Halloween

Better late than never.

This year, despite encouragement to go as Dora so Ian could be Boots, Anja was adamant about going as Snow White. Easy enough. It's amazing how many versions of the same costume Amazon has for sale. I wanted to be ambitious and follow through on my mom's idea for Ian to go as a dwarf, but that didn't happen. We were going to put a little flip chart on the front of his stroller and change it depending upon his mood: Happy, Sleepy, Grumpy, Sneezy, Bashful, or Doopy. I was going to go as Doc. But, well, I was just too lazy to figure out how to get crafty. In the end, he was asleep by the time I took Anja out for trick or treating anyway, so I'm glad I didn't invest much time into that. We did get him into a costume, however. He did go as a monkey. Not a particularly happy one, but a monkey costume was used for an entire 20 minutes. At 7 months old, he wore the same costume Anja *walked* around in when she 14 months old. Incredible. Now look at how it fit him.

Anja was an incredible trooper when we went out. I figured, last year we hit up 5 houses, so we'd double it this year. Nope. We went with the other cul de sac kids and their dads, so she stuck it out longer. In fact, the only reason we came home after walking approximately 1 mile's worth of houses was because of the rule I had to make up on the fly: Once you can't carry your own bucket, it's time to go home. And that's exactly what happened. She scored enough candy (and one random can of pop which she promptly gave to me) to fill her pumpkin bucket. I've been thankful ever since.

So here they are at Grandma and Grandpa's house, pre-loot. Dan's cousin, Bryant, gave her the apple to complete her costume. She apparently never saw the full movie. She just started eating it.

And here we are, after Anja enjoyed a sucker, the fruits of her labor. Can you guess what color the sucker was?

I've been informed on several occasions that next year she will be going as Hello Kitty. I've also been informed that next year I will be a witch. I better start working on my costume now.