Mucho Halloween

I feel like Halloween has gotten bigger, we had twoish weeks of Halloween activities. The kids had a few opportunities to wear their costumes and there is no shortage of candy around our house. Picking up where we left off last week...we finished carving our pumpkins.

One bonus of my not-career is hanging out w/ my friends during the day. Faith & I have hung out more this fall than we have in the last few busy-busy years combined. She babysits two 4-year old girls, perfect for playdates w/ us.

Finley earned his Backyard Jungle badge - happy doesn't describe him.

I don't get Boy Scouts at all yet - dens, packs, badges, belt slides, Boy Scouts/Cub Scouts, what's the difference between it all?!  But this might be his 'thing', Finley is very happy, proud, and excited to be part of Cub Scouts (or is it Boy Scouts?).

Hadley went to lunch w/ Auntie & Grandma, and I learned that Clam Chowder is her thing. She stole Grandma's lunch.

Hadley was a dancing donut at Danz Kraze.

And a dancing donut at tap/ballet.

But she was NOT a happy donut during the 4K Halloween Parade. She squished her donut shut like a clam shell.

And cried.

A FB memory reminded me she was an unhappy Ladybug during the Halloween Parade two years ago.

Finley had his ortho consult. We will be moving forward w/ an expander (the more technical term) in December. The expander will both push his permanent molar into the proper bite and create space for his permanent teeth.

In late December, he'll be getting something similar placed on the roof his mouth. The good news, I will NOT need to turn it each day. It will simply sit and do it's job over the course of 9ish months. His teeth will shift, so there will be some discomfort, but Dr. Larson said it won't hurt as much as braces being tightened (which I am familiar w/ after having braces THREE times).

Hadley dressed up for school pictures. Finley photobombed...

...and got smacked. (Not really, more shooed away, but the picture looks like she's about to whack him).

We passed the flock onto Grandpa & Grandma.

Hadley is looking so old. And I torture myself all of the time thinking, Next year I'll be going to Target/grocery store alone. Next year she won't be home for morning playdates w/ friends.

The kids trick-or-treated at M&J. The donut actually looked happy for a few minutes.

We bumped into Gracie & Jake. By this time, the donut was off and Hadley refused to put it back on for a picture. And stooping to her immature-level, I refused to let her be in the picture w/o her donut. Two were playing this game.

There was a Boo-rific Halloween Party at Finley's school. I couldn't attend and Patrick didn't take any pictures. Here is the jack-o-lantern Finley brought for the school display, he carved nearly all of it on his own.

I wasn't at the Boo-rific party because I was at the Twin Cities Monster Dash w/ Melissa. Many participants wear costumes for the Monster Dash, and since it fell on Halloween we expected nearly everyone to be dressed up. But that's not our thing. We found these t-shirts that seemed much more run-able than any tu-tu or costume. (Don't get me started on tu-tus and running for any race)

Waiting to start and trying to stay dry. Melissa was smart to bring garbage bags, next time we're going w/ "leaf-size" and not the 13-gallon kitchen bags ;) Actually, they worked out for running since they didn't cover our legs. I think I wore it for nearly 5 miles.

Mid-run selfie. 

And done. Melissa made her goal of 10 MILES w/o walking!  I'm so happy for her! It's really fun to run w/ new runners and be part of their "firsts". It rained the entire 10 miles, which made us totally soggy.

A quick trip home and it was time to get ready for our Halloween party and trick-or-treating. The kids got ready, the donut actually didn't fuss much this time....

...but as she begged for blue hair (no idea why?!), I made her promise that she would be a happy donut. She agreed to not complain, smile for pictures, and wear her costume the entire time. Next year I will let her be whatever she wants, this donut-thing was ridiculous. She was the crabbiest donut ever. And anyone that bumped into us and gave her a compliment received a death-look from me w/ a hiss of Don't tell her she looks cute! So a blue-haired donut for the win-win.

We have new neighbors and new-new neighbors w/ kids. We were excited that all of the neighbor-kids joined us for Halloween evening. The dads took the crew out for trick-or-treating on a hay wagon. 

An absolute race of pure fun. 

I tagged along for one house and then the wagon took off for nearly two hours of trick-or-treating. I couldn't believe that they made it that long.

The crew returned for dinner, playing, and candy trading.

Sunday was more post-Halloween learning...sorting, counting, less/more, writing lists of candy bars, etc. Now the candy will start to disappear.

That was a lot of Halloween. Sadly I already feel a Christmas panic settling in, Target was creating their Christmas displays this morning. Turkey, what? I need to start making lists!