Words I may never hear again

Judging by the amount of candy on my counter and the spaziness of my three year old I would say Halloween was a success. We decided to head downtown to the Main Street trick or treat since the weather was right for Eli and it is good for Kurt to be seen at public events like that. All of the businesses on Main sit outside their doors with oodles of candy and the trick or treaters go door to door and collect their goodies. It sounds like great fun. Like kids would be skipping from door to door and happily shouting "Trick or Treat!" as they get to each station, maybe even chatting a second before moving on. But this picture was taken before we turned the corner. It was gridlock. We were part of a line moving at a snail's pace along the sidewalk, and when a merchant with candy was near, pumpkin buckets were extended with nary a word and candy was dropped in. We did this last year and knew it would be like that. Myka still enjoyed it, and Eli got his third nap in, so that was nice.
And as we walked along with Myka in her warm Old Navy poodle costume, I heard a phrase I'm sure will not be uttered during another Halloween night for a long time - "Can I take this off, I'm HOT!" It was, after all, 70 degrees out, and only four o'clock. And this costume was built to withstand typical Iowa Trick or Treating weather; wind, rain, blizzard... So we wrapped up Main Street with the hood off and coat open, grabbed our dinner and headed home for the loop around the neighborhood. The weather was perfect for the evening stroll.

Eli and I stayed home to hand out candy to our 30 or so trick or treaters, and Kurt and Myka spent an hour and a half making their way around our horseshoe street. She made quite a haul. Last year, Halloween candy became the reward for using the potty, but this year I wasn't sure how to distribute it. However, by late Saturday morning I had already heard enough "poopy"s for the day and said if she said it again she wouldn't get any Halloween candy that day, and I haven't heard the word since! So I've found my new way to distribute the candy, but if her past couple of weeks are any indication it will last until Easter. At least.
And since Eli doesn't really get to enjoy Halloween much, here is a recent picture of him hanging out. Wipe the drool off your chin, kid, you're having your picture taken!