Halloween

We have had a fantastic Halloween! It's not even 8 pm and Ellie is sound asleep and we're exhausted! Ellie went to school today wearing her monkey costume and was fascinated to see all the other kids in costumes, too. Lori and I were able to go back to daycare later this morning for their Halloween parade, which basically consisted of about 25-30 VERY excited kids in costumes walking around the block and even more parents watching. The parade ended in the daycare's playground, which had been turned into a pumpkin patch. Each kid got to pick one pumpkin and then walked around the playground trick-or-treating from each of the teachers. It wasn't even 11 am and Ellie already had a bag full of candy! We went back to work after that, but her class had a party later in the afternoon and of course the dairy-free, egg-free sugar cookies were a hit :-)

After work we headed to our friends' house for some dinner and trick-or-treating. Ellie walked up to each house and said "trick-or-treat" when someone opened the door and always said thank you for the candy. She seemed a little overwhelmed at times, but was always ready for the next house that held the promise of candy. Afterwards we came back to our neighborhood and just visited the few neighbors that we are more friendly with.

The candy switch also went off without a hitch! I dumped all the candy she collected into a bag and filled her pumpkin with stickers and treats that she can eat. Lucky for us, things like pretzels, Teddy Grahams, and Peeps come in Halloween packages and are okay for her to eat. When we got home and dumped out her loot, she certainly didn't notice the difference between what she had and what she had actually seen go into her pumpkin. We'll deal with next year when next year comes...

We had a wonderful day and were thrilled that Ellie really seemed to enjoy it. Now if this busy day and late night will only translate into sleeping in a little tomorrow morning....

Happy Halloween!

The girls from Ellie's class with their teacher

Lining up for the parade

Ellie walking around the block. She waved at every person and car that she saw!

Ellie finds just the right pumpkin in the pumpkin patch

Ellie and Mama showing off her find

Ellie getting candy from one of the teachers during the trick-or-treating in the pumpkin patch

This evening we joined our good friends for trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. It was hard to get a good picture with all 6 kids!

Ellie and the scarecrow

And we're off to trick-or-treat!

Ellie gets some goodies

Mommy and Ellie

We really tried to keep her off of people's front lawns!

"Please, Mama, just one more house!!"

A tired Ellie is ready to head home with a full pumpkin