Halloween - A Success!!

So after my worries about Luis and his costume, it turns out that Luis loved his scary box. And wore it (most of the time).

And Diego, being the great Dad that he is, dressed up too, as a Mexican Wrestler (think Nacho Libre) - though Caleb and Luis referred to him as "That Scary Monster".

In VA, kids started ringing doorbells by about 5p. So I was ready with my TWENTY-THREE pounds of candy then (we were told we'd get close to 500 kids). But no one came. Luis was playing outside and I kept looking up and down the sidewalks, but no one came. Finally at about 6:00, I suited up Luis (and Diego suited up himself), and we headed out to about 10 houses of friends on our street. Luis did a great job - telling everyone that he was a Scary Box! and saying Trick Or Treat!!

Luis's inaugural Trick or Treat was next door, at Mr. Kyle's

Our friend Caleb came by to say hi to us and Kyle & Tim, dressed as a bear. He and Luis were very happy to show each other their costumes.

Turns out that Luis is not much of a candy kid. He got a Tootsie Pop at one house and opened it up at intermission (he liked the box costume but found it a bit cumbersome to walk in, so we split our route in half and took a break). After that, he'd go to houses and say Trick Or Treat!, but not hold out his candy box. The adult would invariably ask if he'd like some candy. Luis would hold out his Tootsie Pop and say, "No thanks, I have a LOLLIPOP". It was pretty amusing.

After making the rounds, Luis ditched his costume and went next door to help Kyle & Tim hand out candy for a while. They were hosting a bit of a pot luck for some of the neighbors. Someone made chili, someone else jalapeno cornbread, someone else jello shots (I'm not kidding, 125+ of them), and someone brought chips & salsa. Having been inspired by my friend Cara (who was inspired here), and feeling worried that I wasn't displaying the right amount of Halloween enthusiasm, I made some Halloween themed treats, including little Mummies, Fingers, and Monster Mouths.

Diego and I took turns passing out candy to the masses (seriously, at least 400 kids actually showed), enjoying the delicious food, and monitoring how much candy Luis actually ate (less than 6 bite-sized pieces, we think).

Luis eventually returned home to help us pass out our candy. He was good, but r-e-a-l-l-y slow. When he bored of passing out candy, he focused his attention on taking the rolls of Smarties out of the bowl. With each one, he'd say, "Look Mommy, I found ANOTHER one." He found about fifty. FIFTY. Then he got frustrated that there weren't any more, so we had to sneak them from his pile back into the bowl without him noticing, simply so he could say, "Look Mommy, I found AN-NOTHER one" one more time. I kept telling myself, at least he's happy. And he was.

Luis sorting his Smarties while I talked with Suzanne

Luis, who had not seen a whole lot of candy before yesterday kept asking the names of each individual candy. At one point, he told me that "m&m's is Spanish for Skittles".

This morning, I asked Luis if he had a good Halloween, and he said yes. When I asked him about his favorite parts, he offered:

"Giving out candy to the Trick-or-Friends"

"Going Trick-or-Treating and saying 'Scary Box!'"