Halloween

Joseph has had his heart set on being Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates since August so after buying his costume a few months ago we all decided to go with that theme.  As Halloween got closer he did waiver a little bit on his decision of being Jake but I told him that I wasn't going to buy another costume so he would have to choose something that we already had at home and thankfully he decided to stick with Jake.  Ella was excited to be Izzy and Julia made a pretty cute Skully (the parrot!)  Our friends, the Knellers, hosted Halloween this year for our group of friends and it was a lot of fun!  We all went to their house first for a big potluck and then hit the streets together.  

 A few shots of Julia, prior to her getting into costume

 The men

The Ladies

A photo with the littlest trick or treaters

Kannon, Xander and Julia

The crew getting ready to go trick or treating

There were 9 families there and at least 20 kids-it was crazy but fun!  

 

Ella walked the entire time (well except at the very end when we met up with Daddy and Joseph and Daddy carried her) and she did great!  Julia and I hung back with her since most of the big kids were walking much faster but she totally caught on to trick or treating and had so much fun!  When going through her bag that night Daddy and I realized that her favorite candy are lollipops since she had collected a ton of them!  

Ella and her sweet friend, Eva, hung together for awhile!

Joseph and Trace out on the streets together

This neighborhood was very lively and there were a ton of families out so it made it so much fun.  We weren't out super late but definitely past the normal bedtimes but the kids did great and had a blast.  One of my friends that night was telling us about "The Great Pumpkin" who comes on Halloween night and takes the candy but leaves in its place a toy which I thought was a great idea.  Well, the next morning at 6:45 a.m. when Joseph asked for a piece of candy I decided that we were going to play that "game", too (I just really didn't want him asking continuously throughout the day for his candy.)  I told him that the Candy Fairy (not sure why I changed it from The Great Pumpkin to the Candy Fairy) had come last night and taken all the candy but left him and Ella a surprise instead.  His sweet little eyes filled with tears at first but then he said, "A surprise?  What kind of a surprise?"   Thankfully the night before I had run to HEB and they had matchbox cars on sale for like 50 cents so I picked up a few for stocking stuffers and since those were the only extra toys I had lying around in the house I decided that was what the Candy Fairy had left for them.   (Daddy then whispered to me, "This is never going to work!" but I was confident that it would!)  Joseph and I went on an adventure hunt looking for the surprise and he was totally excited to find that the Candy Fairy had left him a Batman car and was as equally excited to show Ella her car once she woke up.  (And I said to Daddy, "Told you so!")  He didn't ask again for the candy and we brought most of it (Daddy enjoyed a few pieces over the weekend and we did save some of the lollipops to use as treats) to our church who will send it to soldiers overseas.  It was a win win situation for everyone!  

It was such a fun Halloween and we are so lucky to have such a great group of friends to celebrate with!