Our first stop was the public library. Who else would go trick-or-treating at the library besides us? We are only on a first name basis with most of the staff...including our Princess Child #1!
The puppy dog is Child #5.
We spent the evening at my friend (and fellow homeschooler)'s house. We went around her neighborhood since we got attacked by a viscous dog in ours last year. We spent that time teaching our kids social skills you don't learn in public school. Like how to walk up a driveway and not across the flower beds. How to ring the doorbell one time. How to say "Happy Halloween" instead of "Trick or Treat." How to say "Thank you" clearly and cheerfully, no matter if you got a small piece of Tootsie Roll or a giant chocolate bar. And most importantly, staying with an adult on the sidewalk instead of running madly down the street to the next candy stop. I told my kids that I would charge them a piece of candy for every time they ran ahead and left the group. I only had to reach into their candy sacks once! Child #3 offered to hold his best friend's hand so he would stop running ahead (Different moms have different rules. I tend to be meaner than the regular mom. Taking their candy right out of their bags. Like, who would do that besides me?).
After the candy part, we went back and watched Scooby Doo and ate cupcakes and brownies. Mini Me (aka Child #5) put on my witchy stuff and posed for the camera. She figured out the Halloween business pretty quickly and was so cute saying, "Appy 'Een!" She also knew that the orange wrapped squares were most likely Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and to put those in her sack. A girl just like her mother!
