The kids had an absolute blast during trick or treating this year.  Ali went as a pixie, and Xavier was a dragon.  The past couple years they’ve had fun of course, but they pretty much had to ride in the wagon in between houses and we couldn’t go for very long before they got tired.  Well this year they got to walk almost the whole time, and did a great job saying “trick or treat” and “thank you.”  We still brought the wagon for the ride home, and it’s a good thing too because we were out for nearly two full hours.

It’s fun watching people react so much differently to cute little kids than to bratty, not-so-cute older kids that just run up and run off.  They begrudgingly give those kids one piece of candy.  Not so with the dragon-pixie duo, we literally had to make people stop giving them stuff.  This one old couple gave them each at least 10 pieces.  I think the old couple would have given them all their candy and just gone inside for the night if we would have let them.

Pictures from the night are up right here.  And also, if you missed the Oktoberfest album be sure to check it out here.

The pumpkings:

Pebbles and Bam-Bam… Monsters from “Monsters, Inc.”

This year, Halloween included costume changes for the kiddos.  For their school parties (and parade) on Friday, I made them little Pebbles and Bam-Bam costumes to wear. Josh and I decided that their monster costumes would not only be too hot to wear all day, but if you’ve seen Ali try to walk in hers–with it’s big padded belly–you’d understand that it would have been a disasterous day at preschool.

That said, this year we got some awesome pictures of our kiddos, in their various costumes. They must’ve looked pretty cute, because each came home with their pumpkin buckets overflowing with candy. (Really, I have no idea what we’re going to do with all of it!!)  I know for a fact that I never got that much candy when I was trick-or-treating, but apparently it’s hard to say “No” to the two cutest little monsters ever.  (Prepare yourself for a tangent here…)Ali even milked her way into more candy. At one of the first houses we went to, the family had a little bitty dog (I mean, teeeeeeeeeeeeeeny), and it stood by its owners legs as she opened the door to dole out the goods to Xavier and Ali.  Ali took one look at the little ”cat” as Xavier called it and burst into tears and cried so hard that her little body violently shook. The lady who owned the dog felt so bad that she dropped like 10 pieces of candy into Ali’s bucket, and then a whole handful more just to make her smile.  Then she did the same thing for Xavier, because “They’re just so darn cute.”

Later, Ali fell (her belly threw her balance off) and practically landed on the feet of this sweet old lady. The poor old lady also felt bad and loaded Ali up with candy. Josh and I kind of joked that this would just be Ali’s system and she left with her bucket almot half full from that woman’s house.l

Not to be outdone, Xavier would walk up to people’s door, and act really shy. Then they’d lean over, drop a couple pieces of candy into his bowl.  Then he’d turn on the charm, and finally look at them, and go “Mooooore peeeeeeeeeeeeez.” …And of course, no one could resist. My little con-arist (who is not in the least bit shy in real life) would then practically yell thank you to whomever he had just suckered into giving him way more candy than they shouldv’e, turn as fast as he could, and with a big grin on his face say, “More houses-more candy Mommy!”

Haha. It was a fun, fun night.  Pictures in the gallery.