Happy Halloween!

The Downen bunch split up to conquer the KP candy carnivals last night.  We haven't gone trick or treating since we moved here...and no one misses it.  Each kid brought home enough candy to put us all into diabetic shock for a few days...except Ian.  He was too busy working.  Lucky for him, he has generous siblings who let him scavenge through their bags.

Ballerina, Ballerina Doll, Unicorn, Lion, Mad Scientist, and Magician

I took Daniel, Evie, and Fiona to the church for the annual candy carnival.  Mark took Ian, Shane, and Lula to the community center for their annual candy carnival.  I like the church better because they won't let scary, bloody costumes in.  And the fact that the carnival is in a church tends to keep the shady people away.  I only smelled a beer/pot mix on one person.  Ian earned community service hours working two game booths (throwing velcro balls at a target and shooting rubber bands at bottles) for Boy Scouts.  Shane earned community service hours for Cub Scouts by working the ring toss booth.  Mark earned My Wife is Nine Months Pregnant hours by taking Lula into public and chasing her around for two hours so I didn't have to.  Taking easily-overloaded Daniel into a noisy crowded environment where he gorges on cupcakes and cotton candy was much easier than chasing Lula.  Our only issues were overheating (he had his Superman PJs on under the lion costume, so he still looked partially in costume after stripping) and winning a plastic, glow-in-the-dark cobra instead of candy at one game.  He was pacified with both.

Isn't Mark lookin' good?  I'm going to have to lock him up so the single moms and rich divorcees at the YMCA don't try to snatch him away from me!

This morning, Mark called me from the road to tell me to hide the candy and only give it out after the kids all their work done.  Oops.  I was letting them eat as much as they wanted for breakfast already.  I figured I could get them all hopped up on sugar and then set them loose on chores that they would accomplish before the sugar crash.  I went downstairs and took a nap while they worked.  Now the boys are doing math and the girls are "cleaning" their room (also known as playing).  So far, so good!