Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween this year was a hit.  I went easy on the costumes--I actually bought both of the boys' last year after Halloween on clearance for 5 bucks.  I'm pretty sure that neither boy has actually ever played Mario Brothers, but they were hugely excited to be them, nonetheless.  

We had a mellow morning, and then Adam was able to come home and work from home in the afternoon while Annie napped so that I could go to the school and be in the boys' classrooms for their class parties.  It was so fun to see them in the school setting--I don't get to be in either of their classrooms nearly as much as I would like to be because of Annie and her nap schedule.

After school, we headed to downtown Parker for the festivities they have there.  We had heard it was a good time, but had never been down there on Halloween in all the years we have lived here.  But it was a blast!!  All of the businesses down Main Street had trick-or-treating, there were carnival games and bounce houses, a hay maze, and dressed-up characters the kids could get their pictutres taken with--and all for FREE.  I cursed myself for having left my camera on the counter--where I had set it so I wouldn't forget it.  AHHH!

My very favorite part of the entire day came while we were downtown and there was a dance company dancing on Main Street.  They were doing simple dance moves that kids from the crowd could copy.  Both my boys ran out into the street, right into the throng of dancers, and totally rocked out.  I was laughing so hard at their totally lack of inhibition, and again could not believe that I didn't have a camera.  But at least I have stored that memory into my heart in the place where I keep things that I will never, ever forget.  Because it was a priceless moment.

Luigi

Luigi and Mario

Mario

And Annie was our little strawberry.  She has been cutting her canine teeth the last couple days and has diarrhea and a bad diaper rash.  So she was less than thrilled with her life.

 But I DO love this picture of McKay trying to comfort her while she was crying her eyes out.

And this was the very best we got all night of all three kids together.  You win some and lose some.

It also didn't help that every time I tried to get a good picture of Annie, Ty kept photo bombing!  I asked him where he learned how to photo bomb and he said, "From Grammie!"

Fortunately, once we got out and about the neighborhood, Annie was happy as could be.  I tried to get her to say "Trick or Treat" but she never did.  Once she caught on that everyone was giving her candy, though, she would rub her chest (ASL for "please") and say "Bease!" at every door.  Which was cute and probably more polite, anyway.  :-)
She choose suckers at every house that had them, and started on that huge orange tootsie pop with the wrapper still on sometime while we were still making the rounds.
All the kids had a pretty good haul!

Even though these mustaches bothered the boys and they refused to wear them while we were out, I insited that they put them on for a minute to get a picture.  They were just too cute not to!

Annie and Her Daddy

Uncle Spence came into town yesterday for a tennis conference that's in Denver this weekend.  So he got to join in the trick or treating fun, too.  And McKay needed to make sure that we got a picture of him.  As soon as he took this photo, he said, "Great picture, Spence!" which cracked us up.

Another adorbale anecdote:  while we were going around the neighborhood, McKay grabbed Ty's hand and said, "Brothers are best buddies.  So I will walk with Ty, and Dad, you walk with Spence."  And every time Adam and Spence were not right next to each other, McKay would remind them:  "Brothers stick together!"  It was beyond cute.

One last cute story:  as the kids were sorting through their candy after we returned home, McKay saw a pack of fruit snacks in his pile.  Fruit snacks are Annie's favorite thing in the world right now, and without saying a word to anyone, McKay walked over to Annie's candy bag and put his fruit snacks in her bag.  It was no big deal to him; he didn't do it to get praise or attention, and that's why it was so sweet.  He just has a golden little heart that I adore!

I was exhausted by day's end, but we had a really wonderful Halloween this year!