Man, I love Hallowe'en. Liam was a highly kissable fierce pirate, and Olivia was quite possibly the cutest flower fairy ever. (Liam told the first, maybe, ten houses that, "I'm a pirate and dis is Owivia and she's a flower fairy." After that he was all business.)
But, you know, what's Hallowe'en without some Disney princesses in crazy Arial wigs?
And a sad monkey?
Every year a few girlfriends and I get our kids together, primarily to take some pictures, but also to do Hallowe'en-type stuff. This year, our get-together was hosted by my Martha-wanna-be friend. She does things I do not do.
Like make up Hallowe'en bingo cards. With candy pumpkin markers.
And cookie decorating. With sprinkles.
That was fun. That was also the end of healthy-food ingestion for the day (no, not the cookies - the carrot sticks I forced into them pre-cookie).
Now, none of my trick-or-treating pictures turned out except for this one (I have no patience for the flash), but the whole thing was a bit of a learning experience as there is a trick-or-treating etiquette that children aren't born with. Unfortunately, it took me quite a few houses to a) formulate the rules and b) impart said rules to my children.
For example, at the first house, Liam pushed the doorbell many MANY times before our poor neighbors made it to the door. Oh, and please notice the nose pressed against the glass. Not okay.
At the third house, the silly homeowner held out his bowl of candy. Olivia took one piece; Liam tried to take the whole bowl. With a grand sweeping motion Liam managed to gather up about seven candy bars in one arm, and would have gone back for more if I hadn't stopped him. Also not okay.
By the fifth or sixth house, I realized my children were not allowing the homeowners to drop candy into their bags, but were snatching the candy right out of the homeowners' hands. This came to my attention when Liam tried to take a giant handful of candy away from a woman who had enough for Liam, Olivia, AND the three kids behind them. VERY not okay.
But after the second house, Olivia really started to get what was up here; that is: ring doorbell, get candy, say, "Dank gew!" And I honestly don't think I've ever seen her walk so far before without complaining: if we tried to skip a house (say, because the lights were off), she would get upset and yell, "Mo house! Mo house!" Liam, on the other hand, knew very well what he was doing. He couldn't get enough until I announced it was high time we turned around and then, of course, he was too tired to walk home.
It was all worth it though.
So all that candy is now hidden away, where they will become bribes to force vegetables into my children until approximately Christmas. In the meantime, I've absconded with the Peanut Butter Cups and Toosie Rolls, while Mark has dibs on all the Skittles. Oh, and one of our neighbors gave away microwave popcorn, which I thought was terribly clever.