Halloween

Our kids love Halloween. Okay, what kids don't? Not only do my kids look forward to dressing up and later gorging themselves with treats, but Grandma, their great-aunt, and their aunt came to visit. These wonderful women have come on Halloween for a couple of years now. They like to come see the kids and their costumes. The kids adore playing games, eating jack-o-lantern pizzas, and just soaking up the attention of people who love, love, love them!
Grandma and our aunt played a wild and crazy game of Halloween Bingo with the kids.
Rachel let me put her hair in curlers. Her hair is naturally curly, but we tried the spongy curlers to see if we could make it super curly.

We all went to Matt's school for the costume parade. Unfortunately Matthew zipped by too fast for me to get a good shot of him. My nephew went as Darth Vader (notice him in the bottom right corner). His costume was amazing. The entire time we were at the school, he had scads of little boys standing around him just staring at his costume - with their little eyes popping out and jaws on the blacktop. My sister is uber-creative and makes the most incredible costumes for her kids. Yah, we know where all the talented genes went...

I'm disappointed that I didn't get good pictures of the kids on Halloween. Perhaps we'll have a reinactment - minus all the gut and tooth rotting candy. They looked really cute, though. Matthew went as Albert Einstein. It's tough to see here, but his hair was all sprayed white. I let him grow it out for the occasion. (We even did family pictures last month. I so debated, but let him keep it long. Man, the boy has TONS of hair. So unfair!) Rachel and Bailey were princesses. Although, for several weeks leading up to Halloween, Rachel changed her mind quite a few times. Luckily, she came full circle and ended up with what we started.

The kids loved trick or treating and the weather was beautiful so we all went. We have a really super family in our neighborhood who builds a bonfire and serves hot cocoa and donuts. Yum. We had a blast. We really didn't stay out too long, but when we got home the kids were exhausted. Steve lied down on the floor and Rachel quickly snugged up to him and fell asleep.

Matt and I giggled about Rach and Dad, then I went upstairs to put Bailey to bed. When I came back down a few minutes later, I found him sacked out on the loveseat. The successful end to Halloween -- happy, tired children.