A Spooooky Halloween, sans pictures, sorry...

My girls LOVED Halloween this year!

Trick-or-treating was the most exciting thing EVER. Even if they turned into super shy and quiet munchkins every time someone opened the door. Brooklin always told me she said 'trickortreat' but, I never heard it. That's how quiet she was. So unlike her! But, she was very talkative inbetween houses and LOVED most of the decor. Some of it was too scary for her, but if it wasn't gory she would express how SPOOKY it was. 'Mom! Look at that SPOOOKY pumpkin!' We checked out a lot of Halloween books from the library this month, so the girls' halloween vocabulary was excellent :)

Mackenzi loved it, too, and everyone thought she was adorable. And they're right. She was :) She even insisted on carrying her own bag, which became quite heavy for her by the end of our loop around the neighborhood. If I was holding her in between houses, she wouldn't let me hold her bag, she still had to be the one to do it. Eventually I compromised by holding her HAND, the one that was holding her bag so that we could BOTH hold her bag :) I'm sneaky like that. She has been known to just sit down in the middle of the sidewalk when she gets too tired, instead of asking for assistance, and I didn't want that to happen on that windy, children everywhere night.

Mackenzi was also fascinated by the other kids' costumes, and was constantly asking "What's that?" A lot of times right to their faces... I love the bluntness of little kids! If only I had the guts to ask anyone any question I felt the desire to ask... orrr, maybe there's a reason it's not polite to do that :)

My mom was gracious enough to go with us so I didn't have to worry about keeping track of both of my kitties (yes, they were both kitties,.... pictures to come, I hope) but even so, we got out a little later than I planned and they girls didn't get to bed until 8. I was shooting for tubs by 6:30.... but that's when we finished dinner, sooo... They DID sleep in until 9 and 9:30 the next morning, though. And they had forgotten about their candy. Already. I didn't let them look through it on Halloween night because I knew they'd want to play with it and/or eat it, and I just wanted them to hit the zzzs. After they went to bed I was able to throw away all the candy that they couldn't have and that I didn't want, and then sorted out the things they COULD have and divided them equally among their bags, leaving them each with probably less than a quarter of what they started with. Seriously easiest parent taxation ever! Brooklin never suspected her loot had been messed with, and she enjoyed eating I think 5 or 6 different things from her basket before I put a kabosh on candy for the day. Both girls had plenty of fun playing with it though - it's fun to have real food to use as pretend food!

I'm in denial about November actually being here. I always forget that Halloween means that October is at its end. It should be routine by now.... but it shocks me every year! Mackenzi turns TWO this month, and although she is tall and she is a really great talker, I just can't believe it. She's still my baby. One of the things I LOVE about having the girls 19 months apart is that Brooklin really became a toddler when Mackenzi was born, and it wasn't a shocking transformation, it felt natural and expected.... because I had a REAL baby instead of a toddler baby :) But Mackenzi is still my baby, and it's hard to see her birthday approaching so quickly! I think if we have more than three kids, we'll try for closer spacing again.

November is also Trenton's ALASKA month, which isn't fun for either of us. OR for the girls. He gets back the weekend before Thanksgiving, and is only able to come back for a weekend visit ONCE this year, instead of both weekends. So lame. He does get to see his sister and her family who live there, but not much since he's worked from 8 until 10 with only a break for dinner (and a break or two throughout the day for facetime/phone time with the girls). He will be spending all Sunday with them though, since he isn't required to work on Sunday, which is a blessing. I really am surprised about that, but grateful too. We sure miss him!

I'll insert pictures into the post as soon as I get them from my dad's camera. Their costumes consist of pajamas, yarn, marker and book covers :) I'll be interested to see if Megan or Andrea recognize the book covers! :) :) You'll see soon enough!

Ta.