"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...