Happy Halloween!

Hooray! It's Halloween and, Clearly, a favorite photo time for Mama. As much as I try, though, I still get frustrated and cranky when I can't get a picture of my kids together. Maybe in a few years they will understand what it means when I say, "Look this way and smile!" This wasn't one of those times, and I did lose my cool. Is it really too much to ask for four young kids to sit still for the same few seconds as their siblings? To look at me? To be happy about it? The answer is YES - it's too much to ask. Yes, I cheered up later, but this was the best picture I got with all of the kids. This year, Will picked out his Darth Vader costume. Not a great choice for night safety, but it turned out okay. Last year Jon was Peter Pan and Ben was a pirate. This year I switched them -- why? So the pages in their scrapbooks show different costumes. That's the only reason. And another year of Tinkerbell? Nah -- this year we used the wings from the Tink costume, but paired them with the princess dress from the costume box, and Maddie was a pretty little fairy princess.

We went to a friend's Halloween party last tonight. It was a family party with emphasis on the kids. There was a giant inflatable slide that all four of our kids loved, but for the little ones to ride, Allen and I had to climb the mountain and slide down with them. Around 7, the babies were getting cranky and ready for bed, but we stopped at three houses to trick-or-treat. We hadn't planned it that way, but it happened. By the third house, Jon understood what was going on with the bag he carried. When we turned to leave the porch, he stood there looking at the home-owners with his puppy-dog eyes, and his lower lip sticking out just a bit. He held his bag open really big and gave them "the look" that he gives me when he wants something. We got a kick out of that one!

All the kids were worn out, and between the three houses with mounds of candy for each kid (including several full-sized Hershey bars, and family-sized Twizzlers), the few things we bought (but weren't home to give out), and the goodie-bag from school, we had a ton of candy. Definitely a year's worth -- and yes, it will probably last that long. I froze much of it, but the rest is in Will's pumpkin. On dessert nights, he is allowed to choose what we are eating or one item from his pumpkin. We even had some left from last Halloween that I trashed when we got the new load.

Overall, we had a wonderful night. Many of the moms from my mothers-of-multiples club were at the party, and it was great to finally introduce Allen to the ladies I've eaten many dinners with over the last year. It was funny, though, since I've never been around so many multiples. . . I'd see one princess, then another. I'd see one little kiddo in a black and orange outfit, then the other. I think there were five sets of twins and our triplets, plus all the other siblings and friends.