Tuesday morning Darcy had preschool and dressed up for that. Then that night was our ward Halloween carnival and trunk-or-treat. Wednesday she had dance and she was supposed to dress up for that. Then Thursday was Halloween and we had trick-or-treating here in our neighborhood, but we also wanted to take our kids to see their grandparents all dressed up in their costumes. Tuesday morning was fine except for a little argument about tucking Darcy's shirt in. Ezra was even begging to get dressed up too when he saw Darcy in her costume. Tuesday night Darcy was pretty cooperative, but Ezra was cranky and seemed freaked out at the carnival. Both kids enjoyed trunk-or-treating enough but were too cold, and Ezra cut out early. Wednesday we were having such a rough morning and Darcy only made it through part of her dance class, but she was so emotional and couldn't stop crying. We went home early. Poor girl. Thursday I was frustrated because of the Halloween saddness, so I let the kids which too much TV, which always makes me feel bad.
As I stewed over the Halloween issue, I finally discovered the real problem was ME! I was forgetting to make this holiday (that is most definitely supposed to be for the kids) about the kids. I was choosing the costumes I thought would be cute, and making the kids wear them just how I wanted them to wear them, including lots of annoying accessories. I was even making them dress up when they didn't really want to. I also think their schedule was a little too crammed with all this stuff they didn't really care about doing. So by Thursday evening I decided to let Darcy choose. She decided she didn't want to wear her chaps (These chaps were originally my grandpa's, then my dad's, then when they were worn out, my dad cut them down and made them into chaps for my brother when he was little. We all wore them when we were little. I love the sentimentality of them, and it was harder than it should have been for me to let them go.) I was hoping we could just skip trick-or-treating here and get to Mattawa sooner. She wanted to trick-or-treat here, and the main thing she wanted to do was hand out candy to trick-or-treater's who came to our door herself. It did put us behind a little, but it made her happy and it was worth it. I also told Darcy she gets to choose her costume for next year, and she is pretty excited about it. Why didn't I come up with this stuff before?! I really had no idea how much of a Halloween control freak I was. Now if we could just somehow take the tons of candy out of the holiday! :)
Ezra loved the pumpkin carving! He was really into scraping out the guts.
Darcy thought Drew and Ezra should make a happy face, and she and I should make a scary face.
Cutest cowgirl ever!
Darcy had been having her picture taken first, and when Ezra came out to join her she instructed him to put his foot up on the fence like hers. He was so obedient.
I should have taken a close-up of their belt buckles. My dad made their belts and belt buckles for us, and they were so cute! Now they each have their own brand for their future careers as ranchers.
Way...too...cute.
The way Ezra said "trick-or-treat" was just about the cutest thing I've ever heard. He also stole some hearts with his polite "thank you" after getting his candy at each door.
Our first stop in Mattawa was at Grandma Jo's!
This was our trick-or-treating crew. Ashley is already taller than me, but adding those five inch heals made me feel like a child. Haley always comes up with the best costumes for her family. They were the Despicable Me gang, and they looked hilarious.
My dad said he had a picture of his Uncle Owen with his hat cocked to the side like this, so I had to get this shot of Ezra.
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