Happy Halloween!

Candy, candy and more candy. That is what Halloween means to me! :) I didn't even buy any candy until the day of, so that I wouldn't eat it before the big day. As usual, the kids dressed up for the big evening. Ren was Buzzlightyear. MJ was a witch. Ellie was a pirate, as was Chloe. Porter was a marshmellow. Could you have guessed that from the photo?

It is so fun to see a little guy, like Ren go trick or treating for the first time! All day, the older kids kept asking him if he wanted candy. I think he was getting a big frustrated as he said yes for the umpteenth time, and they would reply, ok, tonight you can have some!

Porter, Chloe and a friend, Summer went out knocking together. They were way too cool to be seen with me and the little kids, of course. And much faster too. Ren was really slow, as he walked the whole way. Ellie and MJ were constantly telling us to hurry! We just went around one side of our neighborhood and I ended up carrying MJ and Ren's bags because they were too heavy for them. That is a sure sign that they had more than enough sugar!

Ren was so precious. I really enjoyed watching his excitment as he waited for candy to be dropped in his bag for no apparent reason! I asked many times if he was ready to go home. He'd just reply, "Mom, I one more."

All night, neighbors kept saying "To infinity and beyond!" or "Buzzlightyear to the rescue!" Ren knew they were talking about him. It was cute to see his face light up with recognition. At one house, they had a bunch of camp style chairs set up in the driveway. One was a Buzz chair. Ren noticed it and pointed and said "Mom, there's me!" It was so adorable!

Buzz, the pirate and the witch getting ready to hit the neighborhood. In all the early photos, Ren is pushing his lazer button and saying "Got you!" He was cracking me up!

The Marshmellow. Porter made a joke to me. He said, "Mom, get it? I'm a 'marsh'mellow!"

Rusty and I went to a Halloween birthday party for a good friend, Robb McCormick. We dressed up in these white 'painters' outfits. We printed up some hazmat signs and taped them to ourselves. We looked pretty good, if I do say so myself! Rusty's idea, creative. I don't have a photo, but one was taken at the party. I'll try to get my hands on it.

Chloe, the pirate and Summer, aka Daphne from ScoobyDoo.

Ellie is eating a eating a sour patch string thing. I love those!

I think this is Porter's candy pile! We always weigh it too. I don't why that started several years ago, but this year Porter raked in about 11 pounds, Chloe and Summer candy was just under that at about 10 pounds! You could get a tummy ache just by looking at all that! :)

Do you see the joy in Chloe's eyes?

Ren loved dumping his candy out to get a look at it all.

He couldn't carry that very far.

Traditionally, Porter sorts his candy. This started in kindergarten, when a teacher sent home a paper to have them sort their candy. He still does it, even writes it all down. Milk Duds were the most popular candy this year...he had a grand total of 42 little packs of those! Snickers and Laffy Taffys were the 2nd most given out candy, he got 32 of both of those! Ugh!!!

We were all playing in the family room, watching tv (sort of), counting candy, eating candy, telling stories of doors the kids knocked on or what friend was texting to say how much candy they got.

I love Ren kisses!