Happy Halloween!

We had a good time for Halloween even though it was SO hot in Phoenix!  It was 93 for the high!  John carved out a GIANT pumpkin!  He did a really good job and carved out the pumpkin from the bottom (it is the pumpkin on the far left in the picture). I thought he did a really great job! That pumpkin was so large we were able to place a pillar candle in it and not burn the top!  The other two pumpkins were some cheap plastic light up pumpkins I got from WalMart.  That is the way to go out here in the crazy desert heat!

Here is a picture of the children dressed to go trick-or-treating.  They looked SO cute.  Joseph was still small enough to wear his costume from last year. It was a bit short but not too small size-wise which is crazy since the costume is a size 2T/3T!  The children will be turning 7 in the middle of December!  James wanted to be Batman.  So I went and got him a new costume.  The rule, NEVER any more than $20 on a costume!  I was able to pick James's costume under my price point so that made us all happy!  James had a ton of fun wearing his costume.  He and Joseph were having a great time play fighting!  Margaret, being autistic, has been fixated on Elsa from the movie Frozen.  There were several memes going around about a drinking game involving seeing a girl in an Elsa costume on Halloween.  We are glad we could help you out if you were participating!  LOL  I really got this costume originally for her to have for her Birthday but I was able to get it in time for Halloween so we let her wear it.  She was SO proud!  Sadly, I have all ready had to take it away from her because she started to pick the sequins off the dress.  This is just an issue Margaret has with any fabric item. She has to pull ANYTHING loose off... thread, details, or other items.  It makes getting her cute and nice things difficult!



So we went trick-or-treating.  I am SO proud of the children tonight. We went through one whole large neighborhood (both sides of the street) and we did not have a ton of candy by the time we got back to the car. Their bags were only 1/5 of the way full. I told them they should be grateful for the candy they had because people did not have to give out candy (I told them to remember all the houses we saw that were dark), they did not NEED the candy and it was not good for them, and we were all hot and sweating (it was 92 or so today!). I said we could go home, tell daddy about all the fun and interesting thing they saw, hand out candy to anyone else that showed up, and they could eat all the candy they wanted within reason. They said they wanted to go home! I was really proud of them! I thought they would have fought it because I got a lot of initial whining they needed more candy! I think this is the first year we have gone trick-or-treating and not ended up with a crazy amount of candy! I'm happy the kids learned about being grateful and realizing they had more than enough candy.  Since we had such a small amount of candy I let them keep it so the Halloween Fairy did not need to make a stop at our house.  

James and Joseph having fun play fighting as their superhero characters.  It was a battle of Batman versus Captain America!  Captain America fell down and I ended the video.  It turned out I shouldn't have because it was a bluff by Captain America to beat Batman.  That sneaky Joseph!  Er, I mean Captain America!

Halloween Is Coming!

Ugh, sorry I have been MIA again but there was good reason!  I have been sick, better, working on my thesis (which I am not finishing), kids sick, John and I SUPER sick, and now we are FINALLY recovering!  We've been so sick for the last 3 1/2 weeks and we are both still dealing with the lingering effects of the flu but I am glad we are recovering!  Recovering just in time to participate in Halloween.

The kids have been eagerly waiting for Halloween.  I am excited for them for a couple of reasons.  One reason is that they finally realize that there is a Halloween and they know Halloween involves....dressing up in costomes and CANDY!  LOL  Now I purposely try and keep them from eating a bunch of junk food and in particular sugar. I saw the BEST idea online...the Halloween Fairy.  (Do you have ANY idea how long it took to find a decent picture that was not trampy? This pic by Annie Msson is beautiful!)

Why have I not heard of this before?  I have no problem really with letting the kids indulge in candy a couple of times a year.  James becomes a SPAZZZZ with a lot of sugar. I love and hate their birthday because James will bounce off the WALLS after eating cake and ice cream!  I got smarter in the last few years because I make the cake from scratch and reducing the sugar along with using cool whip as icing.  It greatly reduces the sugar load.

Ok, back to Halloween.  Kids go trick-or-treating.  They come back with a load of candy.  We do an inspection and leave them a lot of candy to choose from.  The kids get to indulge and eat all the candy they want (within reason...I don't want them to be sick or anything).  After eating what they want the kids go to bed and leave the rest of their candy outside their door.  Mom and Dad come by and collect the candy and swap out the candy for a small toy.

What a great idea, right?  Why had I not heard of this before??? Sugar has such negative health effects and there is diabetes on both side of the family for the children.  I know I am addicted to sugar and I try SUPER hard to avoid or  limit it.  I don't want the kids to be addicted too so I never really give them sugar to trigger that "need" in the brain.

It looks like the Halloween Fairy will be visiting our house this year!  Will she be showing up at your house too?