Trick-Or-Treat 2013

This year we had a Cute Cowgirl and a Wild Little Indian Boy. 

Do Rachael's chaps and vest look familiar?? One of the many advantages to having children so close in age--they can share costumes from just one year prior! I love it! And all the credit for David's costume goes to Ma. It's perfect!

The kids had several chances to wear their costumes during the Halloween week. The first was on Saturday. Ma and Big Daddy's neighborhood held their BIG block party that we have always attended. Before we leave for the party I always like to take some nice pictures of the kids in the front yard because this is when their costumes are the cleanest and freshest.

Little Indian shooting his bow and arrow.

And the Cowgirl handing it back to him.

As expected, Rachael wasn't in the mood to take pictures. This is her saying, "No" when I asked her if I could take her picture.

David is always a willing participant.

Another Indian pose.

I did get lucky and was able to capture this cute one of Rachael, though.

Neither kid would wear their head gear for trick-or-treating. [Rachael wouldn't even wear her's for pictures]

So, I had to take this lonely picture of their hats.

 Rachael's sweet cousin, Cate, let her borrow the pink cowgirl hat, but she still didn't want to wear it. David was given the Indian headdress for his birthday. I added a few more feathers to it. 

Before we headed out they got in a little doorbell ringing practice.

We went to a nearby cul de sac for a pizza party, which the kids LOVED.

All four cousins at the party! 

David (3) as an Indian, Ricky (11) as a Stick Figure, Rachael (2) as a Cowgirl, Cate (8) as Glenda The Good Witch of the North

The kids had a ball running around Ma and Big Daddy's neighborhood. David was really tough to keep up with at first because he was so excited to get to each and every house. Once we got back to Ma's house, of course we had to check out the loot.

Later in the week David and Rachael got dressed up again for their Halloween costume parade and parties at school.

Here they come! David was the leader of the whole parade!

Seeing Mama in the crowd.

Here comes Rachael's class! [You can see David right behind them too]

At first she didn't know where to look.

Oh! There's my Mama!

But, when the parade was over, she wasn't so sure she wanted to go back to her classroom.

The teachers told me once she got out of the gym Rachael cried all the way down the hall to the classroom until they told her they were going to have a party. She stopped immediately.

When I arrived there she was sitting with her class in front of the one of her teachers, who was reading a Halloween book. 

I had to divide my time between both classrooms, so when Rachael saw that I was there I stepped into David's classroom and saw him and his class saying the blessing before eating their party foods. 

Once served, he was ready to dig in.

Back in Rachael's room, she was happy about her party food too. 

And one more time back to David's room, I find this:

The next day was Halloween! The kids got dressed up that morning for trick-or-treating at the local library. They love to go there for Preschool reading hour each week and were very excited to walk through the whole building collecting candy. David and Rachael had a great time singing Halloween songs and listening to Halloween themed books.







Then when it was time, Rachael led the procession of about 50 kids through the library offices and trick-or-treated at each staff member's desk.





And true to my children's personalities, when they were finished David wanted to play on the computer while Rachael wanted to eat all her candy.





That evening was the BIG show!! Halloween night!! Now that the kids had practiced several times they were old pros and were beside themselves with excitement and rearing to go as soon as we finished dinner and got dressed.

Off they went to the next door neighbor's house.




Our sweet neighbors Mr. Mike and Ms. Linda couldn't wait to see David and Rachael all dressed up.


After visiting them we went to a nearby neighborhood that's known to have lots of kids and homes that "play" Halloween. Most of the houses in our subdivision do not.

I tried one more time to get a picture of them together. Even though they aren't looking at the camera in either, I really like these two.

And, once again, the kids just had to examine and taste their loot when we got back home.




What a fun week!!

David loved it so much that he's already thinking about what he wants to be next year. In fact, yesterday he informed Ryan and me that he would like to be "a mama kangaroo with a baby kangaroo in it's belly pouch." He was dead serious. He didn't find it nearly as funny as we did.