Trick or Treat

Halloween is probably Grant's favorite holiday. Not that a two year old understand the concept of holiday; everyday in Grant's life is a holiday come to think of it. Anyway...while Jackson understands and looks forward to the gifts that Christmas and his birthday bring, Grant, my little piglet, looks forward to the candy that flows freely in my chock-ful-o-kids suburban neighborhood. It starts the first of October when on schedule, every house in the neighborhood (including ours) decks itself out with Halloween decorations. The house transforms with cute witches and pumpkins, smiling ghost lights and a cartoon version of Frankenstein. No scary things on this side of the cul-de-sac. Anyway, the inside of the house gets a bit of a make-over too, including a bowl full of Halloween colored M&Ms that the kids dig into pretty freely. Now before anyone thinks my children are candy junkies, WEIRDLY enough, neither of them ever take more than 2 M&Ms at a time, maybe 3 times a day. In the days leading up to the big event, neighbors "boo" each other with anonomous gift bags filled with treats. Two days before Halloween we all meet in the middle of the cul-de-sac for a pumpkin carving party. There the kids eat pumpkin shaped PB&Js and mummy wrapped hotdogs, cupcakes and cookies, and the adults have my neighbor Kimberlee's awesome chili. One of the neighbors even brought a pumpkin shaped Heineken keg. Cool.

This year is the first year that Grant picked out his own costume. Months before Halloween he tried on the Nemo costume that Jack wore his 3rd Halloween and alth0ugh he loved it, he said "No mommy, I be a dinosaur for halloween." Jacks of course new exactly what he was going to be, a skeleton. What Grant actually got was called a "Dragonosaurus" and it's a size too small, but it's the closest I could get. Halloween night, Grant ran around practicing his dino roar. It was awesome. As Jackson politely (most of the time) trick-or-treated, Grant just roared at people answering their doors, then yelled trick-or-treat while stuffing his little hand into the candy bowl. As he ran from house to house he left candy wrappers and three-licked lollipops in his wake that Heath and I scrambled to clean up. Every house's candy especially the lollipops had to be tasted before moving on.

They both had quite a haul. Jackson couldn't even carry his home, it was too heavy. The evening wound down with mommy going through the candy for any no-nos like chewing gum, choking hazards, etc. and then they picked 2 treats to eat before bed (it was Jackson's only candy of the night...Grant however had already eaten half his stash). Luckily, no one threw up and the night was a wonderful success. They already have their costumes picked out for next year!