Halloween 2015

Another year, another Haunted Trail put on by the Northland College Student Athlete Association.  Lilly spoke of bravery and how she wasn't going to be afraid.  This year we actually had to wait in line to donate our canned goods and begin the trail.  Walking down the hill, Lilly was completely distracted by a climbing wall and asked all sorts of questions about the wall, ignoring completely the "classroom" full of zombies.  She did get a little nervous as we walked down the trail along the creek and had Nick carry her, but near the end of the trail declared herself no longer afraid since "they are just Daddy's students" and walked the rest of the way, then enjoyed her S'more.

The head on a table - really scared Lilly the first year

The second Halloween event was the daycare party on Thursday. Lilly has changed her mind hundreds of times for what she was going to be for Halloween, for at Tree Top she went with Super Girl.  This consisted of a super hero mask she made at a summer reading program at the library and a cape I made out of a nursing cover up I got for free from the hospital.  She also put on a pirate costume earlier in the week at day care and her teacher sent me a photo.

Arg, matey!

We had many different guests eat dinner with us this week.

Then Halloween morning we went to the Bretting Community Center for a Halloween party put on by the food co-op and parks and rec.  They had "boo-nanas" (bananas on a stick covered in yogurt, coconut, and raisins for eyes), games, painting pumpkins, and general chaos.  It was super well attended but in a very small space.  She ran into her friend Alma, and had to do whatever Alma was doing.  She went to the party as a Princess Doctor.

Princess Doctor.

Pin the face on the jack-o-lantern

Alma's big sister Cora chatting with Nick and Greta

Lilly wanted to go trick-or-treating with her friend Alma. We tried to coordinate with her parents and sort of did, but between going to the grocery store, making pizza, Greta taking a catnap and eating said pizza, we were not in costume, bundled up and out the door until 6.  It didn't help that Lilly changed her mind from being a Princess Bunny to a Hedgehog Princess.  At we were leaving, it was starting to drizzle and it was rather dark outside.  

We headed out to Chapple Avenue again, where people decorate their homes, wear costumes, and serve over 1000 trick or treaters. They even block traffic for five blocks.  On the way there I told Nick that next year I think I would rather go in our neighborhood. The stress of getting across town (all four minutes) is not necessarily worth the ambiance of Chapple, even though it is pretty neat.  We'll see what happens next year.  Maybe we will have our act together and won't be in a rush, it won't be freezing cold and raining, and I won't be totally and utterly sleep deprived.

After parking the van we put Greta in her giraffe costume and then headed off to find Alma and get some candy.  I couldn't get in touch with Petra, so we walked on Chapple, admiring the houses, getting candy and Lilly trick or treating like a champ.  I carried Greta while Nick and Lilly went up to the houses.  I spotted a few students, chastised them for being in high school and trick or treating.  Eventually Petra and I touched base and we met up with them.  Both Lilly and Alma were super excited to find one another and jumped up and down repeatedly, eventually spilling their candy.  This is now the third year where we have spotted them, perhaps we should have just left it to fate to meet up instead of stressing out and trying to coordinate.

Our friends the Hudsons have two daughters, a year older than Lilly and a two year old.  They live on Chapple, so are tasked with giving candy to the thousand plus children that come to their door.  So they host a party, asking people to bring a bag of candy to help the cause.  We stopped by after trick or treating for a very brief time, Greta checking out the bouncy kangaroo thing and Lilly desperately wanting to find the kids her age to play with.  Nick and I had an awkward conversation with the man we bought our house from (they left Ashland and have since returned).

One of many decorated houses

Lilly the Hedgehog Princess and Alma the Princess Monster

The bottom teeth are coming in, so everything goes in her mouth

We were tired, it was cold, and we didn't get a picture earlier

When we got home it was rather late but Lilly really wanted to pass out candy to other kids.  We turned on the porch light, Lilly picked out what one piece of candy she was going to eat before bed, and we waited.  Luckily two kids came to the door, Lilly got to give them candy and Nick was able to put her to bed without much difficulty.  Lilly also told us, "while you are grading papers tonight, if someone comes to the door, be sure to give them candy."

Since the photo at night was a bust and Sunday was a gorgeous day, I snapped these photos of the girls before putting the giraffe costume back in the box of hand me down clothes.

Lilly is still talking about Halloween, singing Halloween songs, and has all sorts of ideas for costumes for next year.  As a girl who dresses up pretty much every day, I guess I can see the excitement in getting candy for it too.