No Tricks, Just Treats

We had a lot of fun this Halloween... we love any excuse for pumpkins, costumes, and candy. Regardless of any of the holiday's history, that's what we focus on, and that's what we enjoy. And boy, do we enjoy it!

In the afternoon, Daddy and Kathleen carved our pumpkin. Kathleen was particularly excited about this activity because she loves pumpkins. She has her own little pumpkin collection -- the big pumpkin for carving, two smaller pumpkins (for carrying around, I suppose), and four miniature pumpkins. And still, each time we cruise past the pumpkin display in the commissary, she cries out, "Pumpkin me!" I remind her that we already have seven spectacular pumpkins at home ("Gosh, Kathleen, I'm not even sure there are any pumpkins here that are as great as the ones we have at home."), and that generally satisfies her.

Anyway, back to the festivities. Kathleen took her pumpkin carving role very seriously and dug right in, scooping away with a spoon.

She helped sort out the seeds and very carefully sprinkled them with garlic salt before we popped them in the oven. Kathleen also made the important decisions about the jack o' lantern's face; he needed to be happy, and would have two eyes, no nose, and one tooth. She seemed to know what she was doing, because I think the pumpkin is pretty cute! (Of course, not as cute as the other two faces in the photo!)

After pumpkin-carving, we worked on trick-or-treating skills. Daddy ran through the whole scenario with Kathleen countless times: you say, "trick or treat," you hold up your pumpkin bucket, they give you candy, and you say, "thank you." Despite the thorough briefing, Kathleen had her own take on the tradition. The candy part made a lot of sense to her, but not much else. She didn't see the point of saying, "trick," so merely said, "treat." And why would she let someone put the candy in the bucket? She wanted it in her hand, so it could get to her mouth most quickly! Fortunately, she was willing to say thank you!

Later on in the evening, we got the girls dressed in their costumes. Kathleen dressed first, and debated the relative merits of her princess hat and a tiara.

The tiara won out over the hat... Unimpressed by the glue gun-weilding abilities that created the hat, Kathleen absolutely refused to wear it. The above photograph is literally the only one we managed to snap of her in the hat, which accounts for the less than ideal expression she's sporting! Not surprisingly, Madeline was a lot easier to dress.

Once we had everyone dressed, the weather foiled our trick-or-treating plans. It was pouring out, so we stayed home to greet those who did brave the weather. We hosted some friends for dinner, and they helped us "trick-or-treat" with Kathleen in our living room! That, combined with the candy, was more than enough excitement for our girls.

Our Halloween photo shoot wasn't as successful as we might have hoped (it was a challenge to work around the dueling nap schedule), but we did eventually manage to capture the princess and the pea together on film...