Halloween 2010

I wanted to be sure and memorialize Violet's second Halloween. Last year obviously she didn't know what was going on, didn't eat candy and didn't go trick-or-treating. This year was quite different. I wasn't sure if she was going to be into wearing the costume or going trick-or-treating, but I wanted to give it a shot.

First, Saturday night we had a party at church.

They had some cute decorations set up to take pictures with. Violet is obviously Little Red Riding Hood. Then we went around to all the cars in the parking lot and "trunk-or-treated." Violet didn't quite understand what was going on at first but she really got into it after the first couple of cars. Then she wanted to go back inside and inspect her candy.


I was so proud of this kid: she grabbed the box of raisins first and demanded that I open it. After that, she ate the bag of pretzels and the fruit snacks. She spit out the peanut M&Ms and then was done for the night.

Sunday, after looking for Halloween-themed hymns during Sunday School (not the official activity), we went out trick-or-treating after dinner. We were pretty sure that our complex wasn't going to have a lot of action since it's gated and there aren't a lot of kids, so we walked down a few blocks to a residential neighborhood that Clark has run through before. We got there at about 7 pm and the streets were DESERTED. We couldn't figure out what was going on. Clark was concerned that they might not welcome trick-or-treaters. I had told Violet what we were going to do, so she was yelling "houses! CANDY!" from her stroller. So we decided to just start knocking on doors. After the first few doors we started seeing other groups of kids coming down the street. Phew! She was having so much fun talking to people at each door. She usually got an extra piece of candy for every time she said "happy Halloween" or "trick-or-treat" so she picked up on that really fast and played it for all it was worth. At one house there was a pretty elderly man who was so taken with Vi that he wanted his wife to come see her, but she was sitting in the back room and has trouble getting around. So Vi walked right into their house and found the lady and talked to her for a little while. She showed her all her candy and let her give her a hug and was very sweet to her. I was so proud.

There ended up being a lot of people out in this neighborhood and we talked to quite a few nice parents with their kids. We've been pretty isolated here and it was really good to be out in the community and see so many families having fun. We stayed out for about an hour, until it got pretty dark and Vi got tired. Then we decided to go home and check out the haul.


It was a really great weekend and we're glad we went for it. I'm also quite glad that Violet doesn't like peanut butter and chocolate. I knew there would be perks to motherhood.

Oh, and I just have to mention: Clark and I were wearing t-shirts and shorts and feeling pretty warm, even after dark. Violet was sweating from wearing her cape over her dress. It was so humid that it started to sprinkle a couple of times, which felt pretty good. It's a far cry from Halloween in snow boots and a coat.