Avery chose her own costume again this year, even though I tried my hardest to get her to change her mind. She picked early and she never changed her mind: she was going to dress as a Texas cheerleader. I really loved the cupcake costume from Pottery Barn so I would ask her every week if she wanted to be a cupcake and every week she responded much like a teenager would, "Mooooommmm. I. Want. To. Be. A. Cheerleader." Then she would add, "I already told you that."
And so it continues. She has her own mind and there is really nothing I can do about it.
You may notice from this picture that she is wearing big girl classes now. No more rubber frames with the safety strap to keep on a baby's head. I guess I should at least be happy that she stuck with pink but it sort of breaks my heart to look at her in these new glasses because they instantly age her.
I taught her a cheer to perform upon requests and most of the time she got MORE candy after she cheered, "fire Greg Davis! fire Greg Davis!"
There she goes...off to deliver candy packages to the other kids in the neighborhood before trick-or-treating started. We handed out candy early on our street so we could go meet some friends in my parent's neighborhood for the main event.
My little man, Jack, is still very cooperative both with the clothes I pick out for him every day and with Halloween costumes. I didn't have to do much for him this year because Avery had a turtle costume from when she was 2 that I decided to use for Jack. I figure it will be the last time I will ever be able to recycle a costume of hers so I better take advantage. I was afraid he might have strong feelings on his costume like Avery did when she was 2 but he went right along with my suggestion.
This child will turn anything into drums and drumsticks. He loves to music so much and I really don't know where he gets it from. It's generally a lot of fun to watch (notice I didn't say listen to) but I think I can only say that because it is sunny here over 300 days a year. Not a lot of those rainy days where we are stuck inside listening to this lovely "music."
Once we were done in our neighborhood we headed to my parents house to meet some friends and trick-or-treat.
Oh, what a difference a year makes. Avery wasn't scared at all by Poppa's mask but Jack was definitely hesitant. He kept his distance until Poppa finally coaxed him into a hug.
Off we went! They stayed in the wagon in the beginning, which wasn't surprising to us. It took them a few houses to warm up.
But when we got to "Uncle Josh's" house they took off running. They know he always has the good stuff for them.
Rona answered the door dressed as Kat Von D and Jack said, "hey, where's the candy?" I wish I could have gotten that on video.
They were excited to see Uncle Josh but Jack did not mince words with the candy requests.
I kept waiting for Jack to puke on Josh but it never happened. He got lucky this time.
Avery was happy to pose with Rona, especially in return for her very own bucket of candy. That's right--bucket. Each kid was given their own bucket filled with treats from Uncle Josh.
What we have here is an actual photo of Avery sharing candy with Jack. I can't believe I caught this on film. This is definitely going in the baby book.
Little Jacob (in the skeleton outfit) was trick-or-treating with us. I love this picture because it looks like he is saying, "come on! Let's get moving so we can get more candy!"
He got his wish. Here is Jacob with his first lollipop. So cute! He loved it.
Jack's face is covered in candy in this picture. It's a miracle he made it through the night without puking.
Once the kids got the hang of things they were out of the wagon and into the streets getting candy for themselves. It is good to teach them they need to ask for their own candy rather than expecting people to come to them with candy. It's the building block for every other major life lesson if you ask me.
Derrin, Jolene, and Jacob were a lot of fun to hang out with while we were trick-or-treating.
This woman was giving out toothpaste to all the trick-or-treaters. I thought that was a really novel idea. I mean, they don't call it trick-or-treats for nothing. It can't all be candy and play-doh.
After we were done with the candy collection we went to a little festival in the neighborhood. Jacob loved eating the popcorn.
If you ever wondered what a turtle climbing a blow-up slide looks like, here you go.
Every wonder what a turtle throwing a football looks like? You're welcome.
Jacob and Jack on the slide. I think I took 5o pictures o
f Jacob coming down the slide and none of them showed his face coming down.
But I was able to get the perfect shot of him going down the slide...backwards! Of course.
At the end of the night we had a very tired turtle and a happy little cheerleader. No one cried. No one threw up. It was a great night.
The kids enjoyed being pushed around in the stroller and the great weather but they weren't too happy that they didn't get anything to eat. Since we didn't feed them any lunch on the assumption that we would be eating lots of trailer food, we figured we better make up for it by going to Freddie's for dinner. The kids enjoyed playing on the playground while we waited for our dinner. 
Avery started to lose her patience for dinner after we waited 30 minutes to get a table, only to be seated at the very table next to the playground that we had been hanging out on while watching the kids play. Ridiculous. But funny.
She perked up when she found out dinner was coming soon! 
Sure, she's all smiles in the picture but in her mind she is plotting which one of us she is going to eat if she doesn't get food soon.
They really shouldn't bring silverware to the table until they bring the food. These things are easily turned into weapons when they need to be. Jack has the knife and fork in his hands and he is checking out the other kids on the playground. This could get ugly...
Both the kids got tired from playing on the playground at the restaurant. Needless to say, we had no problem at all getting them to bed tonight!
