Tricks and Treats 2008

At least it didn't rain.

It was, however, chilly. Not unbearably so, but chilly enough that the fairy-princess costume that Caroline wanted to wear would be completely impractical. So, with an hour to spare before hitting the pavement to collect free candy from the neighbors, I had to come up with something that A) would be warm and B) would appeal to Caroline and her fashion sense.

Batgirl. Caroline is such a devoted follower of the School of Drew, that I knew being Batgirl to his Batman may just be the ticket. Luckily, I was right. We put on a white turtleneck (for warmth), one of the boys' old long-sleeved black t-shirts and Drew's short-sleeved Batman shirt. We paired that with her black pants and black shoes. We used the yellow 'utility belt' from one of Drew's Batman costumes and cinched it as far as it would go. We used the small cape and mask and TaDa! Batgirl. She was thrilled. Most importantly, she was WARM.

Batman, Batgirl, SpongeBob and I hit the road at promptly six 0'clock. By 6:05 they were all crying and wanting to go home. Dogs. Two of them. Big dogs. BIG DOGS. The dogs saw the kids, pushed open the front door of their house and made a beeline for my kids. It took all of two seconds for abject horror to register and the kids RAN at full speed (in three different directions) screaming the entire time. I was helpless. I could only stand there and stifle laughter. I was powerless to stop it. I stood in the middle of the road and called the kids to come to me. The poor dog owner was mortified. He gave all three kids a lot of candy. He felt horrible. Drew recovered quickly, but would not go near a house if he heard any kind of barking. Caroline planted her little Batbutt in the wagon and never got out. Gabe never recovered, and was pretty anxious the rest of the night.

We weaved through the neighborhood and they scored pretty well. We've never stayed home to trick-or-treat. We will from now on. With the exception of the dogs, it was a pretty successful night. They really enjoyed stopping by Miss Michele's house and seeing her. Michele is a friend from church and she is also both boys' autism support teacher. She sees each of them weekly. My kids are huge Miss Michele fans, and the feeling seems to be mutual. She had special bags ready just for them.

We stayed out just over an hour and came home with an embarrassing amount of candy. Caroline and Drew couldn't wait to dive in. Poor Gus was so exhausted (he was up at five a.m) he walked in the door, curled up on the couch and was sound asleep within minutes.

Tomorrow Drew and Caroline have Halloween parties at school (Gabe's school does a winter party in December instead.) and I'm sure they'll be coming home with even more candy. It's also another opportunity for Caroline to wear whatever costume she wants, and I get to take copious amounts of pictures to share here.

Pics from tonight:

A Fussy Gussy, Drew with the obligatory menacing Batman look, and a very happy Batgirl.

Gussy: still fussy, Drew looking somewhat normal and Caroline still so happy.

Gus: still fussing about Mom telling him to go potty before we left, Drew actually smiling while in character, and Caroline so happy she could hardly stand it.

All that fussing makes for a very tired kid.

In other news, I was finally Boo'd!!! Well, sort of, but I'll take it! Our next door neighbor Marlena (who the kids affectionally call 'Gramma') left three wonderful bags of goodies on my porch this afternoon. Each bag had one of the kids' names on it and was filled with all sorts of goodies. They were thrilled. We have good neighbors.