Our Life: Happy Halloween

This year I decided that I wouldn't try to get my boys dress up with some kind of theme. I decided that I wanted them to choose whatever they wanted to be, and I also decided that I was not going to be making their costumes, rather I would purchase them.

We went over to Target earlier this month. I took the boys to the Halloween section and asked the boys to find what they wanted to be. Roger and William were running all over the place while Mikey and Grant stayed by me. I kept on asking Mikey if he wanted to be whatever costume was near us, but his response was, "No, I want to be a dinosaur....the dinosaur I was yesteryear." I tried getting him to consider something else, but at the end, he remained firm in his decision. I asked Roger what he wanted to be, and even though he had found a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume, he too wanted to be a dinosaur. I left the store purchasing only one costume, a Teenage mutant Ninja Turtle costume for William. That made it easier, and a lot cheaper, on me.

The boys' first Halloween celebration was the Early Childhood PTA party that I was in charge of. This was held Friday evening and had over 100 kids (and their parents) in attendance. The party ran very smoothly, thankfully for my great committee members.

When it was time to go to the party, William decided against his turtle costume and joined his brothers in wearing his dinosaur costume. The party was a lot of fun, there was food, games, crafts, a bounce-house, and a DJ. The boys got out a lot of energy.

Saturday evening our ward held a Trunk-or-Treat. I was very grateful for this, especially since in our town the Trick-or-Treating was being held on Sunday, causing my boys to not be able to go around. Personal opinion, but we just did not feel that having the boys dress up, go around, and get candy was a very Sabbath activity, especially since Halloween can be such a dark holiday.

Todd got off work Saturday 2.5 hours after he was supposed to, so we were a little late getting to the Trunk-or-Treat, but I was grateful because originally he was supposed to be working during the entire party.

The food and company were great, the eating a donut off a string was hilarious,

but I think my boys enjoyed the Trunk-or-Treating the most.

After getting all the candy,

we went inside to help clean up. Just as we were leaving I asked Roger where was his container holding his candy. A boy told us that he saw one left in the bathroom (gross), and sure enough there it was, except it only had a smarties inside. Someone had taken Roger's candy. The poor little boy was heartbroken. Grant and I were with him and Grant instantly started pulling candy from his own basket and giving them to me to put into Roger's basket. When we got to the car where the other brothers were, Mikey and William instantly started sharing their candy with him. It was very touching how selfless they were.

Todd had to work this evening, so the boys and I had a night to ourselves. We made cupcakes to take to some of our neighbors and friends. One of our neighbors beat us to it and brought us some cupcakes. When we were finished decorating ours, the boys ran over to her house bringing her some of our cupcakes.

The boys were really good about understanding that we wouldn't be Trick-or-Treating. I had explained it to them about a month ago and they were right on board, there was not crying, complaining, or anguish at all. They understood and did not question it.

I explained to them that even though we didn't believe that we should go Trick-or-Treating on Sunday, that there would be many people Trick-or-Treating. We discussed our options and decided that we would give candy to those that came to our doorsteps.

The boys were thrilled about this, I think they had more fun doing this than had they been Trick-or-Treating themselves!

Mikey kept on talking about a quote we had read in the Children's Friend last week that said it is better to give than to get, I think he understands it a little better now.

The boys sat on the front porch (Mikey and Grant both refusing to wear jackets while it's below 45 degrees). They were always so excited when they spotted more people coming. When the kids came up to the house the boys would talk to them about their costumes and very excitedly announce what treat they were placing in the child's bag. When it started getting slow, Mikey tried to walk down the street trying to recruit people to stop by our house.