We also hadn't carved pumpkins yet! I actually bought pumpkins and mums and decorated outside our front door earlier than normal, yet we hadn't bought pumpkins to carve. I'd thought we'd get a chance to do pumpkins last weekend, but it ended up being cold and then it rained Monday through Wednesday. Before we knew it, it was Halloween! The girls slept in and then played in the front yard with Calista and some of the other neighbor kids. Around 2pm, I tried to convince the girls to go with me to pick out pumpkins to carve, but neither girl was excited. However, Calista was excited, so I told them I would go and pick out a pumpkin for her too. I visited the nursery I pass our way to the girls' tennis lesson in Keller. They still had a ton of pumpkins and they were all great sizes! I picked out four and probably paid way too much for them, but they were the perfect pumpkins.
I returned to the house and Olivia and Calista were both excited to get started. I had both girls draw faces with a Sharpie and then I cut out the features with our kitchen knives. Sofia wasn't interested in carving her pumpkin, so Olivia and Calista both got two pumpkins! They loved it and had so much fun. Meanwhile, the dogs loved eating the pieces we cut and removed. They loved it.
Once we were done carving pumpkins, the girls got dressed into their costumes while I put the Texas beef chili and the chicken-white bean chili on the stove to reheat. I also made our favorite corn bread and put it in the oven. In past years, we've had chili and cornbread with Marco, Stacy, Antonio and Luca at our house and then trick-or-treated in our neighborhood before crossing the street to David Lane and continuing our quest for candy in that neighborhood. This year, they were going to a friend's house for a Halloween party and then trick-or-treated in their neighborhood. So, we invited Calista and her parents, Tammy and Peter to come over for chili and cornbread. We then planned to meet up with Michelle and her mom Iryna, Hannah and her parents Casey and Mike, and Marisa and her dad Rex outside on our driveway at 630pm. We met up outside and our new neighbors, Sal and Jen and their kids Lilly and Vince were out front too. They had a get-together withe Sal's Aunt and Uncle in Arlington, but the kids enjoyed running around the neighborhood and trick-or-treating with all our kids. It was such a fun evening and I love that we have tons of kids in our little neighborhood now!
The kids knocked on Trent's door and an old woman answered the door - it was Trent! I couldn't believe it! He really looked like an older woman. We made our rounds and visited Mitzi and Steve and Biscuit and the girls were given their bag of goodies from Ann. Ann always makes up special candy bags for each of the kids in the neighborhood! It's so sweet and full of some great sweets. Our last stop before we crossed the street was to Dana and Todd's house, which has been our first visit in years past. Brandon used to trick-or-treat with us and last year he just walked the neighborhood with us, but now that he's 16-years old he is too old for it all. We said goodbye to Sal and Jen and their kids and then the rest of us headed across the street to David Lane. We were the only ones walking the streets for about 15 minutes when we realized that there was another family with two kids. Unfortunately over half of the houses were dark and had baskets of candy out front. The houses that were offering candy were great about giving candy and being friendly to the kids. It did feel like normal in many ways. Once we turned onto the next street there were a few more small groups of trick-or-treaters, but it was still very quiet compared to years past. Thankfully the weather was perfect and there was also a blue moon, which was beautiful. We came across a few "spooky" houses, and Hannah held back. One of the last houses we visited was the absolute scariest house ever. This year was just the same! Sofia, Olivia and most of the kids just walked right up without a care, but Hannah and Michelle were not into it! Poor girls. We visited the last houses and all the kids were tired! We walked back to our house and the girls wanted to go into our house and split up candy. So, Marisa, Olivia, Sofia, Hannah and Calista ran upstairs to go through their loot and then trade their favorites. Around 9pm Hannah, Calista and Marisa headed home and our girls changed into pjs and ate candy. They started a movie, but at 10:30pm, I told them it was time to go to bed. Olivia was beyond ready to go to sleep. She was completely worn out. Both girls went to bed and had a great time for Halloween.
Sofia wore her costume to school on Friday!
Calista, Hannah, Olivia and Marisa!
