Is it Happy Halloween yet?

I heard this statement every single day last week. Every morning the very first words out of Lola's mouth would be "Is it Happy Halloween yet?". Then, every afternoon when I picked Lo up from school, she would run up to me and say "Are we going trick-or-treating?". Finally, on Friday, I was able to tell Lola it wasn't Halloween yet but it was the day of her big Halloween party at school. She was biting at the bit to put on her clown costume and take the cookies she made (with sprinkles and all) to all her friends at school.

Lo picked out her costume all on her own this year. It was a tough call between a bumble bee and clown but in the end she decided on the clown costume because she wanted to carry balloons. I don't blame her...balloons are cool...especially for a little kid!

We continued to talk about Halloween all weekend. We went to Tour de Fat on Saturday which was fabulous! I mean who doesn't like a carnival full of entertainment and good beer??? It really got us all in the Halloween spirit due to the Carny theme/show and all the funky/fun Halloween costumes on all the people.

Finally Sunday arrived and I was able to answer the "Is it Happy Halloween?" question with a "YES, YES, YES and we're going trick-or-treating!". It also made me aware that I still hadn't made Gaines clown costume and I only had hours left to do so...YIKES! Luckily, I was still able to pull it all together. Below are some pics from our Halloween fun!

Sweet babies! Lola loves to kiss her baby brother. It's really awesome when she goes in with a big cough cough right in his face and then kisses him. Between Lola constantly kissing him and the dogs constantly licking him, I can't believe Gaines still hasn't gotten sick. That's what I call a tough immune system! Maybe the breastfeeding is actually paying off.

I ran to Hancock's on Sunday afternoon and sadly found they were completely picked over. I pulled what I could and decided to "Make it work!" as Tim Gunn would say. I actually put it all together in less than an hour. I think it turned out real cute and was pretty proud of my crafty work especially considering I'm not crafty...at all! I hope to make time to make both kids costumes next year....not likely but I'll make it a goal!

Sleeping clown!

This Halloween was so great as Lola was really in tune with what was going on. She LOVED, LOVED, LOVED trick-or-treating and did not want to go home. Now the key is keeping the candy away from her. Clay basically does not allow Lo to have candy EVER so all the candy around is really driving him wacky. We're only allowing her one piece a day. So, every eve after dinner, she gets to go into her pumpkin bucket and choose one piece of candy for dessert. I'm also slowly but surely throwing some of it out as we go so we don't have to do this for the next 3 months. Also, I don't want to eat it and will if it's here. It's really gotta go quick!

Lo waits patiently! The "patients is a virtue" lesson that we try to engrave in her head daily is really paying off here.

The disheveled clown!

Still going...it was a long night of trick-or-treating!

There was also great Halloween spirit in the compound this year. We (when I say "we", I mean our neighbors Mark and Ari) set up camp at the compound and offered candy for the kids and beer/wine for the adults.

Even Benson, the dog, got a costume. Wish LB and Bella could have joined us but we feared they wouldn't do well with all the random costumes...specifically the monster masks.

We had a blast this Halloween. Already can't wait for next year!