Halloween

This will go down as one of the best, warmest Halloweens in memory. It was 71 degrees today, and in the mid-60s while we were trick-or-treating. That may not seem newsworthy, but up here in Montana is practically unprecedented. It was gorgeous! It was also a banner day because Darreck worked a day shift and was able to spend the evening with us. We don't get him around most Halloween nights, so the boys were super excited to trick-or-treat with daddy.

I started off the morning by dropping of Max at school. In lieu of a Halloween party, his class wrapped up career month by dressing like what they wanted to be as adults. Max went as a zookeeper, complete with a stuffed snake around his shoulders. Jack, Luke, and I hung out this morning, and Luke wanted to try on his past Halloween costumes, including the beloved monster. For only being two, he certainly got into the spirit of things.

Darreck got home at four, and we went over to my parents' house for waffles and bacon, our Halloween tradition. We let the boys trick-or-treat in their neighborhood before everyone went their separate ways. Tonight is the cross-town football game, so Kayla had band and my parents went to watch. We came back home to put Jack to bed, and Darreck took the two big boys out for a few more blocks. I was worried about this being Luke's first real year trick-or-treating, but he was more than willing to give up the unsafe candy in exchange for things he can eat. It ended up not being nearly as much of an issue as I feared.

The boys' costumes this year were fun. I normally don't reuse costumes, but I had to dress Jack up as a Jack-o-lantern. It was just too perfect. We assumed both Luke and Max would want to be teenage mutant ninja turtles, but Max opted instead for a a "white ninja" costume. The pictures of him are priceless because he insisted on posing in fighting stance for each one. Luke, as usual, was hard to pin down long enough to get a picture. The boy is a never-ending ball of blur in photos. Better busy than bored at least.

I loved Halloween this year because everyone was out and about. I loved to see the neighborhoods full of kids laughing and playing. I think Halloween brings out a real sense of community, especially on such a nice night. Hopefully we'll get another good year next year, too.