The Trick or Treating

I was relieved that String Cheese didn't have school today because I didn't have to get up early to get her ready. But that relief was short-lived. At about 9am the kids started asking, "When do we get to go trick-or-treating?" It was a long day for all of us. We use a chart for the kids to earn their allowance each week. They start with a clean slate--$2. The chart has their name and the $2 is shown as 8 quarters. When we have problems during the week (ie. a big rule breaker like hitting or using bad words), sometimes a quarter has to be crossed off. Unless its an absolute rule then I usually give the kids a warning (ie. "Deedle, if you keep screaming at me in that angry voice you will lose a quarter.") The kids had done great this week, but the excitement must have become too much (or the sugar???) and more allowance was lost today than the entire week before combined.The evening, though, still turned out great. Chancho made it home early from work and brought us pizza. We had two families worth of cousins come to trick-or-treat with us. The kids were thrilled about that! Chancho took the kids around while I stayed home to pass out candy. We had a cloud cover and it seemed to hold in some warmth. The weather was perfect. I got bored sitting on the porch and wanted more fall sounds so I raked all of the leaves off our grass onto the driveway and sidewalk so that I could hear more crunching. It did start to rain a bit, but not too hard, nor too cold. I ate some Halloween candy. I threw it up. I went in and read a magazine. Then the kids were all back.
After a lot of candy consumption and the cousins had gone home, we put on jammies, brushed teeth, and snuggled on our bed to watch "Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." So, we had a fun night, great memories, and I'm really glad the kids are in bed and this holiday is over.