Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day Twenty-one

We had a lot of fun yesterday for Halloween.  Gabriel was really into it this year.  Annika had no clue what Halloween was about, but she quickly understood it involved candy, and was gung-ho.  We were supposed to meet some friends in downtown Edmonds, where the city closes off the streets and kids get candy from the shops.  We never found our friends, and we only lasted for about a half an hour in the crowds.  It just wasn't that fun for me, having to stand in line at each door to get a piece of candy.  But it was funny watching Annika.  She dug into her candy immediately, and was eating it through the wrapper before we even noticed.  This kid has a major sweet tooth!  She was sneaky, too.  

Gabriel was a dinosaur this year.  He wanted to be a dragon, but when I showed him a few costumes we could order online, he chose the dinosaur from Magic Cabin, which I actually liked the best, too.  He'll be able to wear it for many years, and it is not a toddler costume like many of them were.  Annika picked the giraffe costume from our stash.  

It had rained all day, but by 5pm the sun was out and it was mild and pleasant outside.  After we finished in Edmonds, we came home and anxiously waited for it to get dark enough to go knock on some neighbors' doors.  Then I had the kids trade in half of their Halloween candy to me for some art supplies that I had bought instead.  I want them to be able to enjoy the holiday and have fun being a kid and eating candy, but not to go overboard.  This is the second year I've done the trade thing with Gabriel, and last year he didn't even finish all of the candy he kept.  He was just as excited to get new art supplies as he was to get candy.  But he had a hard time letting go of his sweets when it came down to it.  I had to help him through the process.  He wanted so badly to hang onto his sugary loot.  He loves his new art stuff, though, and has been busy creating since he made the trade.  

It is cool as a parent to have these fun family times together, and to create memories and traditions for our kids.