Halloween "Light the Night"

Whew! What a night! It was sunny ... and a bit COLD ... (well, not as cold as Minnesota Halloweens!) ... and we had a GREAT time ... and now we are TIRED!

Earlier this afternoon, Aaron got out our grill and set up our make-shift puppet stage (made out of pvc pipes, sheets and safety pins). Mike and Sarah (with Jacob and Abby) and Slavic and Sarah (with Baron and Sofia) and my wonderful mom came over late afternoon. I must say, we were a bit confused about when people would come out for trick-or-treating. I think they came out earlier last year ... but Aaron says that's because the Phillies were playing. So, we all waited and chilled for a bit (literally), but had fun hanging out together.

Caleb and Ellie tried out the puppet stage.

We got a picture (of course!) before going out. Ellie and I were "beautiful princesses" (well, Ellie insisted that she was a QUEEN and I was a PRINCESS ... don't know how that works since I'm married and she isn't ... but oh well) and Caleb was a Jawa (from Star Wars).

Around 5:45 (or so) Sarah, Slavic, our neighbor Jen, mom and I left to go Trick-or-Treating with the kiddos. We only went down 2 streets and were loaded with candy. SCORE for living in town homes! And POINTS for parents who take lots of pictures, give lots of "Say thank you!" reminders, and get to "sample" the candy after the kids go to bed!

Baron the tiger, our neighbor Robert (as Dennis the Menace), Caleb, Jacob, Ellie and Abby

We came back and the kids played while Aaron and Mike bbq'ed hot dogs and Sarah and I did some puppet songs. Several neighborhood kids got behind the puppet stage for their own performances. Very fun. :-) Jacob and Abby even got in on the action. (Caleb and Ellie tried the puppets out early but then got too occupied with other things).

Aaron, Mike and Sarah, my mommy and Abby

Sooooo ... the Statistics ...

We gave away 150 bags of candy ... 128 hot dogs ... 96 mini water bottles (and we still ran out!) ... and the number of hours of sleep to recover is yet to be determined! HA! We pray that we were a light to our neighborhood, and that this night will have an eternal impact in some way.

Aaron may have more stories - but that's all for now!

Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law Rachel!

~JG