Trick-or-Treat

What does an ice cream sandwich, a Cabbage Patch doll, and a teddy bear have in common? They are all classic symbols of childhood that sparked ideas for the McKinstry kids' costumes this Halloween.

I already posted about how Hadley's costume was inspired, and since I love it when families choose themed costumes, the idea for Reid's teddy bear outfit was born. I had a comfy little coat for him with bear ears I purchased months prior that I thought would work perfectly and keep him warm too.

To complete the classic toy motif, I had hoped that Caleb would be willing to don a Mr. Potato Head getup as well, but he had ideas of his own. For the past month he has been adamant that he was going to be ice cream for Halloween. Don't ask me why; he just latched on to this idea and there was no changing his mind. At first, he said he'd like to be an ice cream sandwich and then switched it up, deciding he wanted to be a pink ice cream cone (which he says is his favorite color). Dave vetoed the pink part, but we decided to see what we could do about making some type of ice cream suit for him. I searched Pinterest for ideas and Dave did his own Google search trying to come up with a plan for how we could accommodate his request. With so many transitions going on this month, we knew we weren't going to have much time to work on it though and a lot of the ideas seemed elaborate. Thankfully, Dave found a website where you could buy a pre-made ice cream sandwich costume in Caleb's size and decided to just see if our boy would be interested in that option. To two wore-out parents' delight, once he saw the picture, Caleb loved it! We jumped on the ball and after a few mouse clicks and entering our credit card info, the deal was sealed and he was on his way to being a frozen dessert this October 31st.

Let me start from the beginning of our festivities and give you the run down. Well before the actual holiday, Halloween happenings were taking place at our house. I already blogged about some these, such as picking out and carving our pumpkins, but we also did some other things to prepare like getting out a few pieces of fall decor to make it feel a little more like autumn even though the leaves seemed to take a while to pop out in full glory.

We started decorating  about a month ago with two little pumpkins from my grandparents for Caleb and Hadley. When Reid showed up right before Halloween though, NaNa made sure he had his own mini pumpkin too!

We even started some trick-or-treating a couple days early because Granny was going out of town to visit her sisters later in the week. Instead of going to her this year though, she and Nana came to us one night on their way to Bible study with some goodies for the kids. Since my other grandparents live about a half hour away, we also invited them to come the same night to get a glimpse of the kids in their costumes because it is hard to make it everywhere on Halloween night with trick-or-treating in the mix on top of our normal supper, bath, and bedtime routine. And of course, they too showed up with treats in hand. Needless to say, no tricks for these grandparents this year!

Granny tried to take a bite out of this ice cream sandwich!

Run, run as fast as you can...you can't catch me I'm the ice cream man!

Light up necklaces, fruit snacks, and toys!

I think Granddaddy liked Caleb's costume.

What's that in your hand, Grandma? Happy meals and apple slices!

The following day, more treats arrived; NaNa brought some books, videos, and candy for the kids. Needless to say, Halloween morning there were lots of "spooky" things already at our house for the kids to play with.

First thing that morning, Hadley found a Reese cup!
(Note her Halloween jammies, also a NaNa find.)

Checking out the loot

The light up toys and candy were all good fun, but her favorite items were this pumpkin necklace from Granny and a toothbrush from NaNa. 

My mom also brought the kids some window clings, which was something a little different for them to enjoy. They spent a long time that morning sticking them on, peeling them off, and reorganizing them again. 

Hadley did a few on her own, but sometimes she'd get them flipped backwards or just couldn't get them to stick. Finally, she'd just hand them to her big brother who was always willing to help.

Thanks to Caleb each ghost was paired with its own pumpkin. Our little organizer strikes again!

Caleb also put the candy corn inside the pumpkin's mouth and was a little distraught when  Hadley tried to move it.

That evening, we ate a quick supper of leftovers and got the kids ready as fast as we could (which was actually pretty slow since we now have three wiggly little ones who don't understand what it means to hurry and always need to eat or go to the bathroom before it's time to get out the door, of course). We did take a few minutes to document their costumes though since I wasn't sure how long they'd keep them on or what kind of shots we'd get in the dark while trick-or-treating.

Too excited to stand still!

Little ham!

Though Hadley had been excited the first time we tried her wig on, she had been a little grumpy about wearing it Tuesday night when the grandparents visited. We were afraid at first that she might be grouchy about it again on Halloween night, but seeing Daddy wear one too, she let us put hers on and kept it on for trick-or-treating thankfully.

Daddy, you are too funny!

No frowning, Cabbage Patch!
I wanted a shot of her full outfit before we left, but this daddy's girl was not happy about being set down. Hence the sour puss face.

All smiles again!

What are you doing to me, Mommy?

My sweet Teddy Bear boy!

After snapping some photos at the house, we went to my Aunt Susie's for some trick-or-treating. Right before we left the house though, rain started to drizzle down, so we weren't sure how far we'd get. We grabbed some umbrellas and jackets, hoping we'd make it to at least a few houses before high-tailing it home that evening.

Thankfully, the rain subsided about the time we pulled into her neighborhood, and it actually turned out to be a great evening for trick-or-treating. Even for an October night, it was warm enough that none of us needed jackets, which I loved because the kids didn't have to wear bulky layers that make it hard to walk and cover their costumes.

Dave, NaNa, and Aunt Susie walked the kids from house to house as Reid and I followed at a distance while he snacked. (I never thought I'd be nursing while trick-or-treating. The things we do for our kids!)

Here are some pics of our evening:

Our first stop! Aunt Susie got to be the first one to put candy in their buckets.

Hurry bring the getaway stroller before Caleb sees I took his candy!

We were thankful for extra helping hands. 

That sweet Cabbage Patch was a little heavy for NaNa to tote all over the neighborhood!

Caleb made friends with the police officer guarding the subdivision. He didn't have any candy though!

Reid's first trick-or-treating experience

One of the funniest things was that Caleb kept telling people that he already had candy when he'd get to their door. He wasn't refusing more; he just wanted to make sure everyone was informed I guess.

We didn't stay out long - maybe an hour or so, which was enough for both us and the kids. Caleb even commented towards the end that he wanted to go to three more houses, and after doing that he said he was sleepy and ready to go home. NaNa helped tote his candy bucket, while Hadley clung to hers as she rode in the stroller back to Aunt Susie's.

Resting a little with her candy

After chatting with a few friends and family members, it was time to get back to our house though. As we loaded the car, the older kids begged to hang on to their pumpkin buckets, so we dumped out the candy and let them play with them all the way home. Meanwhile, all Reid wanted was his pacifier, and he let us know loudly every time it slipped from his mouth and needed replacing

Once we got home, Dave, who is usually pretty strict about bedtimes and candy, was a Halloween softie and let Caleb and Hadley each have one piece of candy despite it being almost time for them to hit the hay. After all, October 31st only rolls around once a year!