Trick or Treats!

Finally, after a month of celebrating Halloween...Halloween day had finally arrived!  And we had a busy day ahead of us.  Claire was having a Halloween party in her class, so she got up a little early to make sure she was dressed up how she wanted.  I think she looked pretty darn cute. :)  

Then we scrambled to get Sophie and Johnny dressed up and ready for school.  It was a special day at the preschool...special enough that Daddy even took the time from work to be there.  And Great Grandma Lovell, too!  The Halloween Program is the highlight of the Fall.  And not only do we get to go see our cute kids, but our cousin Ruby, too!

The kids did an awesome job on their program.  They sing the cutest songs!  And Johnny even participated this time...so that's an improvement. :)  After the songs were done, the kids got to trick or treat with bags that they had decorated earlier in the week.  You may notice Johnny's eye make-up.  That's what happens when you can't wear your awesome Spiderman mask, and you have older sisters that get to do their eyes. :)

After the kids were done trick or treating with their friends, we kissed them goodbye and left them with Grandma to enjoy the afternoon class's program and some more trick or treating.  Luke had a clinic appointment up at the hospital that afternoon, which was fun because it meant he could show everyone how cute he looked in his monster costume!  We had a great visit with his doctors, everyone agreed he's a miracle, and we even got to see some of our favorite nurses and techs on the floor!

It was also our last time to see one of our very favorite people, Lyndsi.  Lyndsi was leaving in November to serve a full-time mission in New Zealand!  We're so happy for her, and we know we'll be doing some serious catch-up when she gets home.  Good Luck, Sister Miggin!

After we got back from the hospital, Claire was getting out of school and it was time to ramp up for an evening of Trick or Treating!  Per tradition, we stopped by Great Grandma Call's house so she could see the kids in their cute costumes, and the kids could start their candy collection.  We just love having Danny's grandmas as a part of our lives.  It's so neat that our kids will have so many memories with their great grandmas.

Usually we have a dinner of chili and tortillas on Halloween night.  That's what my Mom used to make for us, so that we'd have something nice and warm in our bellies before we ventured out into the cold.  For the life of me, I can't remember what we did, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't chili. :)  At any rate, I'm sure we fed the kids something, and then got their masks on and started trick or treating.

The kids hit the neighborhood hard...running from doorstep to doorstep.  We love trick or treating our neighborhood!

Luke was content to watch the mayhem from the comfort of his stroller. :)  

And it was pure craziness!  Kids were running from door to door, shoes were flying...our pets heads were falling off! (Just for any of you that still remember "Dumb and Dumber" quotes...)

But we looked good doing it.

Can you guess what Danny and I went out as?  Exhausted Parents!  We've worked on our costumes for over a year.  Yeah, we're classic over-achievers. :)

Our beautiful fall weather started to turn a little chilly, so we decided it was time for Luke to call it a night.  He was such a good little monster!  But we were still trying to keep this little guy healthy, so he spent the rest of the night handing out candy with Grandma.

Our neighbor, Alyssa, is such a good friend to our kids.  We met up with her while running through the neighborhood, and the girls were ecstatic.  So much so that they were willing to walk through the creepy haunted house blow-up to get some more candy.  Funny what a little peer pressure can do...

Even Johnny felt brave with Alyssa around.  As soon as he got inside the house, something happened and the entire thing started to deflate...right on top of Johnny.  It still makes me laugh to remember the wild animal that Johnny became as he started screaming and thrashing his way out of that house!  Danny, being the awesome Dad that he is, went directly into the fray to pull our Spidey-Son out of the collapsing house.  Johnny was completely traumatized, as Danny and I laughed til we cried.  Johnny held Danny's hand for the rest of our evening. :)

Toward the close of our candy adventures, Ruby and Lucy came to trick or treat with us.  They did the same thing last year, and it's turning into a fun little tradition!  All the kids hit a few more houses, and then we called it a night.  It was a perfect Halloween night!

But the night was just beginning for Danny and I.  A favorite book of ours, since we were both kids, is Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game".  And finally they made it into a movie!  We were so excited that we bought 10:30 pm tickets on opening night.  Honestly, I don't know what we were thinking.  We are WAY too old and WAY too tired to do something like that!  But it was so fun to feel like kids again.

The movie was awesome!!  We even managed to stay awake. :)  It was so nice of Grandma Call to stay with the kids so we could be totally irresponsible.  Even us exhausted and overwhelmed parents need a little bit of irresponsibility in life.  Keeps things interesting.

And just like that, Halloween was in the books.  And the holiday season was officially underway.