Halloween

Our new neighborhood was so decked out in Halloween decorations this year and everyone we have met in this area is so friendly that we knew we would have fun taking Luke trick-or-treating and handing out candy for Halloween this year. And our expectations were not only met, but exceeded. We had an absolute blast!

On the 28th, IHOP was giving out FREE scary-face pancakes and Jeff had the day off work (he gets every other Friday off) so we took the kids there for lunch.

Our waiter said he is the only waiter who makes a frowny face instead of a smiley face. He thought it was cooler that way.

Bethany went straight for the candy corn first...

 

..so did Becca.

Luke put on a show with his straw.

He was very pleased with the laughs he got.

Luke wowed his audience with his final trick - two straws simultaneously!

Ta-da!

"They love me! They really love me!"

That night was the ward trunk-or-treat at our church. During the previous week, we struggled to get some themed costumes together. Jeff had a Batman costume available to borrow from a friend so Luke and I went to two separate stores in search of a Robin costume to match (it was too late to order online), but no such luck. The scene on the night of the trunk-or-treat, therefore, went something like this ... we walked into the house, arms full of groceries just 10 minutes before we needed to leave for the trunk-or-treat with absolutely no costumes. We quickly ran through a couple of half-baked ideas and soon came to the conclusion that the fastest and easiest route would be to make Luke into a pirate using the accessories we already had in storage and Jeff and I would forgo dressing up this year. We scrambled around gathering clothing items and accessories. I cut up an old t-shirt to make Luke's bandana and belt and at the last second, added some stubble and chest hair with my eyeliner. And somehow after all of this, we only left the house 5-10 minutes late. We couldn't believe how well it had all come together in such a short time!

Our little pirate on the way out the door.

Arriving at the church.

Luke was so tired! He was rubbing his eyes on the drive to the church, but the excitement (and the candy) woke him up and he had a fabulous time!

"But why is the rum gone?"

Luke was mesmerized by the tasty-looking donuts, but he was a little too young for just about all of the games and activities, so we spent most of our time standing around and visiting with friends.

Ben and Caitlin always go all out! This year, Ben was Pharaoh, Caitlin was Cleopatra, Bethany was an Egyptian princess, and Becca was a mummy. They looked awesome!

For a while both babies decided they only wanted me to hold them. This is how I get my daily arm workout.

While we were standing in the middle of the room chatting, the cake walk was going on next to us and one round, the #5 space was the winner, but there was no one standing on it. It took a second for Jeff and I to catch on when the women running the cake walk started saying, "#5 is the winner! Come get some candy!" Luke was standing only a few inches from a little pumpkin-shaped piece of paper with '#5' printed on it. He was the winner! He looked a little perplexed, but he wasn't about to reject something in a crinkly food wrapper, so he walked forward and took the pieces of candy out of the girls hands. Oh, the excitement when he tasted that first Whopper! He laughed and reached for more, nodding his head 'yes.' But the Whopper was nothing compared to the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. As soon as a piece of it touched his tongue, Luke started nodding as fast as he could: "Yes! Yes! Yes! YES!" or in other words, "Give me more! Give me more! Give me more!"

Five minutes later, it was time to go outside for the trunk-or-treat, but in those few minutes, Luke hovered around the cake walk table hoping one of those nice ladies might give him some more candy. He walked around and stepped on each number and stood at the edge of the table looking up at the candy-keepers hopefully. The girl who was announcing the numbers announced that the cake walk was closed, but when she saw that Luke and two other kids were still wandering around the numbered circle, she said, "Okay, one last time. Everybody who is on a number wins! Come get some candy!" Luke ran right up to her and happily claimed his prize and then, instantly turned around with his Whooper-filled fists held high and ran back to Jeff and I squealing and laughing with delight.

"They gave me MORE!"

Pure excitement and wonderment.

Out in the parking lot, our candy went fast. I couldn't help but give handfuls to every cute kid that came by. Luke decided he'd rather "drive" than hang out in the back of the Jeep with us.

"Come back there with you? No thanks, I'm good."

I LOVE how social this ward is! Every single event I've been to so far has had an excellent turn-out! See that little Mario running by? He is a Platt and his entire family was wearing Mario Bros. costumes, each homemade by his amazing mom! My favorite was the baby. She was a Goompa (I had to look that name up. It's one of those little brown guys that you jump on to smoosh).

Jeff managed to tear Luke away from the steering wheel.

He got really excited about all of the kids running around and decided to do a little running himself.

As we pulled into our driveway back at home, Luke noticed that our neighbors were out playing and despite the fact that it was already past his bedtime, he insisted that we go play for a little while. I think I have explained before that our house and the three houses to the left of us are on kind of a cul-de-sac (only not). The street turns about 90 degrees in front of our house and our four houses are along the bend. And for some reason, there is an island covered in grass and a tree dividing the main road from a second lane that only covers the distance of our 4 houses. Cars don't really use the second lane that is directly in front of our house so the kids can play in the street with all of their bikes and toys safely.

Anyway, our neighbors were excited, as always, to see Luke. He's like a celebrity in this neighborhood! He happily ran to join the kids and smiled at the chorus of "Luke!"s when everyone saw him. Aurelia sweetly took Luke on a long ride in the ever popular Power Wheels Pink Barbie Jeep . Luke loved it! He just smiled, drank his bottle, and enjoyed the ride.

Aurelia was a little camera shy.

Luke already thinks girls are weird.

On Halloween, Jeff and I decided that since we had forgotten to bring Luke's jack-o-lantern bucket to the ward trunk-or-treat, we would have to take him to just a few of our neighbors houses that night so he could experience trick-or-treating. We planned to take Luke to about 5 houses, but he was so excited that we ended up going to about 12 and he would have happily continued after that for who knows how long! But he was starting to accumulate quite a stash of candy and I didn't want to be forced to eat it all myself!

Getting started.

Luke didn't know what we were doing, but he was excited about it!

Jogging to the first house.

Luke wasn't sure why our neighbor, Bill was calling him over, but he had a basket full of candy so Luke decided he was alright.

Luke was pleasantly surprised when Bill started putting some of that candy into his bucket!

After what happened at the first house, Luke ran to the next house!

He got a little distracted by the lawn ornament. It was like a snow globe, only the Halloween version.

Cute Halloween decorations and a cute pirate.

Running from house to house.

After the first three or four houses, Luke got the concept down. He knew exactly what would happen at each door and he let us know every time we missed a house that might have given him candy (we knew they weren't home, but Luke didn't).

Once Luke knew the drill, he started taking the candy directly from each neighbor and putting them in his bucket himself. He would take each piece of candy one at a time and turn almost all the way around to reach his bucket, which mysteriously was turning with him.

Another piece of candy added to the pile.

Oh, Jeff is the best dad. Luke had so much fun trick-or-treating with his daddy.

On our way home. Luke never loosened his vice-like grip on that bucket the entire time we were out! It had to be getting heavy, but he wasn't about to let all that candy out of his sight.

Back home, Luke was so excited to inspect his haul.

With both hands full of Whoppers, Tootsie Rolls, and Twix's, Luke couldn't believe that all of this was his!

Jeff and I let Luke choose 3 candies to eat that night. He picked Whoppers, a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and a Dum Dum.

Jeff and I decided to sit outside to hand out our candy. Around this time, Luke was obsessed with dragging around his little swing that was stored in the garage. He would bring it in the house and sit in it or try and drag it down the street. Once, he dragged it across lawns and driveways, 3 houses down to show it to our neighbor who was blowing leaves. Our neighbor acted impressed and then let Luke help him finish blowing the leaves from his driveway. (Our neighbors are the best.) So naturally, Luke decided to bring his swing down to the end of the driveway where we were sitting and use it as his chair.

Jeff gave Luke a ride.

Luke kept trying to wander off down the street dragging his swing. We had no idea where he was planning on going, but he seemed to know exactly what he was doing.

Don't worry, Jeff brought him back.