I ain't afraid of no ghost!

Maks had requested to be a skunk for Halloween this year.  He came up with the idea on his own (as we allow him to do each year) and was set on it for weeks on end.  I purchased him a skunk costume weeks ago, but when he tried it on he immediately complained that it was "too itchy."  I completely agreed with him; there's no way it could have been comfortable.  It was about 4 sizes too big, too.  I guess you never can know with Amazon.  Thankfully we were able to return the costume and brainstorm a new idea.  Second time around, Maksim & Deklan both requested the same costumes: Firefighters!

Fitness Center fun while Maks was at school.

On Sunday evening the boys each selected a face that they wanted to carve on their personal pumpkins.  Deklan opted for a scary face while Maksim decided he wanted a pumpkin that was sad. 

Deklan's spot-on description of his pumpkin kills me:

Leave it to me to have completely bypassed remembering to grab some candles for lighting the pumpkins when we were finished.  Bryon MacGyver'd the way with 2 ziploc bags, a headlamp and a small flashlight.  The red light setting on the headlamp was the boys' favorite!  And no worries about fire!  We might use this trick again in the future!

My pumpkins.  (And Bryon.  Ha!)

On Halloween, we were lucky to experience a day of sunshine sandwiched between rain storms.  Quite a temperature difference from last year when the boys were so hot that they couldn't stand to wear their headpieces!  This year I was thankful that the boys chose costumes that allowed me to layer clothes beneath and keep them toasty.

Ready and waiting for Daddy to get home!

With 2 firefighters-in-training in tow, we headed to our town "Village" as soon as Bryon returned home from work.  We live in a community with a lot of acreages and gravel roads/houses nestled in the woods, so door-to-door trick or treating isn't do-able (or safe).  However, come 6pm, the Village becomes the place to be!  There's a large central park (called "the green") where individuals, companies, etc. can set up doors and decorate an entire scene for Halloween.  My boys loved the Lego castle as well as the Mad Hatter and his tea party.  I'm glad we decided to visit the Village first though, because by 6:30pm it was way too congested for children as young as mine (and people with personal space and/or patience problems...like me).  It was like the MOA during the Holidays when you're a MSP local and know exactly where you need to go.  GET OUTTA MY WAY!

Fire truck on the Green?  The perfect costume accessory!

Since we don't live in a "neighborhood" of our own, I took the recommendations of some locals and we headed to a cluster of cul-de-sac neighborhoods on the other end of town.  Maksim and Deklan are young enough that 1 cul-de-sac of about 20 homes was plenty for their little legs.  An hour later, with nearly full pumpkin buckets (and bulging biceps), we headed home.

The first house of the night.

They were allowed to dump out their buckets and stare in amazement at their stashes before jumping into bed.  All this excitement and only 1 hour past their regular bedtimes!

Sweet tooth success!

Counting Every. Last. Piece.

Maksim has decided that next year he is going to be something "scary."  Because, "That's what Halloween is all about, Mom."