happy halloween!

Happy Halloween!  And what a happy day indeed for Princess Anna and one ferociously cute little lion--from morning until night...

Our day started with dance class, and it also happened to be open studio day at Harper's dance school.  That means that, rather than watching from the hallway, we were allowed to go into the classroom to watch the class and take photos.  Hunter is obsessed with Harper's dance class and is always banging on the glass door and trying to scoot inside when the door opens.  So this was basically his dream come true.  Mimi and Gramzy were able to join us as well, which was a special treat.  Harper's class performed a special Halloween dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller.  So fun!

Later that afternoon, we had a Halloween party to attend--and not just any party but a ghost parade.  My friend Holli and I invited all the kiddos, and we made mini chalkboard pumpkins, snacked on festive treats, and then paraded through the yard with little ghosts made of cheesecloth.  There were princesses, pumpkins, Micky and Minnie Mouse, and a dozen more festive friends in attendance.  Gosh there is nothing sweeter than kids in costumes.

We wrapped up the party in time to return home and pick up our daddy to go trick or treating.  Unlike in years past when we have gone around or neighborhood trick-or-treating, we decided to try something different.  We headed into the city for Beacon Hill's annual Halloween stroll, where the gorgeous historic homes display their decorations and open their front doors to pass out candy to the legions of trick-or-treaters.  Dallin and I weren't quite sure how Hunter and (more notably) Harper would take to this activity, but since lots of our friends had gone in the past and were going again this Halloween, we figured we would give it a try.  I was feeling optimistic, Dallin not so much; unfortunately Dallin was right.  Hunter was happy and content in his stroller, but the crowds of people in costume, some of those costumes being super intense, were a little too much for our sweet little Princess Anna.  After a couple of houses, Harper proclaimed, "I have enough candy.  I want to go home."  We thought that meeting up with our friends would persuade, or at least distract her, but no such luck.  So we headed home a little while later, soaking up the festive decorations on Charles Street along the way.  Sadly, we took no pictures of our family together in costumes.  Dallin was a cowboy, and I was Clark Kent.  We were so festive!  Next year, we will have to remember to capture it.

On the way home, we stopped at one of our favorite spots, Chipotle, for dinner.  If you show up in costume on Halloween, you get a discount on your dinner (yay!).  We ran into some friends while we waited in line.  A couple of quesadillas, burritos, and tacos later, it was time to get Princess Anna and her little lion brother into the bath and ready for bed.  Fortunately, the trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood didn't take ALL of the candy we left out on the porch using the honor system, and so the day ended with me eating my weight in Milky Way.  The next morning Harper couldn't stop talking about how much fun she had trick-or-treating so it looks like our Beacon Hill adventure left no permanent scars--whew.  Happiest Halloween from our family to yours!