Halloween

I've never really understood Halloween, and now as a parent I REALLY don't.

Is it because I have small children who are constantly faced with ghosts, goblins and witches around this time?

Or maybe because the thought of thinking up costume ideas makes the creative side of my brain hurt?

Spend $30 on a one-use costume?  Ugh!  DIY it?  Nope...cold sweat.

Could it be the excessive amount of candy that causes arguing, makes them crazy and threatens to rack up our dental bill?

Or maybe its just that I'm a first-born and this whole "pretend" thing just really doesn't appeal to me.

At any rate, we chose to do something this year.  Our old church, where the kids still go for Friday night activities, was hosting a themed party for the evening...come dressed as a pet.

Many ideas were tossed around, but from the beginning Aiden was set on being a lion, specifically the one David killed with his bare hands.

I thought it would be fun to do a theme with the three of them (Three Blind Mice?), but no one could agree so the girls decided on a bunny and an owl.  Marginal "pets", but not everyone can go as a dog, right?

As a side note, just a word of advise....think it through before bringing up "Three Blind Mice" to your young children.  Because they will ask you about it, and you'll start to sing the rhyme and then you will realize how inappropriate it is and that they could have lived a few more years before knowing about the farmer's wife and her violent, cruelty-to-animals tendancies.

A trip to the craft store....

...and some help from R and we were on our way.

 We were happy to see a gorilla there who had an amazing resemblance to Uncle Nathan.

 15 seconds to dig for candy.

 Craft time at Auntie Laryssa's table.

 R is quite an artist!

 All the kids got to show off their costumes for the judges.  Aiden won "most unique pet" :).

 The best part?  Its over!  And most of the candy has mysteriously disappeared.  :)  Speaking of candy...