Happy Halloween! (2012 edition!)

Dear Abigail,

Daddy brought it to our attention this morning that this was your 4th Halloween, which freaked me out a little bit, but then I got to thinking and no, no - it's your 5th!!!!  Super scary! You are growing up way too fast, but you got this Halloween thing down to a 't'!  First, we did our annual carving of the pumpkin on Halloween Eve.  Usually Daddy is in charge of all that mess, but this year he had a meeting that lasted until after 8, and, well, we weren't waiting for him.  So Mommy and you took charge.  First we opened up that pumpkin...

Then you scooped out all his insides!

And while you tried your little heart out, Mommy decided to take the lead and use her hands.  You were too scared to use your hands, scared they would get dirty with insides.  Well, maybe someone should have been a princess instead of a witch this year... Or a photographer because you did a great job taking the pics...

Then Mommy got to carving...  (hard work!)

I forgot to get a final picture, as it got way past your bedtime and you were bored and facetiming Mimi, but you'll see pics later down on the post... (it's the Minnie Mouse pumpkin!)

So off to bed we went, and the next morning we headed to our first of FOUR halloween parties...

The first was ballet class, Halloween themed!  Miss Missy asked everyone to wear their costumes and she even let the Mommy's stay in and watch.  I was super excited because usually we cannot watch.  And, I was super nervous because you don't always do well if I'm watching but you did great!!

After ballet, we jumped in the car to make it to Anna's 2nd birthday party!  Again, Halloween themed!  Well, it was actually AbbyCadabby themed because that's what she was for Halloween, but everyone wore their costumes.   You had so much fun with Anna and got to eat some delicious cupcakes!  

After the birthday party, we headed home for an hour, but you and your sister fell asleep in the car, so I just let you both sleep away while I did some things in the house!  Finally you both woke up, just in time to get cleaned up for our next party - trick or treating at Daddy's work!!!  Now, for some reason, of all the activities we had going on this day, you were the most excited about that.  I'm pretty sure because you associate Daddy's work with getting chocolate, but whatever the reason, you told EVERYBODY you were going to Daddy's work to trick or treat.  Everyone.  For the last week!  So we finally made it and you were super excited!

By the 5th go round, you knew how the system worked.  You were very well behaved and showed great manners by saying "Trick or Treat" and then saying "Thank you!"  You were super quick, too, which proposed a problem because your sister was not!  Nonetheless, you scored big time on candy and on compliments too!  Everyone at Daddy's work loved both yours and Kate's costume.  Oh, and you STILL remember that hand that reaches out and grabs you when you get the candy from the bowl, but this year, you told the lady to give you a piece!!  She thought that was funny!
After Daddy's work, we got back in the car and headed back home for our fourth and final gathering. That's right, the gang was coming over to our house this year for trick or treating!  Mommy was super excited as we have never done it in our neighborhood and it turned out perfect!  We first grabbed some pictures of our cuties...  

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf joined us, too!

Look how Ellie makes a perfect Little Red Riding Hood!

And Ryan and Jake joined us, but by this time Sister had thrown her tulle in and everyone was SUPER anxious to get to the houses, so this is as good of a shot as I could get!!

And off we went, house to house.  Man alive, you and Ellie and Ryan had SOOOO much fun.  You loved running up to the door, ringing the bell, and then screaming "Trick or Treat!!!" Well, if truth must be told, we tried to get you to do it in unison, but you three never could master that, but you did say it individually and then say thank you most of the time.  And then off to the next house!!!

Seriously, so much fun!  We even got to meet several of our new neighbors, all being so nice.  I heart our little neighborhood!  And by the candy you received, I think you do, too!
Once we were housed out, everyone came back to our house for some warm chili!

And, of course, a piece of candy or two!  The trio even got to hand candy out to other kiddos before everyone headed off to bed, or, well, the thought of bed.  Based on everyone's sugar high, I'm going to guess everyone had the same bed time issues we did!  You did finally make it to bed around 8:30 (by yourself, I may add - another story, another post!) and Mommy was not far behind AT ALL!
What a fantastic Halloween!  Love you scary witch!!!