The Halloween That Almost Wasn't

As I drove home from work last night, carefully watching the slippery roads and listening to the "swish-swish" of my wiper blades, I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I heard phrases on the radio such as "100% chance of rain" and "pouring rain with possible flooding." I was pretty sure trick-or-treating was not to be, and as I pulled into the driveway and ran for the door, umbrella in hand, I rehearsed what I would tell the boys about our trick-or-treatless Halloween.

Then, we had a Halloween miracle. The rain let up and the sun peeked out just long enough for me to make the call. We hurried the boys into their costumes and rushed out the door, eager to gather sweet things to eat. We started at what Nick calls the "Haunted House." It's a few blocks from our house, and Nick's been asking us to drive past it every day, and I was afraid it'd start raining and he'd miss seeing this house and its special decorations.

Nick was very excited about the fog machine and the scary decorations. He begged to go inside the garage, which was all decked out like a haunted house.

Nick came out screaming, petrified by the darkness and the scary costumes. They said they tried not to scare him, but he was freaked out nevertheless.

Grandma Toni accompanied us on our journey, and she delighted in snapping pictures and checking out the decorations in our neighborhood.

Henry used this trick-or-treating opportunity to practice his speaking skills. Listen to his announcements!

Henry figured out really quickly how to open up the suckers and eat them. At one point he had two in his mouth and one in his hand. Good thing Halloween is just one night per year!

Grandma Toni got plenty of exercise chasing Yoda down the street and through the puddles. He mostly stayed on the sidewalk, though, thank goodness.

I tried my best to ensure my little men used their good manners, saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You" for every transaction. Mostly, it worked, though Nick sometimes ran ahead of us and used a rather aggressive approach to ringing doorbells.

When we arrived at home, both boys immediately wanted to dump their candy out and check out their candy. I can remember doing this as a child with my sister, and even trading candy to get my favorites.

I didn't wear my costume last night--the Halloween party at my work last week involved some intricate braiding that I wasn't prepared to beg for from my friends. This is what our whole group looked like, though. Maybe next year I'll be motivated enough to pressure Greg into wearing a costume.