It's three days past Halloween and I'm just about sick of candy. Except Twix bars, I could eat those all day. But what I'm really craving is a good smoothie. If we had a Jamba Juice or something like it in town I'd probably hit them every other day. Maybe what I really need is some good smoothie recipes to make at home. I keep trying new recipes, but I'm always disappointed or they require too many ingredients to make it worthwhile. If you've got any award-winning smoothies, please send them my way.
Well, Halloween was a success. Probably the busiest Halloween ever in our house. First there was Conner's preschool Halloween party in the morning. Then after lunch we went with Nicole, Austin, & Cameron to a local retirement care center for trick-or-treating. This was a new adventure and a lot of fun for the kids. The elderly folks were lined up in their wheelchairs with a big bag of candy on each of their laps and the boys trick-or-treated all the way down the hall. Some of them were dressed in costumes, some were sleeping. In those instances Payton made sure he wasn't going to miss out on his candy opportunity and took it upon himself to reach into their bags to grab a treat. I think it was also lots of fun for the "grammer's & papa's" -- they really seemed to enjoy having the children around. I'm glad that we were able to do this and maybe brighten their day a bit.
After our wonderful gourmet dinner of kraft macaroni and cheese Scott took the boys trick-or-treating down the street. Once they returned the boys helped with handing out candy. From their reactions of frantically running to the door, passing out 2 or 3 pieces of candy to each child (instead of the ONE piece they were instructed to give), and two enthusiastic voices yelling "Happy Halloween!" as the treaters walked away, I think this was their favorite part of the night.
Oh yes, we had a Star Wars theme going with the costumes this year. Conner was Obi-Wan-Kenobi, Payton was Darth Vader, Anna was Princess Leia (click on the photo to get a closer look at her buns), and Scott was a Sith Lord. Sadly, I did not have a costume to go with the group. I made Scott's robe at the last minute, and I didn't feel like dressing up as Yoda or Chewbacca.
Finally, the conclusion of the holiday was at our ward's trunk-or-treat. Scott decorated the back of the van with many of his Star Wars toys (ok, some belonged to Conner) and he had Episode I playing on our TV/DVD. There were many, many children who had to be pried away from the spectacle.