Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a tremendous success again this year. As always, I had delusions of sending my children out trick-or-treating with full tummies of healthy food, but the fates were against me. They both came home from school full of party, which thankfully included fruits and vegetables in addition to candy and cake. I even made chicken noodle soup complete with crescent moon celery (easy) and witches hat carrots (that took some cutting). Alas and alack, they nibbled a bit before we called it a wash and put on costumes.

Without further ado, meet Captain American and the friendliest monster on the planet:

Issa received lots of compliments on her unique costume:

Evan was in love with being Captain America:

The shield was the best part. (Please notice the motion blur on his treat basket; I have resigned myself that all pictures of him will have motion blur somewhere.)

As tradition dictates, the kiddos trick-or-treated at our house first:

And then they headed out with Daddy:

For the first time, Evan made it all the way around the block with Daddy and Issa. I stayed home to pass out candy. We went through three Costco bags of candy in an hour and ten minutes, which is about how long the kiddos were out, too. They came home, and we turned off the lights. Then we drank hot cocoa and did the great candy sort. Issa's teacher even made sorting, counting, and adding categories of candy her math homework for the night. Have I mentioned her teacher rocks?!

Captain America and Friendly Monster had a fabulous night, and I was once again reminded of what a great neighborhood we live in. I offered two pieces of candy to many children who said one was plenty. Every single child said thank you. I had bigger kids who were rightfully there first step back unprompted for toddlers to trick-or-treat first. I watched a group of middle school boys run to a little guy who fell and help him pick up his treat basket; they even gave him some of their candy to help him feel better. It was a great reminder of all that is right with the world, and a great way to start a month to remember how very thankful I am.