Halloween was a very busy day!
In the afternoon, we went to Meridian Mall for Trick-or-Treating.
Elizabeth dressed as a FAIRY...
and we met up with Elizabeth's friend, Jimmy
(The Firefighter)
where they–and seemingly the rest of the population of the Greater Lansing and surrounding areas—went from store-to-store on a quest for candy!
Then, we grabbed a bite to eat and made it home at about 5:59...just in time to greet the neighborhood trick-or-treaters!
It was c-c-c-cold!!!! So we bundled up Ashley in her little caterpillar costume (on top of a warm sleepsack), and added a fluffy jacket on top of Elizabeth's outfit before she strapped on her wings!
Then, we camped out on a blanket in front of the house on our lawn to watch all the excitement!
And, what excitement there was!!! Elizabeth could hardly contain her enthusiasm at being all dressed up outside and admiring all the other costumes that the neighborhood kids were wearing. (At one point, she saw a girl dressed up as a bunny, and could not stop giggling, "That girl is a BUNNY!!!! She looks like a bunny! And she's holding a carrot!!!!") LOL
Early on, Daddy was able to coax her to visit the houses across the street to do some trick-or-treating of her own. But after only two houses, she was ready to return home to pass out candy with Mommy—which apparently was far more appealing!
Elizabeth danced happily around the blanket in her wings as the trick-or-treaters came one after another. And Elizabeth delighted in dropping a single piece of candy in each girl's bag! Several times throughout the night, Elizabeth exclaimed "I'm trick-or-treating!!!! I'm trick-or-treating!" when, in fact, she was not doing that at all. But, to her, this was about 100 times better!
Small groups of pre-teen girls oohed and aahed over both the "Candy Fairy" and her little sister, the Caterpillar.
As the night grew darker and colder, I took our little Caterpillar inside to tuck her into bed, and returned with a fuzzy hat for Elizabeth to wear--beneath her tiara, of course!
Even when we finally retreated into the warmth of the house, Elizabeth's excitement was not dampened--at all! As we sat on the bottom steps of the stairs just inside the door, awaiting the remaining candy-seekers, Elizabeth giggled and grinned, exclaiming, "I'm trick-or-treating!!...INSIDE!"
Sweet girl, fun night, great memories! :-)
a car full of balls,
a purple tutu,
a mop & broom, an assortment of stickers, a HelloKitty necklace, a Sit 'n Spin, a Candyland game, electronic quiz games, a target giftcard, plenty of precious picture books, a TON of cute clothes, and Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!!!!
There are some of you who will be a little confused by the title of this entry, but I am confident there are others (ahem...Jennifer?...Mom?) who will immediately smile with recognition. This is the name of a wondeful children's picture book (by Patricia Lee Gauch) that I remember fondly from my childhood.
In it, the main character, Christina, lives out every child's fantasy of using and reusing (again and again and again!) an enormous BOX that delivers her mother's washer/dryer (or refrigerator or some other such appliance that comes in a ridiculously gigantic cardboard box--the kind that all children dream of having delivered to their homes!) As a child, I LOVED this book for many reasons...not the least of which was for Christina's ability to imagine (and then realize) so many of the endless possibilities that such a box has in her imaginary world!
(The Firefighter)
Then, we camped out on a blanket in front of the house on our lawn to watch all the excitement!
Small groups of pre-teen girls oohed and aahed over both the "Candy Fairy" and her little sister, the Caterpillar.
You wouldn't know it to look at these photos, but it is often IMPOSSIBLE to get Elizabeth to look at the camera!
Instead, she averts her eyes to the left or right (think Susannah 
Hoffs in the "Walk Like an Egyptian" video--which is annoying when we are just trying to get a normal straight-on smiling photo of your little one!)
Overall, I think things went really well!...But there were certainly a few moments when I felt like the Little Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe! (Don't worry though...there was no whipping involved! haha!)
