HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I was SO grateful that someone made the brilliant decision to postpone daylight savings time until next week. This Halloween we were able to take advantage of the sunlight and didn't freeze near-to-death as we have in other years.

Per our annual custom (at least for the last two years) cousin Abby came over to do the whole trunk or treat thing with us. Ellie did her own version of "Trick or treat" which more or less sounded like "dahdi dee". I think most people accepted this as okay because they kept handing her candy. All three girls seemed astounded that they could just walk up to someone, say "Trick or treat", and receive candy! Each time someone put something in their buckets they would stare in wonder at the increasing pile of teeth-rotting joy. Oh, ignorance is bliss!

Ellie was seriously adorable in this little costume. It took some convincing to get her to put it on. I even pulled out her Raggedy Ann doll and showed her how similar the outfits were...and praised the doll profusely on her beauty. Apparently Ellie was somewhat mollified because she finally allowed us to put it on. We even got a few smiles out of her. Her whole face lights up when she smiles! She had a wonderful time and is probably going to spend every possible waking moment begging for her "tanny" (translation: "candy").

For the last couple months I would ask Lindy what she wanted to be for Halloween and she would respond emphatically that she wanted to be a ballerina. So, we finally found a cute "Swan Lake Ballerina" costume, waited about a month for it to come into the store, and bought it. She was enthralled. While we were trick or treating people kept asking her if she were a princess. Well, being Lindy, she would respond (with a slight tinge of attitude), "No, I'm a Swan Lake Ballerina". End of discussion.

Here are some additional highlights of the evening.