Our First Real Halloween

I was particularly excited about Halloween this year because it would be the first time we would take the kids out trick-or-treating. Emberlynn was 8 months old her first Halloween, and while Matt was at work, she and I stayed home and handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters (okay, I handed it out. And ate some.)

She was 20 months for her second Halloween and spent that week hospitalized at Vanderbilt, which was upsetting for obvious reasons and disappointing because I had made her costume that year. (She was a fairy, and I made her a skirt from tulle.)

Last year, I took the kids to a Trunk-or-Treat in Westmoreland (again, Matt was working), but both Emberlynn and Cohen were quite grouchy, which did not make for a memorable Halloween.

This year, however, Emberlynn got very into Halloween. She didn't mind being dressed up in her costume (which I did early on to get Halloween pics of the kids for photo cards). We explained to her what trick-or-treating was, and she seemed so amazed; I'm sure she was thinking, "Wait, you mean, people just give you candy? No way!" We explained that we would knock on a door and someone would open it, and she would have to say, "Trick-or-Treat!" and then they would give her candy. She would recite this to us, so when the big day finally came, she was very eager.

After meeting some friends, their kids, and my sister-in-law for pizza, it was trick-or-treat time. At the first house, the lady handed each of the kids a fun size package of M&M's, which are Emberlynn's favorite candy. Instead of holding out her bucket, Emberlynn wanted the lady to put it in her hand. You could see her excitement when she saw what kind of candy it was, and she exclaimed, "I got M&M's!" and requested that she eat them right away. I think she would have been happy with just the M&M's, but we told her we had more houses to visit and that she could eat them later. We visited several houses throughout the neighborhood, and the kids received all sorts of goodies (some of which they can not or will not eat that will be thoroughly enjoyed by Mommy and Daddy). Emberlynn thanked everyone we visited for the candy and wished each person a happy Halloween.

Since Cohen is not quite two, he was unable to fully comprehend the experience, but he was very good the entire night and loved being outside. He held onto his own bag of M&M's almost the entire time we were out (apparently, M&M's are the holy grail of trick-or-treating, at least for my kids).

After trick-or-treating for about an hour, we called it a night and allowed Emberlynn to pick one thing from her bucket to eat. I don't have to tell you what she picked.