To Halloween and Beyond!

Happy Halloween! Gavin had a FABULOUS time with Halloween this year. Trick-or-treating went great. He had the hang of the process by house two. "Gotta get more treats" "Gotta fill up my bucket" "Gotta go to the next house"...with a few "thank you's" and "Happy Halloween's!!" mixed in. It was a joy watching him have so much fun.

One of my favorite things of the night was his comment when he saw a couple kids dressed as witches. "Hahahaha....it's a little gnome, it's a little gnome" with fingers pointing. We watched Gnomeo and Juliet a month ago or so. So, he thinks that the witch hats look like gnome hats. And he said it with such enthusiasm! Many times throughout the night.

We thought we'd just hit a few close neighbors for trick-or-treating. But Gavin was having so much fun (and the weather was so cooperative), that he must have walked to half of the house in our neighborhood. Such a blast! And he enjoyed his sweet treats (not too many of them) when he got home and compared goods with his cousins.

Here are some photos...

The obligatory pumpkin photo, complete with cheesy smile (but no camera eye contact).

Buzz in action walking from house to house filling his bucket with treats. I do think he's the cutest Buzz ever! Love those wings...but he had no spacial concept, running his wings into other trick-or-treaters, cars parked in driveways, bushes/tress, office equipment when he came to visit me at lunch today, etc.

Fill this thing up!

The tired crew at the end of the evening...Luke with a Spartan Jason mask (not in costume here), Gavin "Buzz" Lightyear, Ava the Spartan cheerleader, and Lexi the bride (with an orange shirt for some extra Halloween flare)...And I like to think that Grace is there with them dressed as a butterfly...fluttering over them. Cute little Clark/Brown family!

I did find myself teary-eyed at times this evening, particularly watching all the little girls running around, some dressed as butterflies and such. Thinking of how we won't get to do this with Grace. And then a little girl dressed as an angel came to our house when I was handing out candy and Brad, Shirley and Gavin were off trick-or-treating. I told her I liked her wings, and she replied by saying she was a beautiful angel. I couldn't help but think how blessed her family was to have her as a living angel. Fortunately, it was dark, so she couldn't see my emotional face.

I had my moments of emotion, but mainly just a lovely Halloween with my family, soaking in all of the joys of Gavin's first real year of "getting it". It was fun! Oh, and I dressed up this year for work. Priority Health is celebrating 25 years. So, in honor of 1986, the year we started, we were challenged to wear 80's attire today. It was a blast getting decked out in fluorescent, tacky clothing, big hair, outrageous make-up, and so on. I even sported my circa 1980's Walkman, a true archive from the past, complete with an Amy Grant cassette! I'll spare you the photos!

Happy Halloween everyone!