This was definitely the best Halloween that we've had so far. It started off a bit shaky when Jaden woke up at 5:15, but I managed to finagle my way into staying in bed until almost 7:00 (okay, I had to get up several times, but I spent much of that time in bed).

But then the day got much better - We went to playgroup at Martha's and all the kids were in their costumes. It was just me, Martha and Marcia, but we got some great pictures of all of the kids in their Halloween costumes. Martha had gotten some crafts from the Oriental Trading Company that were really cute. The kids had lots of fun with them. Then they had little bagels with peanut butter and sprinkles (which they made themselves) and cheese. Once again, it was a big hit. It was a really fun time.

After playgroup, we came back home and Jaden just wanted to play upstairs with toys. He is really enthralled with his new Buzz Lightyear toy. In fact the kids were having so much fun playing upstairs that I just decided to bring some food up there and we ate on the floor in the hallway. We had had a lot of snacks, so I knew the kids wouldn't want a full lunch anyway. We ate raisins, goldfish crackers, raisin bran cereal and pepperoni. They liked taking bites right from the pepperoni stick. It was very cute and fun.

At naptime, they both actually took a nap - Oh happy day! I woke them both up at 4:00 and got them back into their costumes. Then the three of us sat out on the front stoop and handed out candy to the earliest trick-or-treaters. I got some cute pictures of the kids and Jaden was having fun handing out the candy. He would say, "Trick-or-treats" when he gave them the candy (he actually calls the candy "trick-or-treats") and then he would say cute things like "Have a happy Halloween!", "Have a good day!", or "Have fun!" He would sometimes say all of these things. He also liked telling people, "I'm a firefighter man!" So cute!!

He got a bit antsy waiting for Grandma to get here. He really wanted to do some trick-or-treating himself. He was so happy when she got here at 5:30. We decided that all four of us would just go a bit down the block. For some reason, I felt really badly about leaving the house with no one here to pass out candy. I was really paranoid about it. So we just went up the street to Butterfield and back down the other side. Then, my mom brought Danielle back here and fed her while I brought Jaden trick-or-treating. He was having so much fun! He kept saying, "I'm having a happy Halloween!" Of course, everyone thought he was so cute in his little firefighter costume.

Unfortunately, there was one house that had scary decorations and smoke that suddenly shot out. He got scared there and then only wanted to go to one more house. I carried him home, which was actually kind of sweet. He was hugging me and talking about how the scary man couldn't get him while I was carrying him. I felt bad that he had gotten scared and I suggested that he do a little more trick-or-treating with Grandma and he could ride in the wagon, which would keep him safe. He seemed to think that that was perfectly logical. "I'll be safe in the wagon." I also explained to him that the scary man was just pretend and that he wouldn't hurt him. Jaden said, "Yeah, he was pretend. He was just tricking me."

He went to a few more houses with Grandma, but then wanted to go with me again, so we went down one side street. By then, the trick-or-treaters were really thinning out, so I told him it was time to go home. He protested, but only a little bit.

Danielle was being really cute too. Every time a trick-or-treater would come, she would run to the door, laughing. She was loving all of the visitors!

When Jaden and I got home, my mom and I put Danielle to bed and then Jaden had dinner and also went to bed. I thought he would be exhausted and go to sleep early, but we still heard him up after 9:00. Oh boy!

After we put the kids to bed, my mom and I played another few rounds of Yahtzee. We're addicted now. My mom left at 9:30 and I didn't feel at all tired, so I decided to watch some TV and write in my journal. :-) Better go to bed soon, though - It's after 11:30 already.