This year Halloween stretched over days - and between the kids, they attended three parties and went trick-or-treating.  They strategized and planned for days about what they'd wear for each event, then made last minute changes before each one.

Sophie started out the season with a party at school.  She went as a leopard-like kitty, but knowing how she likes to dismantle costumes, I dressed her in layers.  By the time I picked her up at school, her costume had been abandoned and was shoved in her backpack, and she was wearing just her regular clothes.  She managed to make it all the way out of the building before ripping into her paper bag of treats.  Here she is enjoying some candy with her friend Sage.  I feel like I have to explain all of that because without the play-by-play, it looks as though she dressed up as "coffee shop girl" and is enjoying a smoke break behind the building in-between whipping up lattes.


For Martin's school party, he chose a costume that my mom had picked up for him.  It was some sort of one-piece suit that was an unidentifiable Transformer/Power Ranger sort of thing.  He told me that he was going as "Super Zygote" and without even asking I knew that the name came straight from my dad.  It's the same name that he used to call my brother for years, and it wasn't until high school biology that Ryan knew what the term actually meant.  Martin will probably have the same experience because I didn't tell him what it meant either.

On Halloween night, we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with Grandma Lou.  Minutes before we were ready to head out the door I realized that Super Zygote had been smeared with frosting earlier in the day, and we found ourselves digging through the costume box trying to put something together.  It was during this same time that Sophie refused to get dressed, not wanting to wear her carefully assembled costume or the layers to go underneath.  I spent the next half hour chasing everyone through the house, silently cursing the sugar that would soon be added to the chaotic mix, and daydreaming of the beer chilling in my fridge.  After much deliberation and just a handful of threats, The Little Mermaid and The Beekeeper were ready to go.


We managed to get a family photo before we went out into the neighborhood.  This photo was taken about a minute after the previous one, and already Sophie had begun to disassemble her costume.


This photo was taken two seconds after I practically threw Sophie into Grandma Lou's arms - it was the only one we managed to get of the three of them together.  Sugar levels were high and Halloween spirit was floating through the air.


After the first few houses and dozens of partially eaten pieces of candy, the kids settled into the trick-or-treating groove.  We walked a few blocks near our house then headed home to take inventory of the loot.


All-in-all, it was the best Halloween we've ever had.  After the sugar-induced meltdowns were done, the kids had a great time dressing up and walking through the neighborhood.  They waved to their friends in the streets, handed out candy to all of the kids who came to the door, and left empty candy wrappers all over the house like a trail of breadcrumbs.


All as it should be.