Trick-or-Treat

I love. love. love. love. loveeeeee Fall and everything associated with it, but especially Halloween! Perhaps it's because it's so close to my birthday which always made for one long party growing up which has carried over because I haven't grown up, I dunno. I only know I love it - the candy, the costumes, the childish wonder, all of it! Good times!

And let it be known that I love themes for costumes. Yep, I said it. It's the scrapbooker in me, but I just can't help myself. The boys have always been pretty cooperative about it, but it sure helps when we come up with themes they can get into!

So, the inital thought was to do the Star Wars them the boys suggested, but after checking out the horrid (read "costly" and/or "cheap-y looking") selection at both Target and Wal-Mart, we decided somewhere along the way that we (and by "we" I mean "me!") were going to assemble the costumes our(my)selves. We hunted all over the house and managed to pull every costume we had from under the boys' beds, closets and toy chests. Sadly, there wasn't much there to choose from either that hadn't been ripped, destroyed or grown out of. But under it all, there was a fairly newly aquired Batman costume that just might work. So my brilliant husband came up with the idea to do Batman...with Robin and the Joker.

Ethan was all over the Joker idea (he wanted to do the darker Heath Ledger-ish version) and while Carson had to be coaxed a little into Robin, when he finally saw his costume finished, he was so excited he shouted, "YEAH, ROBIN! That's what I'm talkin' about!" lol Crazy kid. Anyhow, a bunch of felt, some curse words under my breath, and alot of handsewing and we ended up with a pretty awesome looking crew if I do say so myself! OH! And also let it be known that these costumes were finished sometime close to 3:00 - when TOTing was at 5:30! Oh yeah, baby! That's what I'm talkin' about! ;)

For the main event we always head over to Amy's house, one of my friends from High School. (These are her two - almost grown! - cuties with their baby cousin.) Every year she has an awesome Halloween get-together that we've gone to since the boys were small. We trick-or-treat our hearts out in their awesome neighborhood, and then Amy completely outdoes herself with a huge chili and hotdog feast to combat the sugar-rush afterwards!

We always we seem to have quite the group of kids gathered to head out together. The adults do their best to keep up with them as they run screaming from one door to the next.

Somewhere along the way I became the designated photographer, though I tell them the get what they pay for when it comes to shot quality! ;) I was fortunate this year with spectacular weather and lighting so I ended up with a lot faves than I usually get.

I love watching the kids fly down the street and catching them in mid-run! It always was a race to see who could get to the door first. Love that some things never change!

Here are my three - sometimes they traveled together, but mostly not (yeah, I get the irony of my theme not working so much when they don't stick together ;)).
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this shot of Turner under this gorgeous tree. The red was soooo spectacular and I think it looks like he's just some mystic creature wandering through the woods.
Bless him - Carson was always running his heart out to keep up with the bigger kids, but not before checking out his candy and making sure it was all there!
And the Joker - my big guy. he absolutely got into character and was a riot all night. He loved it and I ccouldn't get over that green hair!
















These three belong to Amy's sister, Jen - Her son Nathan and Turner are the same age and have grown up together. I don't know about you, but I could eat that Mickey up! (His ears squeeked and he couldn't stop laughing at them all night!)

And a few more random ones from the night - I took close to 300 pictures and have had a hard time narrowing it down! The adorable Egyptian is my friend Laura's daughter...her brother is the wizard you'll see in one of the trick-or-treating photos. Then a random group shot of some of the kids and finally my Batman and Robin off to fight some dastardly deed!

It's getting late here and I have to crash as it's a big day tomorrow with Ethan's Championship football game and my birthday (secondary, of course!), but I had to wish my sweet baby girl - my niece, Lydian Jane - a VERY VERY Happy 1st Birthday! Your Auntie loves you and wishes she could be there!