The Lee Family: Happy Halloween!

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays and the girls and I spend weeks brainstorming costumes and ideas. Usually Sofia has a pretty set idea of what she wants to be, while Olivia goes back and forth with her ideas. This year, Olivia said she wanted to be a duck and never really wavered from that idea. At school recess, she and her group of friends are part of the "duck squad" and pretend to be ducks sometimes as well as play other games. So, she had the idea of being a duck, which isn't exactly a costume that can be bought at the local costume shop. So, I went to Pinterest, of course, to get ideas. We bought a long-sleeved white tutu outfit, orange leggings, and an orange/white baseball cap on which I made "duck eyes" and added them to the cap. I also bought orange felt and made "duck feet" that we put over her sneakers. They made walking a little difficult, so Olivia ended up taking them off before we headed out to trick-or-treat. Meanwhile, Sofia wasn't really sure what she wanted to be and we ended up looking at Halloween costumes on Target.com. She immediately fell in love with the Cleopatra costume, which was only $20. So, we bought it, but when it arrived it was way too small. So, of course, we went to Amazon and bought another one which fit her perfectly and looked great on her. We also got a black Cleopatra wig for her to wear.

For Halloween, I made my tried-and-true chicken chili along with the bison chili Aunt Shirl made several years ago, which is one of our favorite recipes. The chicken chili is super easy to make, while the bison chili is time-consuming but delicious and well worth it. We invited several neighbors, including Marco, Stacy, Antonio and Luca, who we've trick-or-treated with for years. We invited Iryna and Michelle, as well as Young and her four kids and Todd, Dana and Brandon. Brandon is 16 now and didn't trick-or-treat last year, but loves to join in and walk with the crew acting as an "older statesman" as Dana calls it. He and Sofia hardly see each other and play together anymore, but they are good friends and enjoy hanging out with each other, so I know she was happy to have him in our group. I also invited Olivia's best friend Hannah, and her parents Casey and Mike, and they ended up joining us at the last minute. Everyone arrived around 6pm and we enjoyed chili, cornbread and fresh fruit before heading out. We took a group picture and then walked our neighborhood. Along with Sofia as Cleopatra and Olivia as a duck, Antonio was a stick figure, which was such a cool costume, Lucas was Batman, Michelle was a Candyland girl, and Hannah was a cat. It was a chilly evening and was in the low-40s as we headed out to trick-or-treat. The kids really get spoiled by Mitzi and Ms. Anne who give each of the kids a personalized ziplock filled with candy for each of the kiddos. Mitzi even gives CK a bag of his favorites: Almond Joy. The kids also hit the other homes and by the time we have visited all the houses on the black, their pumpkins are usually filled with candy!

Unfortunately, Sofia had a low-grade fever and was in a crabby mood after she got home from school. It didn't help that her Cleopatra outfit is a thin sleeveless dress that would not keep her warm at all. Olivia's duck costume was also thin, but she wore a white fleece and white gloves, so she stayed warm all night. As we left for our neighborhood circle, Sofia ran upstairs to get her black sweater and was upset when she came downstairs and we were gone. She caught up with us and things were smoothed over, especially once Brandon joined us and we were ready to cross over to the neighborhood across the street, where we always go.

We crossed the street while Marco drove their car to the neighborhood and Iryna also drove over, so they would both be ready to go as soon as their kiddos were done or too cold. The kids had a ball running from door to door getting candy! Sofia mainly walked and hung out with Brandon, but also trick-or-treated. All the younger kids stuck together and were good to keep us in sight as the parents stuck together, talking and keeping track of the kids' candy collection efforts. We were all surprised at how empty the streets were of trick-or-treaters! It was chilly out, but not terrible. In past years, there are usually many groups so kids. Most of the houses were offering candy and many were decorated.

Toward the end of the neighborhood, we came to the house that has scary decorations and it completely freaked Hannah out. Olivia also wouldn't go up to the door, but wasn't necessarily scared. After that house, we visited the last few on the block and then headed home! Sofia was absolutely freezing clod and had my gloves for about half of the night. Olivia was really thirsty, cold and tired and ready to go, so it was perfect timing. Luca and Michelle went home about halfway through the neighborhood and Brandon decided to go home too, since he was wearing flip flops and his feet were freezing cold. I'm pretty sure Antonio could go another two hours! We slowly walked home and it felt terrific going inside where our fire was still going and it felt almost hot inside! It certainly felt great to be inside. Although it was only 8:30pm, it did feel like it was 10pm! The girls got ready for bed after a great Halloween full of trick-or-treating and lots of candy!

The cutest duck ever!