Halloween 2011: The Full View

So here is the full pictorial of what we did this Halloween.  I hope you enjoy it!

The day before, we decided it was high time to carve the pumpkins that had been sitting on our front porch for weeks.  The kids did their part by inspecting all the votive candles.

And arranging them just so.  (Now that I look at the picture below, it kind of looks like Mollie's dolls o.d.'d on giant marshmallows.  Too cute!)

I was more than happy to do the dirty work of scooping out the pumpkin innards, but all of a sudden I noticed that the insides didn't look quite right.  As it turns out, one of the pumpkins was starting to rot on the bottom.  The smell was awful and I politely asked/demanded that my husband take over for me.  He obliged but soon understood why I had to bow out.

The kids looked on, unimpressed.

Bless his heart, that stuff was disgusting!

Baylor and Mollie apparently couldn't smell it (or didn't mind the stench) and had fun goofing around at the bar.

We finally got the whole of it scraped out ... yuck.  Luckily the second pumpkin was just fine, and both ended up looking really nice all lit up.  (Of course, do you think I got a picture of that?  *sigh*)

The next day, the kids were in a bit of a funk so I introduced them to Garfield's Halloween Adventure and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

After naps, my parents and sister came over to help hand out candy and enjoy the festivities, a real help to me since it was Bryson's class night.  Baylor was quite confused as to why we were going to give other kids any of this giant bowl of candy we had.

Then we had my mom play a game.  She closed her eyes and we put two kinds of candy in her hands to see if she could guess what they were.  She was surprisingly good at it.

Baylor actually did get a little upset about the candy having to go, but he calmed down soon enough.

Before the trick or treaters started arriving we scarfed down some pizza.

Then the kids got dressed, though neither wanted to.  Mollie was Olivia the pig, from the television show.

And Baylor was a cowboy just like he was last year.  Seriously, same costume!  It actually fit much better this year, so that was a welcome surprise.

Unfortunately, we had to bribe the little man to even get him dressed.

But he ended up really enjoying his first Sour Patch Kids straw, so I guess that was a plus.

Okay, it is kind of a weird holiday, getting your kids dressed up in bizarre clothes so they can go essentially beg for candy at strangers' doors.

But we did it anyway!  My dad came with us to help out, while Mom and Christine stayed back to hand out candy and stay warm.  We first went to my in-laws' house, then their neighbors' place, then our neighbors' place, and all the while Baylor was begging to go home.  I knew these people wanted to at least say hi to him, though, so I kind of forced him to trick or treat against his will.  But then, without any cause, he started LOVING it and wanted to go everywhere!  So that was awesome.  And, as usual, Mollie was game for whatever her brother had in mind.

They even let me snap a cute picture of them with Grandpa E!

When Mollie saw Baylor carrying his own bucket, she insisted she carry her bag all on her own, even though it was probably way too big for her to realistically handle.

She got a little distracted when she noticed that the moon was out, but she really did a great job keeping the bag from dragging on the ground.  (Which was important to me, since that was the bag I used to carry when I was a little girl.)

We hit every lit house on the sidewalked area of our neighborhood, then headed back home to warm up.  Oma and Aunt Christine were shocked and concerned at how cold Mollie was when we returned, and they promptly bundled her up in a blanket.

Of course, she didn't mind being cold and soon wanted to get down and inspect her candy like her brother was doing.

Sometimes you need to get really close to it to understand what you've got, you know?

Unfortunately, she didn't quite understand that you need to take the wrapper off before you try to consume the candy.

Baylor's favorite treat this year was a mini bag of microwave popcorn one house was handing out, and he was pretty excited to eat it once we got home.

Upset that she didn't get to partake in the popcorn (she's still just a little too young), Mollie decided to suck on Olivia's snout instead.

Once he'd finished his popcorn, Baylor actually helped hand out candy!

He was very precise about it all, counting out each piece for the trick or treaters.

Unfortunately, a group of high school boys dressed as skeletons and monsters scared him, so he ran back to the living room to join the rest of the group.  And, of course, to tell stories as animated as he possibly could be.

All in all it was a really fun night!  Hopefully the kids will enjoy it even more next year!