Halloweeeeeeen "Banana"

Sadly Ben had a pretty high fever the day before Halloween and still wasn't quite himself despite being fever free, on All Hallow's Eve itself.   I kept him from school due to their 24-hour fever free policy so he missed the parade and party there but won't have any idea until he reads this someday. ;)
We were also supposed to take the "EEEEEEE" train to see Tante and trick-or-treat at her work but we also cancelled that in attempts to keep our germs contained.
Thankfully after a very long nap we convinced Ben to don his minion costume once more and headed out the festivities on South Gaylord St.  This year was more fun and easier than last but still controlled chaos.  Ben didn't quite have the stamina to hit up every candy post on Gaylord but I'd say he covered 80%.  The highlight of the night for all of us was running into Ben's minion brothers on our way home.  He was just stunned and thrilled to see so many minions and even went running into the house we ran into them at where the poor homeowner who had baby in one hand and the candy bowl in the other and was helpless to stop the minion intruder.  Ben even found the tiny sleeping infant twin of the baby said homeowner was holding but thankfully Ryan grabbed him before he woke the baby up.

love his animated little black hands :)

this minion is DONE!

the discovery

the diving-in

 

the squeals of delight

One of the homeowners at this house hangs out in the street scaring people.  Despite the broad daylight, he got me again this year. :)

un-edited gorgeous colors in the sunset

my sick but hangin'-in boys

We also stopped at a few houses to trick-or-treat on the way home and Ben did great being polite and even tried to give the candy back several times. :)

MeeMee had joined us for the fun and by 530 we were back home for chicken tortilla soup. A crock pot meal worked so much better than battling the crowds to eat on Gaylord like we did last year. 

Despite Ben shedding much of his costume by the end of dinner, he was ready for another round of trick-or-treating shortly after we bid MeeMee adieu. He and Ryan ventured out while Luke and I manned the candy bowl at home.  Luke soon knew there was no need to bark and even went out on to the porch to sweetly greet lots of the candy-seekers. 

Thanks to an extra long nap due to his sickness, Ben did NOT want to go to sleep but finally did just before ten. This morning-after was quite painful but he is now successfully at school with about half of his usual classmates. Clearly many parents had the same battle but just let their kids sleep. I feel badly for Ms. Corina today but we discussed that it was Friday and she had just brewed more coffee as I left.  She was doing everything possible to set herself up for success. 

*Halloween has never been my favorite holiday but Ben's delight his year did make me very happy. I look forward to the years ahead as he cares more and more and gets excited. This year he was really into all the little Broncos and if he had to pick a costume today, I'm sure it would be a football player.  We'll see what he loves a year from now......