Halloween

Happy Halloween 2016

 This year's Halloween costumes were a challenge, to put it mildly. Let me start by saying, Mary Grace and Miller talk about Halloween all year. They make "plans" for their costumes well in advance of summer. This year "we'd" decided on the most fun costumes. The kids wanted to be Mario Cart characters and decorate their power wheels. It sounded incredibly elaborate (and way more homemade than I typically entertain), but Brent was totally on board. 

Fastforward a few months and Brent lost his enthusiasm for designing their Mario Cart cars. We also found out that he'd be taking a midterm on Halloween night so I'd be flying solo with two kids and two power wheels to deal with. Ever the party pooper, I decided to put the ax on the idea. But, of course, I couldn't just tell them no. I had to convince them to be something else they'd like even better.

I knew if I involved the cat Mary Grace would be sold. So I suggested she be a witch with a black cat. She LOVED the idea. But Brent hated it. He's never been a big fan of the whole scary/devilish side of Halloween (and, I don't disagree with him.) So once Mary Grace wasn't set on one specific idea, I took her costume shopping. I tried to talk her into several, but then she saw this and there was no going back. I reasoned that she wasn't really a witch. She's a cat dressed up like a witch?? I don't even think I understand the costume myself, but I told her we could buy it and check with Dad. 

The rest is history...for her.

Miller is more of a follower so I knew convincing him away from the Mario Cart idea wasn't going to be too hard once Mary Grace thought of something else. But then he decided he wanted to be the "witches puppy." Essentially a dog...I guess. One that matched the witch? I'm not really sure what exactly he pictured. 

So I looked online for a dog costume. We had 3 main options. The first set were perfect for 12 month old babies. SUPER cute. But not so much for a 4-year old. The second set of options were all Paw Patrol. But of course, Paw Patrol dogs are not "witches puppies" so Miller wasn't down with that idea. The final series of costume options were just plain creepy looking dogs. They looked like they were rabid or sickly. I vetoed that option.

Brent tired of the dilemma and ordered this UT football costume. He rationalized that if Miller really didn't want to wear it, we could always just use it for game-day attire and go back to the drawing board for the Halloween costume. Fortunately, the helmet sold it for Miller. He said "You mean, I can be a real football player?"

 Mary Grace and her blackish cat...who is wearing a witches hat.

 Ready for a night of trick-or-treating!

 Our street met up and walked to the party on the other side of the neighborhood together-

Daniel, Brody, Miller, Mary Grace and Lila

 Adi, Hadley, Avery and Mary Grace

 We have taken this same picture for the last 3 years. I love to see how much they've changed over time! They are all such sweet friends. It's funny to think that when the first picture was taken (Elsa), we'd lived in our house for less a month!

 Mary Grace and Harper

 Mary Grace and Avery

 Miller, Hayden and Mary Grace

 Mary Grace, Lila and Madison

 Halloween party

 We had an incredible night trick-or-treating! The temperatures were in the 70's and everyone had a great time with no major incidences. Miller took a spill early on, but it just made him look more authentic with grass and dirt stains on his uniform!

My favorite part of the night was when we hit up a house with a huge Alabama flag flying by the front door. Having lost to Alabama earlier this season, we're obviously not fans. We do not know these particular neighbors so I was a bit horrified when the kids rang the doorbell and Miller began chanting "Go Tennessee!" Thankfully the neighbors were really good sports and told him how much they loved his costume. After handing candy to everyone in our group besides Miller, everyone started walking away. They called out to Miller to get his candy and he replied "I don't want your Alabama candy!"

His comment got a huge laugh from everyone and the neighbors called out that I was doing a good job raising him to be so passionate about his team. I'm thankful they were such good sports about his rude/funny comments!

 So our rule on Halloween has always been that our kids can enjoy their candy. In the past, this hasn't been a big deal. Mary Grace doesn't love candy all that much. This year, apparently, she tried to eat all her candy as she went. I was shocked to find tons of empty (or partially eaten) candy wrappers in her bucket. She ate a little more when we got home and then started complaining that she felt sick. She was literally green and she hasn't eaten a single piece of candy since that night!

We may have to reconsider our rules for next year. 

 We kept all our candy in the wagon after Miller took his spill (because it was really hard cleaning it all up out of the grass.) I'm pretty sure this was mostly Miller's candy since Mary Grace ate all of hers as she went!

 As usual, each child was allowed to select 5 pieces to save, and then we bagged up the rest for the Candy Fairy. 

Miller tried to opt out this year. He said, "no, I think I just want to keep the candy." I tried to guilt trip him by reminding him of all the sweet kids with no candy that wouldn't get any if the candy fairy didn't bring it to them. He looked at me deadpan and said "why can't the candy fairy just stop by Target, instead of our house. There's candy there." 

Mary Grace has never once questioned or challenged this tradition. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to continue getting away with it!

A huge thank you to Nana. As always, she stayed at my house to hand out candy. Especially with Brent gone for the evening, it was so nice to have her there. She helped everyone get ready and then enjoyed seeing all of our neighbors as they stopped by.

Such a fun Halloween!