So I am realizing how difficult it really is going to be to stay on top of this blog. And if it were just a blog that I was hoping would be read and adored by readers in the triple digits at least, I would probably not keep going. But I am doing this as a journal for our family, so my limping along has a grander goal in view and right now is enough incentive!
Halloween seemed to never get here. The months of September and October were never ending and I seemed to be crawling through the months. But as soon as Halloween hit, all the sudden we were leaving for Thanksgiving and now we are starting to decorate for Christmas. I'm amazed by it all!
Elayna and Tyler went through various costume ideas, but when the day arrived we ended up with a mad scientist and a pink skeleton. Not as cute as the cow girl outfit daddy had picked out, but still cute because it was a 6 year old, spazzy Elayna pulling it off! Weston, wore exactly what he had planned from the first mention of costumes, but didn't have a name/title for his costume until he came home from school on Halloween day. "Hey mom, I know what I am now. I'm a runner". We just let him think that, we still say he was a walking Adidas add! His pants, shoes, shirt and sweatshirt were obviously adidas. The socks and underwear were not — but only because we can't find them yet!
Gratefully Grandma Sandy asked us to get actual pictures of the kids in their costumes for her, otherwise we would not have had any of these!!
Tyler needed a hair cut badly, but we let it go specifically because he needed 'crazy' hair for his costume. He wanted to dye his hair yellow or some crazy color, but I wasn't ready to mess with all of that this year!
Tyler just kept posing! Not sure why, but he was loving this.. I LOVED this picture. It makes me think of the Rock Star pose. He really is a rock star in his own right!
He really was happy, and is loving his costume. I know it looks like he doesn't care — but this is his happy face for anyone that knows him.
Pennsylvania has some odd traditions with Halloween as we are finding out. They give a set time for trick or treating 6:00-8:00, and that can be changed per neighborhood but I think is fairly set throughout the town. It works though, especially when you know it will be pitch black by 7:00!
We decided to start, what we hope will be, an annual Halloween party. Only one family was able to come, which worked out well, but we still had great fun. We had hot dogs, chips and dip, veggies and sweet potato french fries (I think??!) for dinner. Then the kids went trick or treating together through the neighborhood with the dad's while I stayed home to hand out treats. Kathie Kriener went home to her house to do the same, and then we all met up afterwards for hot chocolate, churros (which didn't turn out that well)! and the ever important, counting and exchange of the candy!
Because I was a little backwards on the date and wasn't paying attention to details around this time. I just happened to be grocery shopping the morning of Halloween and saw something that made me realize I hadn't gotten anything to hand out. I've been a little grumpy about all the sugar being forced (offered) on kids, so I was feeling even more grumpy that I would be participating in that. Thanks to Pinterest, I saw this cute little idea and decided to try it. I was doing it to prove a point, but interestingly enough, the kids seemed genuinely happy to have a healthier option. Sure, they had a bag of sugar already, but I did get a lot of verbal "wow, thanks.. What a great idea". Mostly from the older and younger kids, the middle aged (8-10 ish) weren't as happy about the lack of candy bars. I think I'll be doing this again next year though.
Elayna was really excited about this idea, so when she got home, she decided to help. Which I must say was a lot more create than what I was doing!
Even Weston wanted to be involved.. Though his way was a little less helpful!
I took the kids to the dentist just a few days earlier and saw their flyer for ' The Great Candy buy-back" program. I was intrigued and happy to see that someone was on the same no-sure kick I was. They were offering to buy back the halloween candy from the kids for $1.00/lb. Not a big enough incentive for my kids, but it got me thinking. I decided to buy back from my own kids after they had their fill that night. So the next day I offered $5.00 for their whole bags worth.
Tyler, being the kid he is, negotiated and got me up to $6.00 and another $1.00 for a specific candy. So he ended up $7.00 richer and his stash went into the trash. (I think it was a good deal anyway)
Weston, wasn't willing to part with any of his well earned and masterly negotiated pile of goods. It lasted him a few weeks. But to his credit he shared with Tyler (and John and I without realizing it).
Elayna, she gave most of her candy away during the great exchange. All the chocolate went to daddy, and then her friend Becca, and then the boys with what was left. (Elayna still doesn't like chocolate in any form.) Swedish fish went to Grandpa Ed. And then my favorite "Daddy which one (holding up a few) is your favorite candy?" John pointed it out, so she promptly ate that one, and gave him the rest!
Because I'm a nerd, I wanted to weigh the candy to see how much we got. These are the totals - AFTER the great exchange was over, and several candies were eaten in effort to help fuel them through their negotiations!
Becca - 4 lb 2 1/4 oz
Jackie - 1 lb 2 1/2 oz
Tyler - 3 lb 5 oz
Weston - 3 lb 14 oz
Alex - 4 lb 6 oz
Elayna - 14 1/8 oz
John - 4 1/8 oz (candy from Elayna that he hadn't eaten yet)
Extra - 1 lb 2 oz (candy that the kids didn't want)
That's a total of approximately 23 lbs of candy for 5 kids that trick-or-treated for just shy of 2 hours. Not including anything they had eaten already. That's insane!
After Elayna gave away her candy, which was probably a good 2 lbs to start with. This is what she ended up with (her 14 oz) and a month later it was mostly still there so I threw it away. I LOVE that my kids aren't huge candy eaters. A little bit isn't an issue, but candy should be a treat, not a food group like it's become... (that's my soap box!)
And I'm thinking that I'll offer my candy-buy-back program next year too. A blanket $10.00 for everything after Halloween night. Who needs this much candy??? Being with friends was the best part of the whole night, the candy was just extra.
I sound like a crazy person, don't I?!
Happy Halloween!
