Happy Halloween!

This year, for Halloween, our little goblins decided to dress up as Bo Peep and Woody from the Toy Story movies.

Actually, Avery decided (in May, by the way) that they were going to be Bo Peep and Woody. Noel actually wanted to be "Buzzy" (Buzz Lightyear), but Avery would have none of that. When it came costume-buying time, Avery and I would show Noel a photo of the Woody costume that we found for him...

Me: [portraying copious amounts of (feigned) excitement] "Look, Noel! It's a Woody costume! You could be a cowboy for Halloween, Noel! Cool! Do you want to be Woody for Halloween this year?"

Noel: "Ummmm...no. I be Buzzy."

Me: [trying to be a little more convincing after reminding myself of the ramifications of Noel not agreeing to be (the Avery-preposed) Woody] "Are you sure, Noel? Woody is super cool! You'd get to wear a cowboy hat and awesome boots..."

Noel: [looking a little closer at the costume's photo] "Ummmm...no. I be Buzzy."

Avery: [with a look of utter desperation on her face] "Please, Noel! Please be Woody! I'm going to be Bo Peep, and I really, really want you to be Woody because Bo Peep and Woody love each other. Please, Noel, Pleeeease!"

At this point, Noel would usually give in...

"Okay, Avery...I be Woody."

Only to later change his mind...

"No. I be Buzzy."

Ultimately, I decided to buy the Woody costume in hopes that Noel would think it was awesome when he saw it in person and got to try it on...and figuring he would be excited if Avery was excited. If he was sad about my decision, I would order the Buzz Lightyear costume and dismiss Woody...and, unfortunately, Avery's "perfect costume plan." Luckily, Noel thought he looked pretty smooth dressed as a cartoon cowboy...and a costume crisis was averted!

The kids were SO excited about Halloween this year. They could not wait to show their costumes to their buddies. And, of course, they were also interested in collecting all of the treats the holiday brings...

They had a few occasions to wear their costumes...a playgroup party (Wednesday), a parade at their school (Friday), and trick-or-treating on Halloween night. They happily got dolled up each time...and looked SO CUTE! Oh yeah...and for Halloween night, Jeff and I dressed up (a.k.a., wore hats) as Bullseye, Woody's horse (Jeff) and Bo Peep's sheep (me).

During the weeks leading up to Halloween, Noel practiced all of the Woody lines he could remember from the movies..."Howdy Partner!"..."Yeehaw Cowboy!"..."Reach for the sky"..."There's a snake in my boot"..."Ride like the wind, Bullseye!" Bo Peep doesn't say a lot in the movies, so Avery couldn't really come up with any worth-while quotes from her character (except I would sometimes get a big kiss on the cheek after being told, "This is for Woody, when you find him"). She made up for Bo Peep not having anything to say, though, by learning (at school) the words to the quaint little "Trick-or-treat...smell my feet..." rhyme. After days of incessantly singing the little ditty (and with a little gentle goading from her mother), she came to the realization that asking someone to smell her feet and then demanding candy from them is probably not very nice...(whew!).

We headed out early on Halloween evening, in an attempt to get some trick-or-treating in before the rain came. We went around the neighborhood with our neighbors, The Hattons. It was so much fun for Avery and Noel to run from house to house with their pal, Logan...(and it was nice for Jeff and I to have Chris and Amy [and Charlie!] to wrangle kids and chat with along the way)!

The kids were thrilled with the goodies they collected! Our neighborhood is very generous with their treats. While Avery was good about placing and leaving her treats in her basket, Noel wanted to eat each piece of candy he was given. He would act as if we were torturing him by forcing him to deposit candy into his jack-o-lantern tote.

The kids ran and knocked and gathered until the rain became too much...for the parents, at least. Then, we went to The Hatton's house for a quick drink, a baseball game check-in (Go Phillies!), and a few minutes of playing before bedtime. It was a great night...

Here are a few shots from our festivities...

We all had a deliciously good time...

...especially Noel, who ended his night saying, "My tummy's hurting. Make it feel better, Mommy..." He obviously wasn't too worse-for-the-wear, though, because the first thing he said after coming downstairs on Sunday morning was, "I want candy. I want candy, Mommy. I want candy. Pleeeease! Pretty pleeeease!"