Halloween 2013

I'm really wishing that I had brought out the camera for the kids' first, full on, Halloween, but the rain persuaded me otherwise so I really hope these blurry, slightly orange-casted, iPhone photos capture the sparkle in those kids' eyes about this new found "treat day".

The kids were over-the-moon about receiving some Halloween cards and a some fun pencils from Great Grandma and Grandpa Hochstein. We had received the package in the afternoon but I had the kids wait until Jason was home to open it. By the time it was time to open the package the kids were brimming with excitement. 

Oh man, they love those cards.

And they think those pencils are treasures - seriously. Thanks Great Grandma and Grandpa!

Then we had some friends come over for a Halloween dinner before we all headed out Trick or Treating. I was a little put off by the rain that greeted us for Halloween night but the kids were not deterred. I snap some quick photos of the kids in their costumes while Jason was at the door giving out candy to the waterfall of trick or treaters.

The kids' picked costumes that are pretty representational of what they see when we are out in Montreal.

Milayla is a pumpkin. And we cannot go anywhere without her spotting every single pumpkin. There are still quite a few out and around.

And Atticus was a squirrel. We have a LOT of squirrels around here and the kids are completely enthralled by them. Whatever the squirrels do is completely fascinating to the kids. "look! It's climbing the tree!" or "look! It's eating a banana peel!" or anything else to the like is the cause of constant stopping while out and about so that we can admire all those squirrels being squirrels. When Atticus found the squirrel costume I'm pretty sure it was instant love. The Thomas, Mouse and Firefighter costumes didn't stand a chance; he was going to be a squirrel and that was that. And he made a pretty cute squirrel :) .

The kids all ready to go!

Hitting the street.

I was interested to see how the kids would do with the Trick or Treating rituals, particularly speaking with all the different people at the door and they did AWESOME. They both spoke at a good volume and clearly and made sure to say 'Thank you" or "Happy Halloween". I was impressed.

Between homes I was talking to the kids about when to say "merci" instead of "thank you" and Atticus piped up to inform me that if someone speaks German that he should say "danke schon". Man! We worked with him on using his German words for 2 years and he chooses now - when we are living in an english/french speaking city - to start breaking them out. Nice kiddo. And impressive.

Once we made it to the end of our block Tali had grown tired of being rained on and headed home. These are the only pictures that I got of all the kids together (Thanks, Rani!). They look really happy, don't they?

I particularly love Atticus' facial expression in this one.

I kind of wish I had though to grab a photo of all the kids before heading out in the dark, rainy, night, but alas, I did not.

Mila was a trooped and made it another block before her and Rani headed home. I thought our kids would want to make our way home as well, but they wanted to keep going. They did another block and then asked if we could stop at the bishop's house as well. We drew the line and declared that the bishop's house would be the last stop. They walked a pretty good distance and their buckets were very full. Milayla's bucket was so full she was dragging it behind her and still wouldn't let Jason or I carry it because she was determined to make it to the end.

When we got home, the kids were excited for their turn to give out candy to trick or treaters but we stayed out so long that we only had one trick or treater come and Jason, not realizing the kids wanted to give the candy, gave the candy to the kid. Our kids were crushed that they didn't get to give any candy.

So Jason played along with my brilliant idea and played "Mr Pumpkin Head" and came trick or treating to our home.

The kids could not stop giggling. I think it was their favorite part of the entire night. I'm so glad that Jason was such a good sport because the kids' loved it.

Then after getting to pick out one treat each and brushing their teeth, the kids were off to bed and sound asleep within minutes of their head on the pillow. Tired kiddos.

And we were left with a ton of candy to give to trick or treaters that never came. So Jason trucked a whole lot of candy to work. We also sorted through the kids' candy to take out opened packs, soggy packages, and thinned things out a bit. The kids are pretty happy with the arrangement of getting one treat every couple of days. Maybe it's just me, but even those small treats seem to give me kids uncontrollable energy. And when I see them just as excited about our home made larabars (that have no crazy ingredients) I wonder why we even have the treats. Then I remember their sheer excitement on Halloween night and chalk it all up to childhood fun. Though, that's not to say they'll be overloading on those treats any time soon ;).