Halloween. . .

A much anticipated holiday around here. . .Jack thinks, equalling the joys of Christmas and birthdays, is the joy of getting candy on Halloween.

Jack wanted to be a Jedi this year. . .at first. . .until Mama bought all the costume material and half finished sewing the Jedi shirt. . .then he announced that he wanted to be a Space Police man. . . an unhappy Mama announced that he could indeed be a Space Police man, at school, and if he made his own costume. That made two unhappy people. . .

Unhappy until I complete his shirt. . .which he wore for the rest of that weekend. And after I completed the cape, he loved it even more. He told me Friday (flying off of the bus with it on), that he felt like a real Jedi the whole school bus ride home. Ah, magic. [And ended up wearing it all weekend long.]

Luke, on the other had, wanted to be a sign. More specifically, about a month ago, he told me he wanted a shirt with sticker signs all down the sleeves. My creative boy [sigh]. So, I bought a black sweatsuit at Walmart, and painted a silvery road with fabric paint up the leg, over his belly, and wrapping around his back. Then I added some yellow lines on the road (don't all good roads have yellow lines?), and some foamy street signs with little brown posts. The foam signs were a battle. I bought them weeks before, and attempted to hide them away from little eyes. He found them a day later, and whined that he wanted them. And grumped. And moaned. And when he finally gave in to the idea that they were going on his Halloween costume, he asked me daily, Is it done yet?

He adored his signs. And happily wore it for two days straight.

Trick or treat was at night this year. . .for the first year in a little while. And, while we were afraid it was going to rain all day, it only sprinkled on us for a moment. It was a perfect night. Cool. Leaves crunching under happy little boy feet.

Sidewalks crowded with happy little people (and so many different costumes. . .Jack only noticed one other Jedi, an Obi Wan. . .). Friendly adults sitting outside with big bowls of goodies waiting for the children to come along. . . We had a wonderful time.

Luke ran ahead of us a few steps all the way. All over town. His feet never tiring. Bouncing along from one house to the next, singing Trick or treat! and Thank you! at every home we stopped at. That little impy smile never leaving his face. He carried that little pumpkin even when it was full to the top. Loving his goodies.

And goodies. Holy mackeral! I can't believe how much (yummy) candy they brought home. Their bags were both full to the top. And happily spent the rest of the evening (after a snacky dinner out with Nan and PapPap) checking out and munching on sugary goodness.

Luke's favorites, again the buttons this year. Although he only got one package. He happily tried the peanut buttons to discover that they're pretty good too (and don't peanuts count as almost healthy?).