Halloween parades and parties

We went to Katya's Halloween parade at her school on Friday the 30th. Allie was with us so Katya's teacher let her be in the parade, too. I think Allie really appreciated that - I know she really misses going to school (for those that may not know, her mom "home schools" her). My mom came, too, and it was so nice that we live so close to the school - I could just put Tony in the stroller and walk down.

Tony was a big hit at the parade. One lady who didn't even know us took a picture because she thought he was so cute!

Later that day, we had a Halloween Party for Katya, Allie, and Kaylie. This was Alex's brilliant idea and although we had sent out the invitations two-weeks before, we really hadn't done much in the way of planning up to that point. Alex was supposed to get ghost stories to read and I was organizing a treasure hunt. I was pulling this together about two hours before the party started, while Alex was grocery shopping and he never did get his ghost stories. Can you tell I wasn't much into the whole party thing? After all the treasure hunt work, it only entertained the kids for about 15 minutes and only one kid had brought a ghost story so we ended up letting them watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas". I didn't really think that 3 hours to entertain 11 year-olds would be very hard but it really was!

As if the Halloween Party wasn't enough, we also had a birthday party for Allie the next day (on Halloween). We invited our families for hot dogs, cake and ice cream and trick-or-treating. I can't believe that Allie is turning 12. I remember when she was just a little girl and now she is growing into a lady that wears heels and makeup. I feel so old!

We actually got some really cute pictures of all the kids in Halloween costumes. This will make for an awesome scrapbook page - when I find the time and ambition to make it!

We haven't had Allie for Halloween since she was about 4 years old (up until last year, Utah didn't consider Halloween a holiday so Alex didn't have rights on this holiday and of course Allie's mom wouldn't let him have her). So we were pretty excited about having her this year. Alex had gone costume shopping with the girls somewhere around the first of SEPTEMBER and so they have had their costumes for quite a while! It was probably too early to go, though, since Allie had decided mid-September that she wanted another costume and since we all know that they are non-returnable, it took some real convincing on Alex's part that she really had the cutest costume out there.

Despite Katya's protesting the whole week about having to go trick-or-treating with us instead of her friend's, I think she had fun. My mom came over and made root beer and donuts and Alex and I even dressed up! It didn't take long for the little kids to be done with the whole candy thing (Tony fell asleep after walking around the block), so Alex stayed out and went with Allie and Katya. He ultimately ended up driving them around, since there were so many houses that people weren't home at that it was taking forever for them to fill up their candy bags. But they finally did fill up the bag and the next day Alex and I helped them sort their candy, initiate their trades, and claimed some of the good stuff for ourselves. What - as if we don't deserve some of their candy? Alex told them that it was his payment for going with them :)

So now we have two big full bags of candy around our house. We have only had to take Katya's candy away from her once (the other night when she wouldn't eat dinner), although I noticed this morning that Katya really hadn't brushed her teeth, despite the fact that she said she had. Does she not know that when you brush your teeth, your toothbrush should be wet? So, becuase I am the one that has to pay the dentist bill, she will be losing her candy again until she decides that brushing her teeth is important. Isn't parenthood fun?