Happy Halloween

Around here people really go all out for Halloween. I've never seen anything like it in my life.
First of all, the neighborhoods have designated times for trick or treating. Ours was 4-8pm. In my day (I know I sound old here) we couldn't go out until after dinner and when it was dark out. Not here. The kids get off the school bus and get right into costume.

The other noticeable difference is that the parents all get involved. Not one kid was unaccompanied tonight, and you should see these people. Not only do they all go with their kids, but most of them dressed in costume. Several times I saw packs of parents traveling together with drinks in hand! It's hilarious. They make a big party out of it. The parents who stay home to pass out candy set up lawn chairs outside. It's pretty common for 2 neighbors to share the responsibility together so they sit out in their yards, with drinks of course.


As you can see it was a gorgeous day here in Illinois. No coats needed. It was so refreshing to get outside and walk.
We went right out at 4:00 since our kids are so little. We just went up and down our street. They both caught on so quickly, and really enjoyed themselves. We came back home for a short while and they sampled some of their loot. After that Tia and I went around the corner to some of her friends' houses. She loved it and didn't mind one bit that we weren't going up to every house, only the ones where we knew the people.


On the way back home she said "Mom, my feet are too heavy, can you carry me?".
We sat outside and passed out candy to the rest of the neighborhood. Both kids liked looking at the different costumes.
Gia couldn't understand why she couldn't eat all of her candy tonight. She also didn't quite know why I was giving candy away to other kids, and not her!
Thankfully I gave them their dinner at lunch time since I knew they would be eating candy at dinner time.


Here is our little cheerleader, not wanting me to take her picture. She was just so darn cute!