The Jones Team: When Was I Going To Post About Halloween?

I did mean to post a while ago... here it is (finally!).

The Sunday before the big day, we had a Family Friday gathering. Lots of kids, and it was so cute to see them all dressed up! Magdalena and I both went as bees. She, as I believe I wrote in a previous post, is "the bee whisperer." So I bought her this adorable costume on amazon thinking she'd just LOVE it. Which she did, until she realized her sister was a Ballerina Fairy Princess (or some permutation of this) and insisted on being Tinkerbell for the actual day. I had to make a last minute wand for her (out of chop sticks, tin foil, tape, and ribbons/bows) like her sister's the morning of the 31st right before preschool and the costume parade!

On Halloween after school, we went to Multnomah village to trick-or-treat with a friend and her daughter. The girls ran into one of their preschool teachers giving out candy at Thinker Toys, which was an added treat. It did drizzle the whole time, so JP was under the weather shield in the stroller, but we still had fun. I had hoped this would dissuade some of the novelty of trick-or-treating that evening in our neighborhood, but that turned out to be wishful thinking.

We did the real neighborhood trick-or-treating that evening with friends, and it turned out great. The kids had a blast, the rain held off, and it was not nearly as cold as last year. We made it up to "Hershey House," the house that gives out full sized Hershey bars, a few blocks up the hill from us, then came home. Kids ate a few pieces of candy that night, bounced off a few walls, and I stashed the rest of the chocolate stuff in the deep freezer where Alex and I whittle away a few pieces a night. The girls get the non-chocolate stuff (they like, I am not tempted by!) when they are "sweet" as a bribe for something, and we still have plenty of both varieties left. Everybody wins!

As a final note - John Paul wore the same pumpkin costume that Lucia, Jude, Magdalena, and Ada have all worn. Fifth year in a row for someone wearing it - need to find a taker for next year (it's 12-18 month size... any takers???)!