Happy Halloween

Better late than never, right? Actually, I haven't felt too bad since I posted pictures of the kids in their costumes from Friday night. But, here are some of the official Halloween night pictures. Despite the rainy drizzle, we had a really good time trick-or-treating. And, Pressley totally made a liar out of me. Good thing I'm not a betting woman. Not only did Pressley make it longer than 90 seconds, but she outlasted her brother. I never would have predicted that.

One of the neighbors, who always has a post-trick-or-treating bash, suggested this year that we meet on her porch at 5:30 for a pre-trick-or-treating neighborhood photo of the kids. I thought it was a great idea, but we got there at about 5:40 (last minute Ninja sword malfunction had to be repaired) and everyone had already dispersed. But, they came back together (some grudgingly) and took another photo. Still, this was only about 10-20% of the kids in the neighborhood. Oh, well...maybe next year.

After the photo was done, we separated and set about trick-or-treating. Now, I have always thought the concept of trick-or-treating was pretty intuitive and straight forward, but this year, it was like herding cats to get our kids oriented. Every time they came down some front steps, it took a good 30 seconds to get them facing the right direction to head on down/up the street. Then, at the next house, it was like they had never heard of the concept of walking up some steps and ringing a doorbell and asking for some candy by saying "trick-or-treat." They were like some deer in headlights. Like, "What is this foreign thing you ask of me?" Seriously! We had to give blow-by-blow instructions all over again -I kid you not- at EVERY house. I guess no gifted classes in these kids' future. (Don't get all bent out of shape. That was a joke.)

A bunch of our neighbors go all out. This was the lawn inflatable in one neighbor's yard:

Finally, what would a Halloween re-cap be without a little rant from me about the demise of our society as evidenced by the lack of manners of some children begging for, ney, grabbing for some free candy? Again I say, SERIOUSLY?! Who is raising these children who come to my door with some pillowcases, no costumes, no manners and expect me to give them candy? Don't even get me started on the hooligans that emptied out our 1st supply of candy, left unattended on the porch for approximately 20 minutes while Corin and I were together with the kids down the street. Dear Parents: If you are too busy to teach your children that it is wrong to empty someone's entire bucket of candy, at least have the courtesy of supervising the little thugs on Halloween night. Oh, yeah, that's right. If you are too busy to raise them properly, I guess you are too busy to take time out to walk around with them for 2 hours on Halloween night. What is this world coming to??

I wish, I wish I would not let these people steal my joy, but it just makes me so mad and sad!