October was this strangely warm and beautiful month this year.
Except on the one day I planned and went to Gardener Village for Halloween pictures. Last year I went one day after school so Olivia and Calvin could come. It was crazy busy. You have to understand, as a stay at home mother, I am able to be out and about at the most random times (Costco: Tuesday mornings, 10-11), so I rarely encounter crowds and traffic. I’m spoiled because I just won’t go if there is.
So I decided this year I wouldn’t worry about pictures of the school kids, and just do the little boys. Everett had a class field trip scheduled and I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. But that morning was SOOOOO cold (40’s). I stayed only long enough to take just a couple pictures. Then we left early . . . Halloween costumes aren’t the warmest clothing choices.
Halloween itself was a warm and beautiful day (upper 70’s). Leslee and Jason came over to trick-or-treat with us. We had chili and cornbread to kick off the festivities. Then we started the trick-or-treating. I took Nate just down to the Smiths so he could have some pictures of trick-or-treating as a baby. Then I went back to hand out candy while everyone else continued on.
I handed out full sized candy bars (again) this year, because I’m trying to get on people’s “routes.” This year was better than ever before. I actually ran out of candy (but not until the very very end, so I guessed just about perfectly). Still, we don’t get very many trick or treaters. But it’s hard to be “that house” in our neighborhood. Within my ward (4 streets) we have people who do fresh made scones, another that does hot chocolate, another that does apple cider and doughnuts, and yet another that does homemade rootbeer. It’s hard to compete with that.
Still, it makes my neighborhood the best to trick-or-treat in. And that is a lot of fun to hear about when all the kids come home.
Calvin was on a serious candy mission this year. He graduated from the plastic pumpkin bucket to his pillowcase that could hold more. And when everyone came home after finishing our ward, he wanted to go back out and hit the next ward over. So Kellie and I took Olivia, Cal and Kirtland and hit a few more streets. He got a great haul. And he ate it all in three days.