Halloween 2014

As is our annual tradition, we have Halloween dinner at our house with any family members that would like to join us.  We try to eat around 5 pm so that we have time to get dressed and be out trick-or-treating by 6 pm.  The kids are not able to visit nearly 1/4 of the houses in our neighborhood yet, as they are still quite small and the weather has been formidable the last few years.  Instead, we choose a few select houses and make sure that the kids fill their baskets and arrive home excited and happy to show off their loot.  Whoever is left behind at the house takes over handing out candy and then the kids help more when we get home.

The dinner this year consisted of spaghetti and meatballs with a salad and garlic bread.  And then lots of desserts!  The day before, Sophia helped me make candy corn cupcakes -- a layer of orange batter, a layer of yellow batter and then white frosting with a candy corn stuck in the top for good measure ...

Steve surprised us with his Beekeeper costume that he borrowed from his brother-in law, and Jack was the most adorable lion (who has been practicing his "ROAR!" for weeks now):

I promised the girls that I would paint their faces for Halloween night -- Sam wanted the traditional Wicked Witch of the West green face paint and Sophia wanted pink and purple ("good witch") make-up with some sparkles:

A family picture:

Upon seeing my "costume" Sam was thoroughly disappointed -- "Mom, that's what you wear every day ..."  Well, not every day, but it is my uniform for work on the nights that I teach lab.  Steve was the one who suggested that I just wear that, and I thought that it was a great idea!

At the first house, Jack was a little apprehensive, but then he totally got the hang of it.  In fact, he was insistent from that house on and he wanted to be handed the candy and then HE would put it in his bucket himself. 

It was windy ... and cold ... and misting rain (snow earlier in the day!) ... but the kids were troopers!  We kept hopping into and out of the van and managed to go to about 12 houses before the kids declared that they were ready to go home.


My big boy, trick-or-treating on his own:

Keeping up with his sisters:

Back at home, the kids posed for one final picture with Aunt Minnie (aka Goldilocks) and Louie (a bear cub).  Louie was starting to get a bit tired and Jack was overly preoccupied with some of the candy that he scored, but Sam managed to put on her "wicked witch" face for the camera and Sophia was her usual happy self!

It was a busy day, but we had the best time!!!