Cody really had no idea what Halloween was all about, so I only gave him 3 costume choices...all 3 were costumes he already had in his closet that were bought last year on clearance: Spiderman, Superman, or Chase from Paw Patrol. He decided to be Spiderman, which was perfect because we could easily fit warm clothes underneath the costume (a must in Michigan).
A few weeks before Halloween, we went with Graecyn's BFF, Callie, to "Halloween Hoot" at Dinosaur Hill, a local nature preserve. The kids had a lot of fun despite the cold temperatures and light rain.
Graecyn's school had a "Family Festival" on a Friday night where the kids got to wear their costumes (costumes aren't allowed at her Elementary school on Halloween, so this was their chance to show them off to their friends). She had a blast with her friends. Graecyn and Callie also participated in a gymnastics Halloween party at Graecyn's gymnastics gym; they played games (including trying to eat a donut hanging from a string) and had a blast!
Graecyn and I painted pumpkins and she and Eric spent one night carving a pumpkin; it was the first time we let her do the carving and she did great (even though it made me nervous at times).
Both Graecyn and Cody had Halloween parties at their schools. Luckily, it worked out that Cody's party was in the morning and Graecyn's party was in the afternoon, so I got to be at both of them.
Finally, it was Halloween night. The weather was PERFECT...warm (for Michigan)...no coats needed, which was amazing! Typically, we have friends over to our house for trick-or-treating, but our friends had recently moved to downtown Rochester and wanted to try trick-or-treating in their neighborhood, so we headed there for the night. It was a lot of fun and their neighborhood really gets into Halloween, which made it fun for both kids and adults. The guys decided to stay back at the house to hand out candy, so the girls headed out with the kids. Graecyn and Callie were great, but Cody was such a handful. He was so excited and hyper that he was out of control. Such a change from last year where he sat in his stroller the entire time. This year, he was running into the street, barking like a dog (he would get up in people's faces and pant like a dog), running around singing "yo, yo, yo". It was more than I could handle, so we only went around the block and back home (enough for the kids to get a lot of candy). Next year, the guys get kid duty, and the girls will hang back and drink wine while handing out the candy! :-)
