I feel like we've been preparing for Halloween for a very long time.  We bought costumes for the kids early in October and they've worn them, or at least parts of them, every day since.  So the kids were a bit ho hum about dressing up AGAIN today - at least until they remembered the sweet candy reward that lay ahead.  I managed to stave off the begging for sweets until late in the afternoon.  We carved pumpkins, the kids mostly enjoying playing in the pumpkin guts:


Both of the kids wanted to make their pumpkins really scary.  The good thing is that their idea of scary means pumpkins with teeth.


We spent a lot of time arranging them around the house, lining them up, carrying them around.  When I got weary of cleaning up pumpkin gut droppings, we moved them out to the front stoop.


When Martin was little, I bought a giant 100-pound pumpkin big enough for him to stand in.  I learned that year that carving a massive pumpkin is actually quite a bit of work and requires a lot of clean up.  Each year the pumpkins I've purchased have gotten smaller and smaller and that's made the work of carving and cleaning a lot easier.  For us, that means by the time the kids are sick of the project, I almost have it all cleaned up.  And that makes us all happy.


Late in the afternoon I started getting the kids dressed.  For Martin, this was an easy task.  Even though he has a few costumes to choose from this year, there was no question that he'd pick the Power Ranger costume with built-in muscles.  Sophie also has a few outfits to choose from, and just today decided that she wanted to be the black Power Ranger.  Martin vetoed the idea, and she settled for something she made up herself - Pretty Snow Princess Party Shoes.


Early in the evening we went out into the neighborhood for some trick or treating.  We were the first ones out this time, it was still light and our stops were limited to just a few homes.  We can get away with this because the kids are small and don't yet know any better.


We came home before dark and settled in for dinner, the menu chosen by Martin - mummy dogs and baked beans.


I don't know what tomorrow will bring.  After all the build up, it might be kind of anticlimactic.  Maybe I'll let them eat all their candy for breakfast just to get it out of the way.  Then give them each a vacuum and let them burn off all that sugary energy while cleaning up the house.