"More house! More house! More house!"

In case you were wondering, friends, this is the new phrase for Halloween. "Trick or treat" is officially out.

We were given an opportunity to celebrate Halloween twice this year, making one little boy quite happy. Every year, some businesses in Fayetteville host a trunk or treat at the local stadium. (To those unaware of what trunk or treating is, it is, quite simply, handing out candy from the car rather than the house. That is the way many churches and organizations do it down here to help with safety and whatnot.) Anyway, this is the first year we decided to take Aidan- we had no idea how he would take to it, considering he has never done it before. Trunk or treating was first, and we SLOWLY trekked our way through the stadium from car to car.

Here is Connor, learning trick or treating much earlier than his brother did (maybe one of the [few] benefits of being the younger sibling??):

And of course, our little family (with Dad behind the camera) showing off our bag of treats (consisting of a very limited supply of candy and a huge amount of business cards...oh, and a few toothbrushes and boxes of toothpaste):

But Halloween HAD to be celebrated true trick or treating style going house to house. And so, tonight, we once again convinced Aidan to throw on Thomas, leave Arf behind, and pick up his bucket to charm some candy. Boy, can he charm when he wants!

Due to multiple reasons we only went about two blocks, but after the third or fourth house, Aidan caught on to what he had to do. Holding Daddy's hand, he marched up to the door, knocked or rang the doorbell, smiled and held out his bucket. After it was filled, he quickly turned and yelled "bye!" with a backwards wave, and headed back to me. On his way he yelled "Mom! I got candy!" He never made it to me, though, because he quickly turned and started his chant ("More house!") while moving to the next house.

We got home by the time it was dark, and Aidan's bucket was plenty full. The kid rarely eats candy as it is, so a full bucket should last him quite a long time. But will it last his parent's wish for sweets? That is the question of the hour! Here is our champ checking out his booty:

Needless to say, Aidan's first Halloween was a success.

The only thing we're worried about? That Aidan remembers that houses hand out candy and expect people to give it to him every time he knocks on their door...

Ranger I Am Not

...We all discovered the truth of that statement this past weekend...

In honor of the cool weather, the changing leaves, a long holiday weekend, and time well spent with good friends, we went to a nearby family farm. This farm hosted corn mazes, a hard to believe HUGE sandbox, barrel rides, slides, a petting zoo, a pillow bounce,much more, and of course, Daddy's favorite, a DQ concession stand :) We had woken up that morning freezing (don't knock till you live in near 100% humidity most of the year then go to fifty degree weather!) so we dressed in sweats and packed gloves, hats, blankets, and anything else we could possibly need in case it got colder. Instead, it got hotter. So imagine this family out in the boonies, wearing sweatshirts, long pants, sweat dripping down their faces because it was so stinkin hot. Have that picture in your mind? Yeah, that was us.

We had a blast, regardless. Aidan of course saw the train first and tried to squeeze through the fence to get to it. We finally convinced him we had to pay first and would see it later. Once we paid, he saw the GIANT bounce pillow. Then slides. Then the sandbox. Then food. Then a swing. I promise, our kid doesn't have ADD. He just gets uber excited about everything he sees. And I do mean everything.

The kids covered themselves in sand, tried to dig to China (or at least, the dads did), slid down the slides, threw hay at each other during the hay ride (or maybe that was the parents who did that...) and generally exhausted each other out. But we haven't even done the corn maze yet! Let me tell you, doing that last was a mistake. As was my comment to which all agreed, "Go big or go home." We had the option of doing the toddler maze (which was a bit daunting in and of itself) or the adult maze which was shaped like a train and consisting of three different sections with five different entrances. So we approached with confidence, and are lucky we came out at all.

Somehow I ended up in the lead. No, Dad, I didn't plan it that way. Yes, Dad, I had a map. Yes, Dad, I got lost. Miserably. I got us to our first point (there were twelve to find) and continued to lead us. In circles. I got so confused I handed the map over to Eric and forced him to lead on. So he led us in wider circles, until with the help of some others, he discovered where we were on the map and took us to every point we needed to find. Thats my ranger!

During our trek we had five exhausted children and two seats in a stroller that could hardly make it through due to the soft ground. Props to Jon for manhandling that thing into submission! I carried Connor, Ashley carried Kelly, and Aidan, Molly and Riley were forced to switch off and on with walking and riding. You knew when Aidan was in the stroller because it took Jon a bit more effort to keep up... :) I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when we hit the exit. And no, we didn't finish. It just wasn't worth it to all of us. Well, most of us.

All in all, it was an awesome day to celebrate family, friends and fall. We all came home exhausted and more than ready for bed. Recovered from our trip, I am planning our next escapade. Stay tuned :)