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It's Halloween in Our Neighborhood

Leah's Rendering of Costumes
In the town we live in, they DECIDE when Halloween trick-or-treating takes place. And it's not on Halloween. Oh no, it's far too dangerous in this very rural suburb to let kids walk around subdivisions in the dark. Sigh.

So, on Sunday we celebrated Halloween by trick-or-treating at 3pm in the afternoon. We got a sunny, 60degree day. And the streets of our neighborhood were littered with Elsas and superheroes.

Leah went as a witch. I made her skirt and pinned on the shawl, belt and bustle. We bought the hat and broom. She was dead-set on finding boots -- which she did at Old Navy. I wanted to do more make-up, but she only allows eyebrow enhancement.

We found Alice's costume in a catalog. We had to vote on it, since she liked two different outfits -- shiny mermaid and Little Red Riding Hood. We all voted for Little Red. (I looked into buying the velvet to make the cape myself but it was almost as expensive as the costume.) There was a few tense weeks after ordering it, when we all worried it wouldn't arrive in time. But it did. Then, more tense moments as Alice decided she might not want to wear it. Ugh. But in the end, all was well.

A Witch And a Red Riding Hood!
The girls had a fantastic time running around with the neighbors, begging for candy from all the houses up and down the block. Candy that they sorted and traded with each other afterwards.

Then, it was time for our annual Halloween party. We invited the girls' friends and their families to come by after trick-or-treating to show off their costumes and partake in more food and sugar. We ordered Portillo's -- which is a big deal in this area -- famous "Italian meat sandwiches," though that seems like such a vague term, amIright? We had some of the girls from Leah's soccer team, school friends and bus stop neighbors. It's the biggest even we host all year.

I spent weeks decorating the house in blacks and oranges and even added some spooky sound-effects thanks to Pandora. It was a total success with more than 25 people in our house, including a dozen kids running around hopped up on Halloween candy.

I just love this time of year!




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