Halloween Weekend

I planned on splitting this particular weekend into several trips because so many funny things happened, but we'll just lump it all together.

It was Halloween! And the boys were so excited. Or not really. They seemed a bit indifferent to it all, to be honest. But we'll pretend they were SOOOO excited that it was Halloween. It was also Saturday morning and Dada took the morning to go golf. So, I decided that it was time to start training the boys on proper shopping procedure. We loaded up and got moving.

Where to first? Momma's favorite coffee spot, of course. The pumpkin bucket you see there came with us from home.

Our carb addict gazed lovingly at the display case as he enjoyed his chocolate chip muffie.

And his brother actually sat still long enough to take some bites. Ees dewishous! I sat back and let the caffeine enter my bloodstream.

And then it was time to get serious and go shop. Carb & caffeine loaded, they and I, respective, we got back in Momma's car and headed to my favorite store. They were in the backseat clutching their buckets and thinking wow, shopping with Momma is SO FUN. She's awesome.

 

They were so well-behaved at My Favorite Store that I had several ladies stop and comment. Did I tell those women that I promised them a small ziplock bag with m&m's if they cooperated? No.

We shopped. They helped me look for a new purse. I slammed my current purse's strap in the car door and it was looking kinda rough. Grady favors smaller purses in the gray color family and Cole likes larger satchels in bolder colors, I learned. We did not find one we all three agreed upon.

We also looked at all the holiday decor that was already out. The twees, Samtas, waaaindeaah. This holiday season is going to be awesome. No pictures from inside the store.

We rounded out our morning at the park. Look, we're on big boy swings!

Then I was told by my mini boss that it was time to go eat applesauce and a sammich. So we headed home, ate lunch and they napped. And then Dada came home.

Dada was a bit behind on pumpkin carving, so he and the boys got busy with that while I got busy with dinner.

I should pause here and explain that we live right on the edge of another neighborhood. We are in an  incorporated city, but the house to our left is the first house in an unincorporated neighborhood. Our city was doing trick or treating the next night, on actual Halloween, but the neighboring neighborhood was doing it this night. What else could we do except do it both nights?

And that's what we and our firemen did. We suited up and made our first stop. We were enamored with our candies.

And learned that there was much more candy to be had! That got us moving pretty quickly.

We met up with the kiddie caravan and posed with our twin friends Alex the Fireman and Mena the Ladybug. None of us looked at the camera for the picture.

This particular night we only went to 6 or so houses before calling it quits. The boys had a good time but seemed really confused as to why they needed to go knock on strangers' doors to get candy. They were definitely into eating their candy as they walked. In retrospect I think they thought that the only time you got to eat the candy was while you were out and about, because once we got home they sort of forgot about the candy and haven't asked for any more. And that's a good thing because as parents we took our job of protecting them from so much sugar seriously. We ate most of it.
This particular night we had the quickest bedtime routine and I think Cole's eyes were shut before his head hit the pillow. Keith and I watched a good football game with a bad ending and relaxed and discussed how cute our boys were.

And wished and hoped that Grady would sleep past 7am the next morning. He did not.

So we got busy Sunday with errands and chores. Included on the list was car washing. Dada washed and cleaned, the boys supervised.

Their supervision styles are a bit different. Cole preferred to try to find new ways to climb of the cars.

While Grady was preoccupied with checking the mileage and check engine light that keeps coming on in this piece of a car.

And he liked to test the loudness of the horn.

And then it was time for official trick or treating! Whooo. Here again are my two fireman and my boogieman. When this picture was taken we already stopped at one house, and as you can see below, we're eating as we go.

Thank you to the neighbor who gave soft gummy candies. Perfect. To the mom of a two year old who gave MY two year olds Gobstoppers: seriously?

Is this mask not awesome? You too could have one, you only need to commit to hiking steep Andean mountains for 4 days. On day 2 you will pass a small flea market, and there you can get your own mask.

This night we made it to a few more houses and had a great time. We returned home, sat on the steps and handed out candy. I think the boys enjoyed this more than anything else. Or maybe it was a close second behind actually eating the chocolate they got. They were so friendly to trick or treaters and helped pass out the candy from the big blue bowl.
And then passed out themselves. All that adrenaline and sugar, then crash.

We were exhausted and hungry and while Keith grilled us some burgers, I played with the camera. I now have at least 23 different pictures of ghostie below.

And then my dinner was served! Thank you, BoogieMan, your burgers were delicious.

And our weekend was spooktacular!