Halloween for days

I must admit, Halloween isn't really my favorite holiday. This year, in particular, I wasn't really feeling it. Maybe it was because our lame-o neighborhood HOA decided for everyone that we would be celebrating Halloween on the 29th, not the 31st. What kind of craziness is that? You can't change Halloween. It says it on the calendar; it's the 31st, every year. Nevertheless, we tried our luck at trick-or-treating on the 29th, because we're mostly rule-followers. And alas, the first house we went to (my neighbor) questioned why the boys were in costume on the 29th. She did give them candy, but she was not prepared. So, in total, the boys visited just 4 houses (most people weren't answering the door), which hardly seemed worth even getting dressed up. Good thing I didn't buy them new costumes this year; they just wore repeats. I did make them their Halloween bags, though, and it's a good thing, because I'm not sure they could have handled carrying the 5 pieces of candy they got without a bag! ha

Even though trick-or-treating was a bust (and really I'm glad they didn't get much candy, I would have been the one who ate it anyway;-)), the actual Halloween day was a lot of fun for the boys. Sam got to dress up for school and they had a parade for the parents.

Then it was back to the classroom for a party. Actually, it was a pretty sad excuse for a party...it was just a sugar-overload of a snack. But I didn't hear the kids complaining! And each child walked away with a monstrous treat bag filled with Halloween goodies from all the parents.

While Sam was enjoying his Halloween day at school, Nathanael was having a blast with his buddies at a pirate play date! Natey and I had prepared for the party about a week earlier by picking up some pirate attire at Target, and the poor boy was dying with anticipation for the big day! From the looks of the pictures Benjamin's mom took, it seems the little pirates had a great time, especially during their hunt for treasure!

Finally, to conclude our Halloween 2011 experience, the boys got dressed one last time on Halloween evening to head to Heritage Park for Goblin Fest. The train was running and local businesses were handing out candy. Really we just went to ride the train and so that Max would have an excuse to get dressed up. But, having never been to a holiday event at Heritage Park, I had the naive idea that we would perhaps do the trick-or-treating too, since we would be there anyway. We did not. As we rode the train, all by ourselves, about half a million (only a slight exaggeration) Simpsonvillians were standing in line, waiting to go into the event. Are you serious?! Just go to the store in your costume and buy a bag of candy. Atleast that's certainly what I would do before I would stand in line for an hour and a half to get some for free. To each their own. We sure enjoyed our ride aboard the Simpsonville choo-choo.