halloween hijinks

happy belated halloween! i hope you all had a wonderful holiday, with more treats than tricks. i also hope that you don't have as much leftover candy as we do - even as i sit here in the office on our second floor, i can hear the mini-snickers bars singing my name from the kitchen downstairs. i'd take the candy to work, but it will be no less tempting there, either.

we had a great time here - alexandra was only 6 months old last year (dressed her up as a cute dalmatian puppy, as you can see here) so needless to say she was a lot more into it this year and that was fun to watch. we only hit up our immediate next door neighbors and the folks across the street, though i imagine next year she will be tearing from house to house.

the festivities started with a halloween party for alexandra's class at daycare. all of the parents were asked to contribute something for the party. unfortunately, by the time i saw the sign-up list, juice and cookies were gone, leaving only party favors. seriously, what do you get for a half dozen 1 1/2 year-olds? a couple of nights before the party, i hit up target, and wouldn't you know that my dear target wouldn't let me down:



the kids went trick or treating around the school on friday morning. alexandra wore her costume - including the headpiece (pictures to follow) - for about 45 minutes. in retrospect, it was probably a mistake to let her wear it that long because i think she exhausted her patience for wearing it on any subsequent occasions (like on halloween night). the kids then had a little "party" complete with juice and orange snacks like cheese curls and cookies. here's alexandra and her friends enjoying their treats:




last night we got alexandra ready to wear her little pig outfit once more. i didn't think it was possible for my child to be any cuter, but obviously i had never seen my child dressed up as a little pig (if only i had been able to get her to say oink!).



unfortunately, there was no way she would tolerate that headpiece - the picture below is one of the few pictures we got and the expression on her face says it all!


i packed away the headpiece and made our way outside, where she thoroughly enjoyed playing in the neighbor's yard and holding the plastic skull that was part of their halloween decorations.





we had a good volume of trick-or-treaters at our house, including this band of action book super heroes.


all in all, we had a perfect evening spent with our little piggy - she played hard and was oh-so-ready to have her piggy costume removed and to snuggle in bed for the night.