Trick or Treat...Hannah's first & Alex's last????

I have always loved Halloween. I remember my Grandad taking me and my cousin trick or treating. I remember my Granny making some of my Halloween costumes. I remember the house across the street had lots of dogs and two really, really old people that lived in it. They gave us a dime instead of candy and we thought that was so strange and creepy, but we went back every year. And I remember the candy. Lots and lots of candy. Usually only a few really good pieces of candy, but that made the whole night worthwhile. For me it was, and still is, all about the candy!! I wonder what my kids will remember about Halloween?

I bought Hannah a really cute little ladybug costume. I thought the ladybug costume was a cute idea given the symbolic meaning of ladybugs and Chinese adoptions. She obviously is not aware of the meaning of ladybugs and she certainly did not find anything cute about the outfit as she would have absolutely no part of it!! She did not like the feel of the costume (she has texture issues, but that's a different post) and she was absolutely NOT going to wear the costume without fits of rage. I even laid it out on the floor so she could just play with it...she would walk clear across the room to avoid it! It was so funny to watch how determined she was to not go near that strange feeling outfit!!! But fortunately, I had a back up...I had bought a little pumpkin sweatsuit this summer when I was in Oklahoma. So instead she wore it and was warm and comfy and didn't suffer any long term damage from my attempts at getting her to wear the ladybug costume. She had not been able to wear the pumpkin sweatsuit before Halloween night because it has been so incredibly warm here in Naples. We didn't take her trick or treating, but instead she stayed outside with me and and Matt while we passed out candy (we have to stand outside our building to pass out the candy and you cannot begin to imagine how many kids there are on this base). I thought she would be scared of everything, but she wasn't at all. Even the big scary costumes didn't scare her. She got to eat her fair share of candy while we were outside and she enjoyed that as much as us dragging her from house to house, holding her bag for her, and saying trick or treat for her. Next year she will have a better understanding of the tradition and I'm sure she will charge full speed ahead for her portion of the candy!


Alex was a hippie this year. In addition to the annual trick or treating, he also went to a haunted house here on base. Afterwards he came home and said, "I think I'm either getting too old or the haunted house was just crap this year, because nothing scared me." I laughed and agreed that he might just be getting too old. After all, he is bigger than most of the dads passing out the candy! He loves getting the candy, but after this year he may just have to go to the store and buy his own. I remember Alex's first year of trick or treating. He was Winnie the Pooh. Then the following year he was Barney. Now here he is getting too old for trick or treating or attempts to make him scream in terror. Geez, the time goes quickly.

Tara and her two best friends dressed up in the Chinese dresses I bought in China. Tara would go around telling people she was going to be a Chinese person for Halloween. Fortunately, everyone knows our family and knows the appropriateness of her wanting to be a Chinese person...she thinks she is too old to be a Chinese princess so instead she was just a Chinese person. I told her maybe someday Hannah could dress up as a Caucasian person. Not sure how that will go over??? Anyway, they did look pretty with all three of them dressed the same. Tara must still have a few Halloween years in her...she was still too scared to even go in the haunted house (even with her dad)!

So the last few days have been candy-filled. Hannah officially loves candy. She loves M&M's, suckers, well, pretty much anything the kids give her. They have quickly learned they can't eat candy in front of her or they have to share!