Halloween!

We had an amazing Halloween this year. I think it was a lot for Shantel because she fit a ton into a short amount of time, but the kids were so happy and the weather was good and everything was really wonderful. 

Shantel took the kids to a homeschool Halloween party in the morning and then to see my parents in the afternoon. They were happy to get to see the kids. 

Then they all came to my office to do trick-or-treating at my office. They got a ton of candy and had a good time. One of my favorite things is that they think it is so cool that we have a soda machine in my office, so I try to always let them get a soda from the break room. 

The costumes were incredible and are probably my favorite that the kids have ever done. Shantel did a ton of work and all the kids dressed up like the Pevensie kids from the Chronicles of Narnia. Lydia was Susan, Austin was Peter, Caleb was Edmund and Lucy was Lucy. The costumes turned out amazing. Around the beginning of October Shantel started talking about getting a wardrobe as part of decorating our porch for Chronicles of Narnia, but I assumed it was a fleeting thought. However, Shantel was quite determined and totally made it happen. The wardrobe was fantastic and made the whole thing come together in such a fun way. 

Austin - Peter Pevensie (High King Peter or King Peter the Magnificent)

Caleb - Edmund Pevensie (King Edmund the Just)

Lucy - Lucy Pevensie (Queen Lucy the Valiant)

Lydia - Susan Pevensie (Queen Susan the Gentle)

It is interesting because as noted above, we had a great Halloween, but when writing about it a week or two after, you often forget the various challenges that you have to deal with along the way. For example, it was a lot of work trying to get the kids to come eat a good dinner before we went out. As we were just getting ready to do pictures Lydia was walking through the garage and tore her dress. She was so so sad and upset with herself that it seemed like it might ruin the whole night for her. As a parent, it takes a lot to be patient and help her try and move past it and still have a really good night. We tried to patiently console her and she did end up having a really great night, but it was touch and go for a minute. 

The night ended up with pretty nice weather (we had been worried based on earlier in the week that it would be so cold). The kids had so much fun going around and went trick or treating with the Ward kids (Audrey and Ellie). 

After we did all the houses in our part of the neighborhood we came back and Caleb helped hand out candy for a few minutes. 

After a quick break, we got ready to go to the other side of the neighborhood. The last couple years it was only Lydia and Austin then were able to keep going, but this year all four kids wanted to keep going (plus Audrey and Ellie came with us too). After a little bit, Lucy was done and Shantel came to pick her up, but the rest of the kids did the entire Bull Hollow side of the neighborhood, plus we went up to the neighborhood just north of us as well. There is a family there that let's you throw a baseball to try and knock over bottles to win a bigger prize. Two years ago Lydia did it, last year Austin did it, and this year Caleb was so close and almost got it, but not quite. 

Lucy helped Shantel pass out candy in the wardrobe. 

We finished about 8 pm and got everyone inside and warm and into bed. We finished the night by reading Harry Potter with Lydia. 

It was fun for the kids to dress up and they had a good night. (Also, Shantel and I managed get the wardrobe back into the garage all by ourselves). 

Of course the next day means it is candy counting and graphing day. Lucy woke up first and it was so cute because she already knew just what to do and wanted to sort and count her candy first thing, so she and I did her candy very first before most of the other kids were even awake. You can see Lydia with her candy graph below and the boys with their candy organizing. 

Happy Halloween!