Halloween, 2013

For the past two years, Halloween has been postponed in our area due to a blizzard and a hurricane.  So, when it started down pouring on Thursday afternoon, I thought, "Oh great!  Here, we go again!"  Luckily, the rain turned to mist and the air stayed mild making it possible to go trick-or-treating.

Madeline went trick or treating last year, but she was much more aware of what was going on as a three year old.  She was a bit apprehensive about the experience at first. When the first batch if kids showed up at our door asking for candy, she hid around the corner.

 Then, when it came time for us to venture into the neighborhood, she got cold feet.  She burst into tears and buried her face in Eric's shoulder when we climbed the stairs to our neighbor's front porch.  Between moans she told us, "I don't want to say 'trick or treat'!"  

As we approached the second house, she gave herself a pep talk. "I was a little scared at that house, but it's okay," she said.

Sure enough, with each newly acquired piece of candy she became a bit bolder until she was waving to strangers and ringing doorbells all by herself.

We didn't stay out trick-or-treating too long. She got bored and cranky with the process after one loop around the block, so we headed back to our house to help Mimi and Bob pass out candy.

She inspected her loot and sat on the stairs eating candy for a while.  Then, once the sugar set in, she changed into her witch costume and started handing out candy to the kids.

She was allowed to stay up late to watch The Great Pumpkin, read Halloween books with Mimi, and had an overall grand time.

Meanwhile, it's now Sunday afternoon, and Eric just discovered her under the table with the entire bowl of candy in her lap.  We never seem to get the candy situation right.  The past two years we ran out, so this year we seriously stocked up.  However, due to the damp weather, we got fewer kids this year.  Now we're left with three bags of candy that haven't even been opened yet.  Guess we'll be eating mini KitKats till the groundhog sees his shadow. Not that I'm complaining...