Trick or Treat!

Yep, I'm well aware that Halloween was a week ago.  I'm a bit behind in my blogging. Chalk that up to going out of town right after the holiday and being sick.  So we're back in town, but....I'm still sick.  As in, I lost my voice last Friday night only to finally get it back yesterday.  I kid you not!  I couldn't believe how long I was without a voice.  Needless to say doing all of our schooling was a bit tough.  (I don't think the dumplings minded a bit though. lol)

Anyway, let's back up to Halloween here for a moment.  Ever since last Halloween, Caleb told me that he wanted to be Jesus this year.  Easy enough costume to make.  However, I had to hand sew the hem on the sleeves and bottom of the robe plus narrow hem stitch that enormously long drape, as in 10 yards of narrow hemming.  I couldn't wait to be done! lol

 Our neighbor's two dogs got loose with so many people coming and going.  So at one point, all the men, including precious Caleb, went out searching the neighborhood for them.  I guess all ya gotta do is call on Jesus. ;)

 Madeline wanted to be Alice in Wonderland.  I already had a pattern on hand but wasn't crazy about all the extra embellishments it said to include because they're not part of the original dress.  So I left them off. The bodice came together nicely.  But I have a problem sewing garments for Madeline that require a zipper closure.  Her torso is so skinny that I really need to make big adjustments. And well, I didn't have time for that.  I simply made it longer for my tall girl and called it done, knowing that the ties in the back would help to pull it tighter.  Oh, and please ignore the lamp growing out of her head.  We were all a bit anxious to start trick or treating, and none of us were in any mood to attempt another shot of the two of them together.  And if you noticed in the first shot of this post, little Miss Havi chose not to wear a costume.  So we let it be.

 The sunset was pretty that night, and the first houses the kids stopped at were our neighbors on the cul-de-sac.

 So after we were about half way through all the houses we thought we'd stop by, Havi finally realized that her brother and sister were coming back with candy and decided she would join them.  Thankfully she had a dress on. So she wasn't mistaken for a boy. lol

 Then we came back to the house to hand out candy.  The kids were really looking forward to doing that.  Madeline was a bit sour about it because Caleb was in charge of the bowl, being older and bigger and more capable.  Those adjectives didn't mean much to her. lol

 After handing out candy, they came back inside to check out their loot.  This was Havi's little pile.

Well, we really enjoyed trick or treating in our new neighborhood.  We missed hanging out with our friends in their neighborhood, but the kids wanted to see what it was like to trick or treat in their own new neighborhood this year. What was great for me was that we met a few of our neighbors that live down the way a bit and found out that one of them homeschools.  Very cool.  And one of the high school helpers in Madeline's dance class last year came by.  She thought that was pretty neat.

Anyway, now that I'm caught up on Halloween, I will be sure to share photos from our camping trip this weekend.  We also had a very big day on Tuesday.  We celebrated 6 years since Caleb was first placed in our arms.  Six years!!!!  I just can't believe it.  Caleb has blessed our lives tremendously since he was put in our hearts and placed in our arms.  We are so proud of the boy he is growing up to be.  He loves Jesus, his family, and tennis.  That about sums him up. Hee hee.  We took him to the Magic Kingdom along with his sisters to celebrate his Forever Family Day, and I have lots of photos to prove it.