The Lee Family: Trick Or Treat 2015!

Last night we had Marco, Stacy, Stacy's parents, Antonio and Luca over for chicken chili, vegetable stew and cornbread prior to a big night of trick-or-treating! Since it was a Saturday night, we decided to meet up at 5:00pm and eat supper early and let the kids play and get out some energy together. Just before they all arrived I had the girls get into their costumes so we could take pictures while the lighting was still good. Olivia decided she didn't want to wear her mermaid costume but wanted to wear an old and torn Cinderella dress with fairy wings, which CK had to dissuade her from wearing. Meanwhile, Sofia's white collared shirt for her Hermoine Granger's costume was buried at the bottom of her dirty clothes with spots on it and very wrinkled and we couldn't find her Hogwarts' robe anywhere! She'd last worn the outfit at the pumpkin patch and neither of us could remember what we did after that. I finally found it in her room inside a suitcase and she remembered that she was pretending she was going to Hogwarts' last week....I threw her polo shirt into the dryer to fluff up since we didn't have time to wash and dry it and then changed into my Professor McGonagal outfit. CK took a few photos of the three of us and also just of the girls. CK didn't want to wear his Professor Dumbledore costume and wasn't feeling that great with a cold, so he ended up not dressing up.

After dinner, we were ready to start trick-or-treating. Just before we headed out, I remember to put Buddy's costume on. I had bought him an owl costume at the dollar store, but he didn't like the hood that went on his head, so I put his hot dog costume on him from last year. He tried to yank it off at first, but after a minute he was completely fine with it on. Weheaded over to Todd and Dana's as our first trick-or-treat house and to see if Brandon wanted to join us as we've done in past years. Dana handed out candy to us all and then she and Brandon joined us as we walked the neighborhood. We ran into Talia who was dressed up as Mal from the Disney movie "The Descendants." I'd actually never heard of it before so had to Google it once we got home, but her costume was really cute! We visited Anne, Trent, Pete, Young, Mitzi and Bill, and Ken and Jackie and were ready to go across the street to the other neighborhood. Sofia dropped off her wand and pet cat, Crookshanks before we left since she said she was tired of holding them. We also returned Buddy so he could sit on our couch while we were across the street. I did take his costume off too!

The neighborhood across the street is well decorated for Halloween with about half of the houses having skeletons, ghosts, headstones or purple lights up. Buddy and I take our dog walks through that neighborhood on our way home and it's always fun to see how the houses are decorated. We started on the first house just as it was becoming dusk but no one was home. We moved on to the next house and although we saw other trick-or-treaters out, it didn't seem like it was nearly as busy as past years. About three out of four houses we visited had people passing out candy. Sofia and Brandon stuck together at the front of our group with Dana and I talking behind them, CK and Olivia followed up, with Antonio, Stacy's dad and Marco, and Stacy pushing Luca in his little car. With them was Young and her four kids, who seem pretty quiet and shy in a way. Olivia visited about six or seven houses before she just announced "I want to go home. I'm done." She was having fun and enjoying the night but I think the walking caught up with her. So, she and CK turned around and returned to the house. Apparently, she changed clothes and then they had a candy-eating party. They were both happy with that!

Dana and I continued together as the kids hit every single house. By the second half of the horse shoe-shaped neighborhood, Antonio was sticking with Brandon and Sofia and the three of them were having a great time. Every so often, Brandon and Sofia would stop to pick out a piece of candy, but for the most part their focus was on collection. My hands were completely frozen by this point and I was happy to see that we only had a few houses left. Marco had gone back to get their car so they could drive home, but I wanted to stay with Dana and Brandon so they wouldn't have to walk back alone. We started back and Brandon and Sofia wanted to visit the other side of the street where we first started. Dana told me she would stick with them, so I headed back to the house and changed. Before I left, I took off my witch's hat and had Sofia pour some of her candy into it since her bucket was nearly full. Sofia made it home 20 or so minutes later with her pumpkin full of candy! Both girls had a candy-eating party for a while before they changed into pjs and played. Since it was also day light savings, we let them stay up a little later and then put them to bed. Both girls were pretty tired from all the fun and walking!

Hermoine Granger and our mermaid