The 3 older Littles love playing with the dress up clothes/costumes in our basement.  It’s not surprising then, that the idea of collecting candy just for dressing up is sheer brilliance in their minds.  I’m pretty sure that the level of excitement doesn’t stem from the possibility of eating everything they bring home. They purely enjoy dressing up, greeting the neighbors, collecting, combining, and then sorting what they were so generously given.

This year, our Littles went as a mummy, baby dragon, cowgirl and a gnome.  It was so much fun seeing Little #2 wear the mummy costume that Uncle Tony wore as a kid.  Little #4, the dragon, was the third Shecklet to don the warm, fuzzy, green outfit. (Little #3 was too little her first Halloween and too big her second.)  We put a pink bow on her head to make her a “girl dragon.”  Our cowgirl was a superhero with her pink mask, and our garden gnome was grinning from ear to ear, but you couldn’t quite see it through his long, white beard.

Trick-or-treating began after school when we stopped by “the loft” to visit Papa, Mr. Eric and Uncle Tony.  Auntie Kristin also came by and brought the kids a treat.  From there, we went to Nana & Papa’s house to run up the front sidewalk and ring the doorbell.  After a few group photos and adding non-edible treats to their buckets/bags, we loaded back up and drove home to get ready for round three in our neighborhood.

Two of our friends joined us for the fun.  The guys walked the kids door-to-door and the ladies took turns holding Little #4.  Little #3 joined us back home after making it around most of our block.  From what I was told, the boys made mad dashes between houses as they went around the rest of the neighborhood.  It was cool and slightly misty out tonight, so I’m sure running helped keep them at least a little warm.

Upon their return, Little #1 & Little #2 dumped their candy into one pile.  Little #3 didn’t want to be left out, so she added hers to the mix.  Then, being the organizers that they are, they set to work on sorting the candy by type.  Who knew that Halloween could double as math exercise?

We ended our nightly prayers by praying for the people who handed out candy tonight.  It was a great way to talk to the Littles about what generosity means and how we can in turn be generous to others – and not just when it comes to candy.  I love to see their little hearts so open to such a concept.