Happy Halloween!

What a fun Halloween we had this year!  There is just something so magical about the excitement of children for their favorite holiday, and this one is Dani's favorite.  On October 1st, Dani came into the front room first thing in the morning and said, "Mom... Dad, it's October!  It's the SPOOOOOKIEST month of the year!"  Couldn't help but smile and share in her excitement. 

This year was a bit of a hectic one as Halloween approached, because Greg and I were closing on a cattle loan the day before, and needed to leave the kids with Grandma Geri in order to streamline the trip.  And as is a bit typical for me, I had planned to get the kids' costumes together earlier, but now had little time.  Mom was so kind and willing to help out, and sent little Dani to school with a costume that did not disappoint.  What a beautiful little monarch!

    
As for Matthew, for some reason he was intent upon his costume choice.  He wanted to be a bull.  Greg immediately saw so many great things he could do to capitalize on that choice and was eager to see to his request.  However, since we were delayed in our return home, Mom once again put together an adorable costume for the day's festivities.

Once Greg got home, he immediately took the things he had already gathered for Matthew's original costume request and went to work.  So this kid felt pretty excited that he got to be TWO things for Halloween this year!  Here's the result of the second: 

So we headed out shortly after dark and as this was our first year in several that we have had the chance to take the kids trick-or-treating in not only any neighborhood, but Greg's childhood neighborhood.  We, along with Greg's sister Rachel's family went out on the town!  Greg claims that the trick-or-treaters we saw up there were nothing compared to what there were when he was a kid; but to me, the streets seemed packed!  So many houses in a short distance, goblins & ghouls out scaring the trick-or-treaters, fun festive porches w/ spooky music, and all the candy a 3 & 6-year-old could ever dream of.  Greg's nostalgia made for going as fast as we could from house to house to get through as many as we could in a short amount of time.  The kids were beat when we returned to the Titus homestead, but they loved every minute of it.  Even little Max (our 1-year-old nephew) caught on to the festivities with a vengeance.  He would walk up to the door, put out his hand, and grunt for candy.  So cute to watch.  We ended our evening with a wonderful soup dinner made by Grandma and headed home in sugar comas.  So much fun.... especially to do those things with family again.