Sunday, November 7, 2010

Some Halloween Lessons Learned


On Halloween, we went over to our friends Becky and Ammon's house.  Bailey and their daughter Hailey are best friends, or mortal enemies depending on the moment.  We thought that taking the two of them trick or treating together would be fun for them.  Becky and I decided that we'd go trick or treating first, then come back and eat dinner after.  We thought that if we left around 5:30 little kids would be out filling their buckets with candy.

Becky and I tried to get some cute pics of the two of them together before we headed off to get candy.  These are about as good as they get, but they're still cute!
Bailey is checking out Hailey's pumpkin to make sure she doesn't have any candy yet.

We started out with their neighbors, thinking that for sure the girls would be successful in their first attempts.  We were wrong!  The first three houses that we tried, we struck out!  The girls were so cute and walked up to each house, but with each house they became more certain that this trick or treating thing was a hoax!  They were really confused about why we were asking them to go up to each door.  We decided to head over to our friend's street where we knew we'd get at least one house.

Here's Bailey looking rather dejected at another empty house and her still empty bucket.

When we got to Kirstie and Brad's house the girls were about ready to give up.  When Kirstie opened the door, Bailey walked right on in and was ready to stay the night.  We had our first successful house.  Their neighborhood looked a little more promising, so we continued on.  We thought it was weird that there weren't more kids walking around; it was now nearing 6:00 and the streets were practically empty. 

We were the first trick or treaters at most of the houses that we went to, but that also meant that the people who opened the door were still friendly and happy to see two adorable girls standing at their door.  Some people were smart and set up camp outside their garage door, so they didn't have to keep getting up and down all night.  We all took turns walking the girls up to each new door.  The girls were very polite and said thank you at every house.

About five houses into our night, Ammon and I walked the girls up to the door.  It looked like it would be a success because of all the Halloween decorations out.  There were spooky lights lining the walkway and some pumpkins by the door.  By now they knew the drill, walk to the door, knock, wait for it to open and say, "Trick or treat!"  Hanging on this door was a spooky looking witch.  When we got close to the door, the witch started moving, her eyes lit up, and it was making creepy sounds.  Hailey just turned around and started running away.  Bailey started screaming, "STOP, STOP IT!!"  It was hilarious!  Both of the girls were shaken up and we had to make sure that the next house was nice and cheery.  I really wanted to take them back and video tape it this time, but I thought that would have been a little too cruel.
Here's Bailey with her favorite, "Arrrr me tatey!" pirate pose.

Half way through, Bailey started to realize that this was the greatest thing ever!  As we would leave one house, she would say, "I love the next house!"  She even got brave enough that she wanted to walk up by herself, with us close behind her of course.

Just as we were done for the night, the streets started to get filled with more little ghosts and goblins out trick or treating.  It was close to 6:30 and practically dark.  Becky and I were amazed that that was the time to start walking around; we apparently missed the memo on that one.  Despite our early start, our first time trick or treaters, and the few scares we had, it was a very successful night.  When we went back to the house, the girls were ready to eat their entire buckets of candy.  We got them to eat some real food, but candy was constantly on their minds.  We had a great night with the Sullivans!
Around 8:00 we headed over to my mom and dad's house to be their only trick or treaters of the night.  We had to stop by so they could see Bailey, and because Toni got real dressed up for the occasion.  Toni was a little bored and really excited to see Bailey, so she got into the full Halloween spirit! 
Bailey did not know what to think when they answered the door.  I'm pretty sure it was the first time she'd ever gone through the real front door too.  She wasn't sure who the crazy witch lady was until we went inside.


Lessons learned from Halloween:

1.  Trick or treating starts when it gets dark around 6:30ish.  Forget trying to be safe with the little ones.  If you want the candy, you have to wait until it's dark.
2.  If there's something scary hanging on the front door, it's probably meant to scare the little ones away.  Be prepared with video camera to catch all of the spooky moments.
3.  Probably do a test run at your own house so the kids don't think it's okay to walk into every door that opens.
4.  The lesson Bailey learned is that Halloween is the greatest day ever!  She asks about the Halloween decorations and trick or treating almost every day.  Now that she's old enough to get it, she loves it!


1 comment:

keri mae rhineer heaton said...

booya!! nice post... the other day toni told bailey tha ti was drinking diet coke.. she said what does that do... bailey says make her happy. then she asked again... bailey responded with ... beast!! haha