trick or treat

trick or treat this year was cold, chilly, drizzly, wet. it came at the end of the first day of patient care at my new clinic, which was...challenging. we were all hungry and tired. trick or treating requires the kids to stay up past their very-deeply-entrenched bedtimes. sounds like a recipe for disaster, if you ask me.

but the joy of costumes and friends and neighborliness and family time and candy candy candy candy outweighed the troubles of weather, frustrations of hunger, heavy eyelids of nighttime, and tiredness following a long day. we had a blast. we joined our neighbor friends for a short fast dinner of pumpkin pie (seriously, that is all the kids would eat. they could hardly sit still, and fizzled with anticipation and insanity every time the doorbell rang with other trick or treaters. they HAD TO GET OUT THERE. screw dinner) at their house, and then an epic marathon session of trick or treating. james, who is not yet 2 years old, and ramona, not yet 4, trick or treated for an hour. (that's a long time). james' bag was so full of candy that is was too heavy for him to carry.

trick or treaters, ready to go. batman, hippie girl, dancing fox, and furry green monster.


same trick or treaters, but swap out the furry green monster for a skeptical chicken.



the whole crew, getting candy


this house had stickers. i've NEVER seen my kids more disappointed by stickers in their lives.


the end-of-the-night official candy inventory and razor-blade-and-poison check occurred immediately upon arriving home. james was singularly focused on brown candy, specifically brown tootsie pops and nothing else. ramona wanted to sneak as many pieces of candy (official post trick our treat candy allotment: 1 per child. this was deemed not acceptable by ramona) as possible. after they went to bed, i made the executive decision that candy containing coconut was paleo-diet-compatible, and at it all.

the rest of the candy was bagged and taken to the candy trade in party at my clinic. the kids were happy to trade in their candy, receive fruit, prizes, and raffle tickets for some cool stuff like karate lessons, and see mommy's new office. it was a win for everyone (especially me, who really really needed to get that candy out of the house).