October 31st!

Stace scoured the internet in search of a cool way to carve our pumpkin.  Julian liked anything scary, and was not up for the cute little Mickey Mouse design Stace had picked out.  In the end, Stace decided he'd just design it himself. He asked Julian if he wanted a scary pumpkin, or a happy pumpkin. J enthusiastically replied "scary!"

Ella Grace quite enjoyed this little toy...

 and here is the proof that this child will eat anything she can feed to herself...

oh, that sweet little smile gets me every time!

Julian poked the pumpkin's right eye out. I asked Julian to make the scary pumpkin face...

 He named his pumpkin "Jabby"...here is Jabby getting some hugs (after this he got a kiss, too)...

 To kick off our Halloween festivities for the night, we went to the Santa Fe College's Boo at the Zoo. It was SO neat!  We had to wait in line for about 45 minutes, but the awesome trick-or-treating maze we got to go through was worth it. It was divided into four different sections: Living Library (where they had people dressed up as characters from books-- my favorite was the cast of Peter Pan); Nintendo (where they had the old school Mario Brothers music playing & people dressed up as various characters from it-- including toadstools and the sharp-toothed creatures that popped up out of the green columns; a spooky section, and a Harry Potter section.  The students who did each section went all out.  It was so packed, and with good reason! 

And look! We even made it into the Gainesville Sun (here...picture #21 of 30). The caption reads that Julian is 3...though I still have exactly one more month of having him as my vivacious two-year-old. :)

The kids looked adorable as we waited with our friends.  Their baby blues have not been photo shopped in any way!

They got so many "awwws!" & compliments on their costumes from passersby and people handing out candy there and as we trick or treated later that night...it was fun for Julian, and after all that work, fun for Mommy, too;)

After the Boo at the Zoo, our friends the Glenn's and Johanson's came over to trick-or-treat with us!  The Glenns picked up some pizzas on the way home, so we all had dinner at the house, set out a gigantic bowl of candy, lit our pumpkins, and were out the door!  The kids were SOOOO cute running from house to house! I just couldn't stop saying how adorable they were as we tried to keep up with them! They were so fast this year!

 You see Julian ringing that doorbell above?  The kids were so cute about taking turns ringing and all enthusiastically awaiting the opening of the doors (and...we did have a few breaking and enterings! ha! )

 I love how you can see Julian's little mouth saying "Trick or Treat!" in this pic...

Julian, "Nick-is" (Nicholas), and Julia...

 I love how so many people in our neighborhood really have fun with decorating the outside of their homes for Halloween night:

 Speaking of! The house in the photo below was one of the three most decked-out homes of the night.  Both of those little figures on either side of the porch lit up and talked.  All the kids were a little unsure as to whether they wanted to go up there or not, but Julian took a little more time. I am so glad we captured that moment & that sweet hesitating look on his face!  Stace and I went up there with him and encouraged him by saying how silly that little Witch was. After he got his candy from the Witch (she was holding it in a pan), he said "thank you Witchie!"

Ella Grace was as happy as can be! She was just taking it all in, enjoying the sight of the kids running around, and being a part of something she could tell was exciting.  Here she is getting some Daddy loves while brother got some candy...

 I was impressed with how well she kept her headband on!  There were a few times where she took it off, only to try and put it back on herself. This was one of those times...

By the end of the night, he was seriously running out of gas! Here we are walking home...

Halloween night was just so much fun.  Seeing the kids have so much fun together collectively, and also in their own little candy-worlds, was such sight to see!  In the midst of all the fun, I said that I wish we could go trick-or-treat more than one night a year, and Brian said we should get a petition going! (The 2nd night can be for healthy snacks;) Are you in? ;)

I read a comment yesterday on a well-known blog I follow (71toes) that touted Halloween as the "Devil's Holiday", & that it should be done away with.  Here's my two cents: all I see on Halloween is such a spirit of camaraderie amongst neighbors and friends.  People are just so kind and friendly as they open their doors and have these huge smiles on their faces, so happy to see the children in their costumes, and just so delighted to give treats to them and to contribute to the fun.  The kids are all on Cloud 10, and the parents are too because it's fun to watch, in my case, your child dressed a gigantic cookie running around!  It is just a sweet, sweet night, with lots of great memories made!  Hope you all had a great Halloween!