Halloween

Our last holiday with the boys ended up being Halloween. The original plan was for Becky to stay with us through Thanksgiving, and then she would return to North Carolina with the boys over their school break. Unfortunately, Becky was only getting two weeks leave from her unit, since she extended her active duty stint with the Army. We had already planned to have the boys with us, so we got costumes ready for the big night. Rachel and I were having a hard time with Allison deciding on a costume, as she kept changing her mind. Shocker, I know. We were at Target, and found a SuperGirl costume she really loved, but it was too big for her. She was so upset that it wasn't going to fit her, and we were back at square one. Finally, a few days before Halloween, we ended up at K-Mart, as all their costumes were discounted by 50%, and we were determined to find something that would work. Well, we found the same Supergirl costume there, but it was still one size too big. We bought it anyway, and decided in pure parent fashion to "make it work" by pinning it if we had to. Ryleigh was pretty easy, as we found an adorable Red Riding Hood costume almost right away. I got a hold of Becky while she was still in Carolina, and told her that Zach wanted to be a Carolina Panthers football player. She was able to get hold of a jersey (a freakin' nice one for a kid), and he was done. Daniel was done a long time ago, as he first wanted to be Diego. Rachel and I felt that was really juvenile for him, and he was that last year anyway. He changed to a Power Ranger, even though I felt this was juvenile, too. We were at Kohl's and found a nice costume, for cheap, and bought it weeks ago. So, we were done.

Rachel and I have been going with the Gallion's for trick-or-treating in their neighborhood for the last two years, and decided to go ahead and do that again. So, off we went. It ended up being a good time, albeit with the older kids having to be constantly reminded to wait for the younger kids. It was so funny, since this was Ryleigh's first year of T-o-T, and the first two or three houses she kept wanted me to open her candy immediately. She soon got the hang of it, and had fun with it. By the end of the night, she wanted to walk like the other kids, but wouldn't let go of her little duck that her prizes were stored in. So, I was the caboose in our train with her, and Allie ended up walking with Kirk Gallion and holding his hand. I am so glad we have them as friends, and that my kids feel comfortable with Dee and Kirk. By the time we took the 10 minute trip home, Ryleigh was crashed, and ended up with her costume as her pajama's as well. Oh, well, it was fun in any case.