The Blacks: 1 tired Princess + 1 tired bunny + 1 hyper puppy = AHHH

Our hopes for a beautiful Halloween evening came in the weather department however seemed to be missing in all other areas. Sarah was tired from the moment she got up this morning so I was fearful that the night might be a bit of a challenge. Since it was so nice out I thought that Megan might enjoy going for a walk with the whole neighbourhood gang. We can barely keep her inside most days when she sees the rest of the kids on the block playing outside. Alas on this particular evening she apparently wasn't up for a leisurely walk. So for a few blocks I carried my tired bunny and then dropped her back of with dad to hand out candy.

This left me with the tired princess and the hyper puppy. As we do most years we walked around the neighbourhood with our close friends Marnel, Presley and Drew. Presley is a few years older than Sarah and Drew is a few months older than Ethan. The first few houses we were having fun however as the kids got more excited (and likely as the candy they had snuck from home kicked in) the fights began. Presley being older and faster than Sarah always got to the door first which on this particular night was a travesty for my little princess. Even though Presley waited for Sarah to push the doorbell half the time, Sarah was too upset to be consoled by this gesture. Ethan and Drew on the other hand were happy to walk up to the door together however no step seemed to be big enough for the two of them. After some jostling and pushing ( the kids) and after trying all the parenting tricks in the book (me) --ie --reasoning, encouragement, bribing, threatening and ignoring-- Marnel and I agreed that as much as we were enjoying our walk ( ha ha) it might be best to divide and conquer separate streets. Not really wanting more candy but enjoying such a beautiful night we went a bit farther than we have in the years past. This only lead to even more tired kids who claimed they had no strength left to carry their bags which at this point was the indicator that it was time to go home. While they would have walked UP to a few more houses I didn't like the idea of me being the one who was then actually doing the trick or treating. Once home we jumped into the car to make a quick trip over to Trevor's boss' house not far away.She loves Halloween, has her house all decorated and only gives out full size chocolate bars. I am sure kids are lined up at her house right from school each Halloween! Thankfully the kids were on their best behavior for the 5 minutes we were there- whew--it could have been ugly!! Once home they rummaged and selected their treat for the night and then it was off to bed for a good nights sleep ( ha ha who are we kidding - all that sugar had them up for hours!). Whoever started Halloween must have been an aunt or uncle. No parent in their right mind would create such a wild day.