tricks and treats

Just as we begin each Halloween, we head over to Momma and Papa's house, where the ranch homes are in abundance and there are no trecherous stairs to climb up and down as we run doorbell to doorbell singing "trick or treat" and many, many "thanks you's"! This year - the weather was JUST RIGHT. There were no mittens, nor umbrellas in sight. A light sweater or a long sleeve was the perfect ensemble, as long as you had the essential accessories: candy bucket/bag, crazy costume, and glow-in-the-dark light sticks.This year, Momma and Papa weren't home to greet us :( so we posed on the porch and moved along... Tinkerstinker doesn't pause for long (we were lucky to catch her here) before she is off and running house to house. The is never a doubt - she WILL be the first to make it to the doorbell before anyone else.

Good old Abe Lincoln refused to wear his glasses. His father told him he looked a bit Amish is his getup. Well, he was content - and he did win Most Creative earlier in the day at school!

The rest of the gang joined us (cousins Giselle and Dario; ie IronMan and Angel/Devil girl) before we hit the streets.

Aly didn't have to tell Dario twice - they were off and running! Aly is fast, but Dario wants to be faster. Each year - and this year was no different - Dario picked up speed and hit the dirt HARD more times than we could count! It didn't matter much; he kept picking himself up and running on to the next door.The only snap of me the entire evening (which is not out of the ordinary) was taken only because my phone rang and the camera had to be taken from my hands!

These little buddies were content to stroll the length of the nearby school yard until the next row of houses were in view.

Dario was INTENT on stopping his uncle from teasing him - so he attacked IronMan style!

We ran in to Lucas along the way - who was happily enjoying his first OUT & ABOUT halloween. Last year we had to find him in his pumpkin costume; indoors. This year, Tigger hitched a wagon and went for a halloween ride.

As the evening grew dark, we sought out just a few more friends and found some falling leaves to use up the last of the candy induced sugar high energy.

Mariana, CrisCris, Alex, Aly, Cristian, and Brandan had a ball tossing, rolling, bouncing and throwing themselves through the last day of October's leaves.

We couldn't have spent it better. That was until we got home and two kids thought they still had enough energy to sort and count their stash. I am the official tally master for this event each year. Total booty for 2008? So says Brandan: 365 pieces of candy, five pencils, and 25 odd toys, spider rings, puzzles, and googlie eyes.

Yes, well spent.