A Year in the Life of an Army Family: Sugary Halloween

If Halloween is all about chaos and sugar, we've checked all those blocks today. The day started out quietly enough, then Uncle M and Aunt L came down and we made and decorated some yummy Halloween sugar cookies. OK, so we didn't have any Halloween cookie cutters, and we had pink and purple icing, but we managed. LSP loved decorating the cookies with Aunt L. Until she figured out how to lick the icing off the cookie. The she proceeded to decorate, and de-ice the same cookie 4 times. Then Daddy called in on Skype and we got to chat with him a little. Just as we were done with that, my good friend N and her husband M and her kids J and M showed up with a Halloween treat. LSP had a grand time playing with the big boys. She had been resisting trying on her costume, but they managed to talk her into it - for a few seconds. Then Nana and Grampy returned, they had been away for a few days. What fun and chaos!

An hour later we got ready to go out trick or treating. LSP had several different costume options and WOULD NOT wear any of them. Not even for a second. We put her in the car and headed to Nana and Grampy's friends, where she was excited to see their granddaughter, J. J had on a super-cute bunny costume, but LSP was not interested in putting on any of hers. No way. Eventually I talked her into her red, white and blue tutu skirt with a white sweater with an eagle on it and red sparkly shoes. Improvised All-American girl costume. Not as cute as the frog, but you take what you can get, I guess.

Next we headed to Nanny and Papa's house, where we linked up with my friend K, her husband C and their son A for a little trick or treating. A is a few years older than LSP and he quickly showed her the ropes. After the first house, where she busted in and ran into the living room to play with the toys, (luckily we knew the people) she began to catch on. "Let's go to that house!" she said, "Get more candy." We went to several houses in the neighborhood where K knows people and LSP and A got a good collection of candy. Soon we had enough candy, and mom had a enough of carrying LSP around the neighborhood, so we headed back to Nanny and Papa's house where we visited for awhile before coming home and crashing from the sugar high.