Halloween

We had a good time on Halloween.

We saw some costumes at Costco close to two months ago. One of them was a Tinkerbell costume and Sydney wanted to be that for Halloween.  So we got it.

Sydney has been very excited about Halloween.  Just about every day she would talk about it and get herself excited.

There's a house down the block and just around the corner that really decorates for Halloween.  They get the whole yard and front of the house decorated with all sorts of things.  They even do the inside over-the-top (from what can be seen at the door).  Two years ago Sydney wanted to go there, she got scared by the lady living there (she was in costume and had a skull face painted on with black and white paint) and that promptly ended all trick-or-treating.  Last year Sydney did not go there.

Since that house started putting up decorations Sydney was fascinated with it as always.  It is always the "Halloween house," or something similar to that.  But it is also the "scary house," and one she is not going to go to for trick-or-treating.  Fair enough.

We had a generally relaxing day on Halloween.  There were only a few times Sydney asked how much longer it was until she got to go out trick-or-treating.  Only a few times before breakfast.  A few times after breakfast.  A few times while we were getting dressed and ready for the day.  A few times before lunch.  A few times after lunch.  A few times while we were playing.  A few times before dinner.  She didn't ask too many times after dinner since by then it was just about time to put on her costume and get ready.

But she did ask a few times during breakfast, during lunch and during dinner.  I forgot to mention those.

Mommy promised Sydney that she would put some make up on her for her costume.  So around 5:00 they went upstairs and started getting ready.  When they came down we had Tinkerbell in our midst!

Tinkerbell doesn't normally wear leggings under her skirt or a long-sleeved shirt under her top, but then Tinkerbell doesn't live where it gets very cold.  But Sydney didn't care.  She was a very happy fairy.

It had actually been a fairly warm day (high around 60F), though it was windy.  Sydney was warm enough trick-or-treating dressed like that and she didn't need a jacket.  (She did need and wear shoes, though.)

Sydney's make up involved some face painting by Mommy.

A flower on one cheek.

And a butterfly on the other.

They're not the best artwork, but then a hyper, excited four year old is not the best canvas.  You make do with what you got.  And Sydney certainly loved them.  (For the record, I think they're great, too.  I am not artistic - I missed out on all those genes from my mom's side of the family - and are better than I would have done.)

Grandma M came over to hand out candy while Anne and I took Sydney out.  We went around the block and then down the street at the end.  Sydney decided that she wanted to go to the scary house!  She was so sure and so excited about it that she was willing to skip houses to get there.

We slowed her down and went to all the houses and finally made it to the scary house.  Sydney was barely apprehensive about it as we went up.  The lady of the house was in a much more normal, non-scary costume this year and Sydney had no problems at the house.  Trick-or-treating continued on after that.

Anne decided that she was cold enough that she went back to the house to relieve Grandma M.  Sydney and I continued.

Sydney managed to fill up her little cloth pumpkin bag so I grabbed handfuls out and put them in my coat pocket so she could continue on.  At every other house or so after the scary house Sydney would ask me if the next house was going to be scary.  I kept telling her I didn't know but assured her that I would be right there with her and that everything was only pretend.

After the trip up the street beside us she had enough.  We went back down the other side, trick-or-treating as we went and then headed home.  We hit one or two houses on our street that hadn't had their lights on earlier.

When we got home Sydney was just as excited about helping to hand out candy. She would run to the door in front of us every time someone came.  She wanted to be the one to hand out the candy.

It was a rather light night for trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  I'm guessing it was mainly because of the nasty illness going around (including the swine flu and subsequent scare of that).

Because it was light Sydney kept getting frustrated at the wait times between people coming to the door.  She wanted to hand out candy, darn it!  She kept asking us where the "customers" were and when the next "customers" were going to come trick-or-treating.  We tried to explain that they weren't customers, so to speak, but she kept calling them that anyway.

Finally we turned the light off and took Sydney upstairs for bed.  She got to stay up late, but she also got an extra hour of sleep due to turning the clock back.