Halloween 2012

Fair warning...LOTS of pictures in this post.  I simply couldn't help myself! 

I'll try to keep the dialogue minimal..."Yeah right!" When I have ever done that?? 

I know that's what most of you are thinking!  Sorry, you've been warned!

Halloween was on a Wednesday this year (as you all know) which is not helpful when your Husband/Daddy is a youth pastor and has to work!  ha ha!

So I had the task of getting these two yahoos ready for a fun day :)  Texie supplied us last year with Halloween outfits and surprisingly, they still fit this year!  After a playdate, lunch and naps, these two were more than ready to get their trick or treating on!

 So, I laid out their gear and we made the transition from Ava and Carter to Minnie Mouse and Superman!  They were both pretty thrilled to dress up and I was under the gun to get it all done and ready in order to be at a friends house for a little fun :)

Here he is, Superman himself.  Already dipping into the candy we were supposed to be giving AWAY to our neighbors, not eating :)

 Clearly, he wasn't buying it...

For the record, it is not easy to get two kids ready and photographed by yourself. 

Single parents, again, I marvel at your mad skillz.

My brother in law said she looked like Cindy Lou Whoo from Whooville!  Ha ha, I think he's right!

It would have been an easy sell to be a princess this year but all of our dresses were just not going to be warm enough to be outside all night so I found this little outfit and thought it would not only make a cute Minnie costume but also be something she could wear later.  And that turned out to be a good call because she LOVES is and having a hat on her was a good thing when the sun went down.  Plus, isn't it cute??  Same with Carter.  He got a new t-shirt to wear and that cute cape came from his cousin, Dominic!  Thanks, Dom!!

All ready to go see some of our neighbors and Carter, AGAIN with a sucker in his hand!  Seriously, everytime I turned around he was dipping in that bowl for another sucker. 

5 pm and already I was sweating :)

We left some treats out for the few kids who might come to our door while we were gone.  From the looks of it, we probably got less than 5.  And I'm sure I knew all 5 of them because they are grandkids of our neighbors!  Oh well, makes me feel less guilty about being gone all night!

And speaking of neighbors, we have so many sweet ones.  They were so kind of drop things off, knock on our door to make sure we'd come see them or leave things out for our kids.  I'm so thankful we have nice neighbors who love our kids!  We are blessed by that and when this rolls around every year, I really think it's a highlight for lots of them to get a visit from our kiddos.  We make sure to interact with them all year round, but it's especially fun to see them dressed up!

They talk about it for months afterwards :)

Bundled up and ready to go!!

 We had a very important stop to make first though...Daddy needed to see his little superhero and mouse himself!

 And spontaneously, a friend took this picture of us, which is one of my new favorites! 

 There are no words for the cuteness of this kid...

 ...ditto for this one!

 Love!

 Even Superman loves his Mommy!!

We couldn't keep them from the action for long, they were ready to go :)

 We met up with some sweet friends who invited us over for chili and treats and some trick or treating around their very busy neighborhood.  Meet the sweet girls who made our night possible!!  They helped me keep Ava and Carter well stocked and on more than one occasion, helped keep me from losing them to disaster.

Why would I include this picture, you might be thinking??  Well this is a very accurate glimpse into that night.  Ava was doing her own thing at all times and Carter was basically just a flash in the night!  They both literally ran from house to house and I could barely keep up!  Heaven help me if this falls on a Wednesday night again!!

It was quite a scene however to behold.  They were the hit of every house and we met some very sweet people who were very generous :)  It took Ava no time to get the hang of it and Carter was all about ringing the doorbell!

After Ava got some candy here and Carter too, Ava patted Carter on the face with her mittens and said, "Say trick or treat and thank you, buddy!"  Always the little mother :)

Seriously, so grateful for these high school girls and their help!

My kids had so much fun and came home with quite a stash!  But really it was so much fun to interact with our neighbors, to get to know another family better and meet some other friends and family too.

 

We were all pretty exhausted when we got home, but what a fun Halloween it was!!

I'm pretty biased but I think I have the cutest Superman and Minnie Mouse ever, right?

Happy Halloween from the Armstrongs!