Living Freely

My kids are finally into costumes! I've always loved being at Brittani's (my sister. . who just started a blog! Check it out!) and seeing her kids dress up in different costumes. Halloween has brought that out in our children this year. Truthfully, I struggle with "celebrating" halloween. Knowing all of th evil that takes place on this day, I don't even want to give it my time. However, for a couple of years now we have had Fall Festival at our church on Halloween night. . you know, a halloween alternative. . .giving away free food, cotton candy and popcorn and hosting the community for the night. That was easy to get behind. . I mean, the community is looking for something to do, why NOT be that something? This year, however, we had to cancel Fall Festival. With the economy not doing well and many of our families having lost jobs recently, we felt that our money is better spent on the many benevolent requests that come into our church each day. I fully support our decision, but was so sad. Brayden kept asking, "when is fall festibal?"

Instead, we crashed my sister, parents and grandparents neighborhood (and Glenn and Lisa) and gave out candy on their front lawn and did a bit of trick or treating. (check out her blog for the full story on their ministry in candy giving!). I was concerned with trick or treating b/c of the blatant selfishness it promotes. . I did NOT want to see my kid digging through someone's bag trying to determind what gift he wanted, like I had seen other kids do while digging through the baskets at Brittani's. The whole "give me" thing was hard to swallow. . .and my kids had never been trick or treating so I was seriously considering not doing it. In the end, I decided to start around the block with my brother in law, hubby, Papa and the kids and see how it went. . .I could always drag the kids back to the house for a good "talking to" if they needed it! I was so proud of all 5 of the kids for how they behaved. They took just one piece of candy at each stop and stood on the stoop, looked in the neighbors's eyes and said, "thank you very much" to every person! If one of them forgot, they were quick to remind each other and respond quickly. They did GREAT! At the end of the night, Brayden looked into his "loot" and said, "Mom, I've got so much candy. . who are we giving all of this to?" Man, I love that heart!

here are a few pics of the kids. The first couple are from the last week. We decided to dress up for small group on Friday too!

Pirate Davis. . .though I admit that he kind of looks like a pimp in that hat!

Brayden as Diego (from Go Diego Go)The Bobo Brothers (from Diego). Monkeys
The rest are from Halloween Night at my sisters' house. This is her daughter Anna, as Wonder Woman! How cute is she?

Bradley and Anna together. . .can you tell they get their pictures taken a lot?

Our Three!

Brayden was participating in pictures SOOOOO well this night! He LOVED borrowing Jakob's Buzz LightYear costume!

My boy! Also known as, Spider man. My sister got this backdrop that we were planning to use at fall festival. . it's more for a fall theme and kind of clashes with my kids costumes but was so fun! It would look great with the jeans and white shirts look!

My kitty! Who was, in a horrible mood! We were bribing her with candy just to get a few pictures taken. . .I can't believe these turned out so well considering her attitude!

Showing off her little tail. . . (ps: she won't be doing THAT in years to come)

One more of Brayden with the FULL Buzz suit. . check out that dimple!

Love this pose. . .how funny

It was a great night spent with family and friends! Thanks guys!