Apedaile 6: Happy Halloween

This Halloween, along with all of the upcoming holidays/special celebrations are a bit bittersweet because I am reminded that this will very well be the last that we will all be celebrating together as a family under the same roof. With Sarah more than likely going off to a university that is not in town, she won't be here for the little events like Halloween. I try to cherish these crazy moments of being a family of 6 with planning for college for one and trying to keep the youngest from jumping off the edge of the couch. All too soon, they will be grown and our house will be quiet.

This Halloween all of the kids were something different with no underlying theme to tie them together. Since we have moved here to Tn, this is a first but everyone was very happy with their choices. Well, JT wasn't given a choice in costume, but John chose a dinosaur for him because he loves animals and makes a great roaring noise when you ask him what the dinosaur says!

We started off with a great plan- take pictures in the front early, head to a local park that had a great walking path with lots of businesses handing out candy, and then come home with JT and the girls would Trick or Treat together with some girlfriends in a local neighborhood for a while. Well, we started off well in taking the pictures on the lawn and loaded up and headed to the park. When we arrived, we were shocked to see that just about everyone else in the city apparently had the same idea. There were a TON of people and cars everywhere!!! We have gone to this park for Trick or Treating before and it was easily double the amount of people waiting in a long line to start the trail. I estimated that we would be waiting at least 45 minutes just to start. Waiting in line and a near 17 month old don't work well together for something not necessary, so we had to come up with Plan B.

So we drove to Sonic to plan. Why Sonic? Well, they had a Halloween special of .50 cent corn dogs and it was a fun, cheap dinner for the family while we considered what to do. An additional surprise was that Sonic gave the kids full size candy for Halloween. The girls are still talking about that unexpected surprise :) Our good friends, Sharon & Darren had invited us to come to their neighborhood that weekend and we thought it would be great to do that instead of waiting in line. So John talked to Darren and we drove on over after we grubbed on our yummy corn dogs.

Once we started Trick or Treating, JT had a good time. He of course, doesn't understand what he was expected to do but instead thought it was more of a social time. He expected to be welcomed into the houses of strangers that opened the doors- trying to walk in himself a few times, loved walking all over people's lawns, and also would put down his bucket and grab the candy to eat right then. JT did a combination of walking, riding in his stroller, and being held. He was a very adorable dinosaur and I think next year he might start to understand what Trick or Treat means.

After we were finished, we drove home and the girls headed out to Ariel's neighborhood and end their Halloween with a bunch of girlfriends. They returned home about 2 hours later and now as result, we have WAY too much candy in the house. I have 2 containers set aside for John to bring to work to share with his coworkers so it doesn't end up in my mouth :)