigger kids. At first, DD or DS#2 held DS#3 by the hand to help him get to each door. After a few stops, DS#3 was practically jumping out of the stroller! He even started saying, "Trick or treat"!

We were out for almost two hours and we probably walked for around a mile. DD started complaining about her feet hurting. DS#2 even said that he didn't need to go to every house because he was going to get "plenty of candy". When we got back home and I let the kids eat some of their loot, DD also said excitedly, "The people of our neighborhood spoiled us!" So, that ended another fun Halloween!