Halloween Weekend

Halloween 2015 was a winner. Friday night kicked off the holiday weekend with parties at each girl's school so we divided up to conquer. I played photographer again for the preschool set and it was a lot of fun. Carolina did great hanging out at the party mostly on her own which helped a lot. And we raised nearly $450 total with the raffles and photo booth--a great fundraising start to the year! Then Halloween Saturday we started off with Elisa's Girl Scouts party which she dressed up for as a black (Hello Kitty) cat with just minutes to spare. And then I had a quick photo shoot in the neighborhood with a repeat family from last year which was great. It's amazing to see the difference in these little ones from baby to running toddler. I returned to pick Elisa up and then Nacho took the girls to SGP while I started editing photos from the AMB Halloween party the night before. It was already a busy day and we hadn't even begun trick or treating! After lunch the girls relaxed for a bit and then we got dressed and ready to head over to Birdie's house to kick things off around 4:30 p.m. Since it was a weekend day, lots of folks were debating about when to start but I think from the look of things, 5 p.m. was the right time. There were many houses with signs saying such and that they didn't have candy yet. Ha! Sunnyside might be a hipster haven these days, but they still like to show their old school side once in a while. So it was a delight to be out among so many friends and neighbors enjoying the evening. The girls loved going door to door and we made it up and down both sides of two streets. It seemed to be enough. And then we returned to Max and Amanda's for a pizza/chili party with all the trimmings and plenty of spiked cider to soothe our candy soaked nerves. 

The kids did good for the most part and the fact that Nacho had to leave early to go to work (flying to Manchester, England) was the only down side of an otherwise lovely night. But we wrapped things up by about 8 p.m. and managed to walk our way back home without any complaints from the girls both hobbling around on high heels. Every year that we stay in Sunnyside I'm reminded what a fantastic community this is and how lucky we are to be surrounded by so many friends and families that make our kids' lives even better. We couldn't ask for more right now. So we won't. Halloween is one of my favorite holiday memories as a kid and it brings me back to a place of such fun and indulgence. I love seeing the kids' faces when they check out their haul and ask if they can have some. The answer is always yes. Enjoy it. We managed to get a cavity-free assessment this week from their dentist so all the better! And finishing the night with the girls in bed by 9 p.m. left me with plenty of time to enjoy watching my Kansas City Royals win Game 4 of the World Series against (who else) the NY Mets. Yes, it's been a very difficult week in our household. Nacho really learned to love baseball through watching the Mets and I have to say I love that team. I was a Murphy fan from his first season with us. But c'mon, how could I NOT support my hometown boys the Royals? I was a George Brett fan since I wanted to marry him at 5 years old. So yeah, I'll pulling for my Royals and loving every minute of this Series. Even if it means trash talking some of those friends and neighbors here. All in good fun....let's hope we clinch it tonight!