Best Halloween EVER

This may have been Jack's first Halloween, but it was Sydney's big day. For the first time, she really understood that it was a special day and was able to participate in so many of the activities.

Like last year, we went to First Baptist Church for their Halloween Festival. They had bounce houses and other inflatables.

There was also face painting. Sydney saw the girl in front of her getting a heart, so when I asked Sydney what she wanted, she picked her favorite shape and asked for a square. The artist wasn't able to bring himself to do a plain old square and did the one corner in red with the rest pink.

The Hazens joined us for the festival and then came over to play afterwards. It was nice to see them. With school back in session, we haven't been able to get together as often as we had gotten used to over the summer.

This year, Sydney was able to play more of the carnival type games that the church had going on inside.

Back at home, Sydney got to experience the trick or treating tradition by going down the street to her teenage sitter's house and then across the street to "Grammy's" house. Our teenage sitter's mom even called ahead of time to find out what Sydney's favorite candy is so that she could have it on hand when Sydney came by.

Our final Halloween treat, though was an impromptu visit from Sydney's best friend from daycare. I was just explaining to Sydney the idea that trick or treating is when strangers come to our door for candy when we opened the door and it was Andrew! His mother and I just looked at each other as the kids squealed with excitement. So, of course, we invited Andrew in to play. The next time the doorbell rang, Sydney exclaimed, "More friends!" She had already played with Peter and then Andrew and she just thought Halloween was the holiday when friends come over to our house.

As much fun as Sydney had this Halloween, I cannot wait to see the excitement building for Christmas.