Trick or treat

Well, last night was a busy, fun, and somewhat exhausting night. Earlier in the day, Grandma and Grandpa took the girls to play in the mall and eat lunch while Mommy got in some exercise at the Y. Then it was home for naps and the preparation for Halloween. Grandma, decked out in her "Wicked" shirt, decided to stay home and pass out candy while Grandpa and Mommy took the girls trick or treating. I had fun getting on my witch attire, and even more fun turning Caroline into a munchkin. We drew pink circles on her cheeks with lipstick and I tried to smooth down and curl her hair in the front like the members of the Lollipop Guild (too bad I didn't think to buy her an oversized lollipop to carry). She was not a fan of the Munchkin pompom hat we made for her (as you can see in the picture of me holding her), so we left that at home. While we were waiting for our friends Ted, Jamie, Teddy and Jenna Bohl to join us (the family photo), I drew a yellow brick road and wizard head out of chalk, and Nora practiced skipping down the road to ask the wizard to send her home. It was so cute watching her try to click her heels three times (considering she can't even walk in a straight line half the time!) and say "There's no place like home," with our home right in back of her. As we began trick or treating, we picked up our 5-year-old neighbors Luke and Will Faller, dressed as "clone commanders," whatever that is (see photo with their flamenco dancer mom, Meg). They were typical crazed 5 year old boys, and Nora did her darndest to keep up with them. She left her friend Teddy in the dust as she ran with the big boys and competed with them for being the first to ring the bell. She even went so far as to imitate Will, who spent the entire night informing everyone of his peanut allergy, by starting to tell people that she doesn't like peanuts in her candy (a total lie). By the time we finished walking up and down our block, Nora was glassy-eyed, and I was wiped out by trying to keep a leash on Luke and Will. So, we brought the boys home and headed back to our house, only to meet up with Taylor and her dad Shannon, who had just gotten started. So we did a little more trick or treating with Taylor, visiting Beth across the street and her next door neighbor Harry, and then Taylor came over to our house for a little bit so the girls could sample their candy together. After Taylor left, it was a peanut butter sandwich and Dora the Explorer for Nora while we sat down to a nice hot dinner prepared as a gift by my friend Alli and rewarded ourselves for getting through the night with glasses of Merlot!