Halloween 2014

I really felt like we made the most of this years Halloween season.  Almost every weekend we were doing something "Halloween" related.  We were either at some type of Halloween event or a Halloween party.  Skylar dressed as a Pirate, Cinderella, and a Ballerina all before Halloween night.  I have always loved Halloween, but as the kids are getting older my love for it is intensifying .

 Each year we are trying to step up our decorating game.   This year I purchased a scary witch for the front porch and for the first two weeks we couldn't have her near the door because Madden wouldn't walk past her, but as the month went on the kids started to really enjoy the witch and by Halloween Madden was trying to scary trick or treaters using the witch.  These are the things that bring me such joy, I love seeing the kids get into my favorite holiday.

The night before Halloween we carved out our pumpkins.  Jake continued his tradition of carving whatever Skylar wants.  He tried to sway her into allowing him to carve out Jack Skellington, but she insist on it being Minnie Mouse this year.  Last year Madden was obsessed with planes and this year its trains, so it was an easy decision on what to crave Madden's pumpkin into.

For this years costumes I wanted to try my best and keep Skylar away from anything princess.  I already knew there was going to be hundreds of Elsa and Anna's and lord knows I didn't want to dress up as Olaf, so I came up with the idea to do bank robbers.  I knew Skylar would prefer to wear some sort of dress (and you can't be a bank robber in a dress), so I began showing her cop costumes online and she feel in love with one, and I couldn't of been happier!

It took Madden a bit to warm up to putting on his costume so we had a shirtless robber in our family picture.

Officer Skylar at your service.  I may be completely bias but I just couldn't get over how adorable she looked.

We were finally able to make Madden put his entire costume on.  Sadly, he only last a couple minutes with the beanie on, but at least I got one picture.

Bank Robbers on the run!!

We had Tinkerbell, Mr. Smee and the Ringmaster all over for pre-trick or treating dinner and drinks.

Getting ready to start trick or treating.  The Tiger couldn't wait and was already eating candy before we left.

Hitting the streets.

I was so proud of Madden.  Last year he refused to trick or treat and just sat on Papa's lap watching the trick or treaters come up to our house.  This year he was right in the middle of the pack.  We taught him to say "Treat...Please," (he can't say "trick" just yet).  I think people were also a bit confused as to what he was dressed as since he wouldn't wear his beanie.  We noticed homeowners would admire Skylar and Sophie's costumes and they wouldn't really know what to say about Maddens.  

Captain Hook and his Fairy Pirate.

We ran into some real police officers who were kind enough to take a picture with Skylar.  Skylar was a bit shy and only would take the picture as long as Sophie was in it with her.  On a side note, Skylar totally stayed in character the whole time trick or treating.  She left her sunglasses on even when it was completely dark out.  

The kids had a blast trick or treating.  Running from house to house, not wanting to stop and requesting we go to certain houses in the neighborhood.  We spent about an hour trick or treating with the kids and figured it was time to call it quits.  It was getting pretty dark and I wanted to get back home to help my parents pass out candy, which is my favorite part of the night.  The kids and I past out candy for about an hour and a half.  I was even starting to lose my voice by the end of the night, but I loved every second of it.  Skylar, Sophie and Madden would shout "Candy Here!" and the girls would compliment several of the trick or treaters on their costumes  By 8:00 P.M. it started to rain and we still had a couple good handfuls of candy left.  Even after purchasing 1K pieces of candy, I run a pretty tight ship when it comes to passing out candy.  Only one to two pieces per trick or treater, but by the end Skylar and I passed out handfuls to get out of the rain.  I think by 8:30 P.M. we had completely shut down shop.  Jake put a rope up so people wouldn't come to the door, which I'm glad he did because the neighbors door bell was ringing until 9:15 P.M.

Our costumes were a huge success (minus Madden and the beanie), the kids got enough candy to last them until spring and I'm already narrowing down our costumes for next year.  This Halloween season was my favorite by far.