Best Halloween Ever

We had soooooooooooo much fun last night! Ayden and Rylee had been asking pretty much every day for the entire month of October, if it was Halloween yet. They wanted it to be Halloween so they could wear their costumes. Not so much for the rest of the festivities, like trick or treating, because they didn't really have a full understanding what that was all about. FINALLY, the day arrived!

I had found Rylee's bumblebee costume at the consignment sale. It was brand new with tags, so a great find. Thankfully, she loved it! I took Ayden shopping for some one-on-one time to find his costume. As soon as he saw the Dinotrux costume, it was game over. We walked around so he could see all the choices, and I pointed out a few others I thought he might like, but he insisted on getting the Dinotrux costume. He was beyond excited! I mean, really, what little boy doesn't like dinosaurs and trucks? Combine them, and it's pretty much Ayden's dream! haha!

The Halloween festivities started out with the kids getting to wear their costumes to preschool. I dropped them off, but then had to be back an hour later to volunteer and help with their Halloween party. All the kids were adorable and amped up to be wearing their costumes!

Ayden and Rylee with a few of the kids in their class.

Tony got off work early so he could be home to join us for the evening festivities. We had a quick pb&j dinner before heading to the carnival at one of the local elementary schools. The kids jumped up and down with excitement when we arrived and got out of the car, naming off every costume they saw. We made the rounds for them to play games and "win" lots of candy and treats. We were pleasantly surprised that they opted for the non candy items the most, such as stickers and fake bugs.

Fishing for a treat

After the carnival, we stopped by a trunk or treat. We walked one time through for the kids to trick trunk or treat, and then headed home. The kids were upset at first, thinking our Halloween fun was coming to an end, not understanding that we still planned on trick or treating around our neighborhood loop. This year was their first time actually going door to door to trick or treat.
They were so excited at the thought of going into the neighbor's houses. We had to explain to them that we wouldn't actually be going IN anyone's house! We had to remind them many times that it was important to stand back on the porch and not actually step up into people's houses. We also had to teach them about only going to houses with porch lights on.

Trick or treating was my favorite part of the whole night. Ayden and Rylee literally sprinted from one house to the next! And they were such social little bees, asking each neighbor a million questions.

"What's your name?"
"Why are you wearing that [costume]?"
"Do you have kids?"
If yes, "where are they?"
If no, "why?" face palm
"What's your dog's name?"
"Where's your t.v.?"
"Why are you here?"

We only trick or treated for about 20 minutes, and then headed home so the kids could give out candy to the other kids. Ayden actually said this was his favorite part of the whole day! I gave them each their own bucket, so both of them could give a piece of candy to all the kids. They started out sitting at the bottom of our stairs, which is right by our front door, so they could be ready for whenever someone knocked on the door. It didn't take long before we were out on the front porch waiting for people to come by. Every time a group would come by, Ayden and Rylee wound up at the sidewalk giving out their candy, instead of waiting for them to come up to the porch. They were definitely just as enthusiastic to give out the candy as they had been to receive it, which made my momma heart proud!

Tony and I both agreed that this was the best Halloween ever! We've never actually been big into Halloween. Not since we were kids anyway. In all the years we've been together (25, but who's counting), we've only dressed up once when we got invited to an adult only Halloween party. Everything is a million times better when you experience it through a child's eyes. I never knew the magnitude of that until Ayden and Rylee came along.

Here's a few more pictures taken from the week leading up to Halloween...

Meet Jack. He wasn't a Jack-O-Lantern yet, according to Ayden, because he wasn't lit up.

Rylee's pumpkin

My "scary monsters"

*Edited to add that this is the only Halloween that I can remember in recent history that we actually had FANTASTIC weather! It was a comfortable 57℉ and NO RAIN! It didn't even sprinkle. In fact, it was a clear night!