Halloween

I have to admit that at this age, I kind of love Halloween.  It is just such a fun holiday of imagination and pretend and what little kid (and kid at heart) doesn't love that?!  Both munchkins had Halloween parades at school so they got to go to school in their costumes at the beginning of the day.  I was planning on just sending Bailey in his skeleton jammies because I wasn't sure if he was going to have a chance to change out of his costume and I didn't want anything to happen to it before trick-or-treating that night... but little brother wanted to be just like big sister.  When he saw Ainsley putting her wonder women costume on, he begged and pleaded to wear his superman costume, so I gave in.  He was just asking so sweetly and was so excited about it so I just had to remind myself what was really important.  He was so thrilled when he got to be "man-man" (which is what his version of superman sounds like) that he even added the shades himself.  Above is my super hero crew on their way into school.

Ainsley and Bailey go to different schools that are in the same building and they each had parades at the same time but in different places.  But thankfully, I was able to swing by both and get to see the each kiddo in their moment.  Ainsley's school announced each child and what their costume was and they had the opportunity to walk across the stage.  Ainsley choose to sprint across the stage like wonder women and so this was the only picture I could manage!  The next picture is her afterwards waiting for the rest of her class to go.

Then it was off to catch Bailey's parade.  Their class walked around the building and got to trick-or-treat at the school office at the end.  Even being superman, Bailey had a slower pace, so I was able to get lots of cute shots of my lil guy.

 Later that morning, I was in charge of Ainsley's class Halloween party.  I was not in charge of the decorations but look how cute the tables turned out!  I handled the food - mummy hot dogs, witch's stew (Halloween trail mix) and jack-o-lantern orange fruit cups!  Something that was fun to see was how Ainsley has changed between this year and last year.  I did her class Halloween party last year too and then, she was very excited to "experience" the party with me, meaning she wanted me to help her with the craft and sit next to her the whole time.  This year she was very happy to see my there but was more excited to "experience" the party with her fellow classmates.  She wanted their input on the craft and was eager to show them what was in her goodie bag.  She was happier for me to just snap a few pictures and then socialize with the other moms.  It made me happy to see that she has "found her place" socially but made me a little nostalgic for how fast she is growing up. 

 Bailey got to tagalong during the last half of Ainsley's party.  I'll admit that I was a little nervous about how this would go because he would be coming at the end of the party when the big kids would be getting cupcakes and treats which he might not get and it was past his naptime.  But he did awesome and sat in this chair eating the two tootsie rolls that he got at the end of his class parade and playing with this phone... for almost 20 minutes!  It cracked me up!

Then after the longest afternoon of my children's lives, it was finally time to trick-or-treat!  We went over to a friend and neighbor's house for dinner beforehand so that we could all trick-or-treat together. Here are more pics of my crime fighting duo.  I have to admit that among all the princesses and fairies, I was a little proud that my daughter had chosen to be a super hero.  :)

The crew...  (left to right) Emma O, Henry, Rebecca Jane, Harper, Ainsley, Claire, and Bailey.

These two were super excited to score the first turn in the princess car.  It did take me a while to get comfortable with their freedom on the open road in this little car even though the streets had little to no cars on them.  This momma is definitely not ready for driving yet!  :)

Bailey doing his superman pose...

Picking up a few more passengers...

Needless to say, it was a late and fun night.  The kids scored a ton of candy and had a lot of fun.  We didn't go up to the door with them every time and after a several houses, I realized that Ainsley was going up and getting a piece of candy for herself and then asking for a piece of candy for her little brother... even though Bailey was standing right there next to her asking for his open piece of candy.  But she was honest about it and would deposit the extra piece of candy in his bucket when they walked away from the house.  Once I realized how Bailey's bucket was getting so full, I put an end to it, but thinking about it still makes me laugh.

Happy Halloween!