Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween going trick-or-treating in my old neighborhood.
My parents still live in the house I grew up in, so we almost always head back there for Halloween with my sister and her family as well. This is a great thing for a few reasons:
1) we live in the country, so would have to travel several miles to get to the number of houses we can hit in just a square block in my old neighborhood

2) our whole family gets to see all of the kids'costumes. With my sister's family, there are 7 kids total, so seeing the variety of custumes is lots of fun!
(from left to right: a Packer, an Indian girl, a princess, Hermoine from Harry Potter, an "army guy", an aloof teenager (my sister's words first...Connor, you are great!), and Robin Hood)

3) My dad's birthday is on October 30, so we can all be together to celebrate (1 day late)

4) having a "tradition" is such a great thing for kids (at least our kids)! They love knowing what they can count on each year!
(Can you see all of the kids? The 6 with costumes are all represented in this picture!)

5) It is so much fun to be back in my "old" neighborhood and see some of the neighbors that have been there since I was little. What a treat for them to know my kids too! I know lots of people have issues with Halloween and where it got its "start". In our family we look at it as a time to get together, dress up in fun costumes (we never do scary or "ghoulish") and of course, get lots of candy (that mom makes disappear after a few days). It is great being a college teacher so I can "share" my kids' plunder with my students once I am ready for it to be out of the house.

As I type that, I realize that I haven't shared much about who I am, and what I do each day, so that will have to be a post in the near future.

So... back to our Halloween. We had a quick pizza supper together, went around the neighborhood, came back "home", my dad opened his presents, we had cake, and we brought extremely tired kids home. Great evening!
This year the whole crew included my mom, dad, grandma, aunt, uncle, cousin and his wife, sister, brother-in-law, 5 nieces and nephews, my 2 kids, my hubby, and me!

On a side note, check out just a taste of the creativity of some people who live near my parents!
It is a "must" for us to go to this house every year and see what they did THIS year!

They have dozens of pumpins carved. I just took pictures of a few of them! They have bonfires and candles, and lots of "animated" Halloween characters. I didn't photograph them because they freak my daughter out!

Whether you celebrate Halloween or not, I hope you had a chance to enjoy your family as much as we enjoyed ours!