I have seen so many cute photos of your kiddos on Instagram. The only photo I have is this one. My oldest child, in her too cute costume! Young Life celebrated Halloween on Monday night at Club! Emily put this costume together at the last minute. She is Russel from the movie "Up"! We only had to spend 4.28 on the balloons. Love it!
Long gone are the years of making costumes, formal photos, and making treats for school parties. Last night was the first time in 15 years that we have not walked the neighborhood with our little trick-or-treaters. Emily headed out to a restaurant with friends, Jonathan dressed as an "athlete~ sponsored by Nike" (no different from his normal everyday wear) and walked the neighborhood with his good buddies. Zac dressed as an overly zealous (especially this season) Panther fan and tagged along with his best friend and his dad.
And we...well, we sat near the Fire Pit, beside a bowling pot of witches brew, listening to scary music while the little trick-or-treaters and their tag along parents came to us!
It makes me both happy and sad. Happy to give them a little freedom, sad to see them taking off. Last night, I knew the timing was right. I did not question the fact that Jonathan, at 13, was old enough to be trusted to go out alone with his friends. Just the year before, we had all tagged along about 50 feet behind with Zac and his friend right beside us.
This Halloween was an exception....different from many years before!
It was a successful night for all. Perfect weather, tons of candy, responsible children and calm and trusting parents. We enjoyed it~ I'm glad to say! I guess we are all growing UP!
November is upon us now....my favorite radio station is playing Christmas music from now until Dec 25. I'm not sure I'm quite ready for all of that....but I am trying.
Happy Thursday and have a wonderful weekend!
Linking up with Mrs Jenny for alphabe-thursday! Come on over here to join the rest of the class!
What a perfect picture and the best idea for a costume! That movie was so cool, and sad too! I have to laugh about the balloons, they can be so much work, but fun too! Treasure these moments always! Perfect photography too!
ReplyDeletesweet post. time does march on (thank goodness for witches' brew and chocolate. just saying.)
ReplyDeleteOrdinary Words...Hubby and I had the tradition of making meatloaf on Halloween....kids didn't like that meal so we were happy to hand out treats while kids scampered♫ Those days are gone but the meatloaf tradition lives on♪
ReplyDeletethat's how i felt :P i was working, and i realised... my childhood is truly over D:
ReplyDeletelovely picture though- i love the balloons!
Zia
singing-blue.blogspot.ca
Emily looks so sweet! I know a lot of friends, saying that the weather was so nice (in Okla.) that they were going to sit on their porches on Tuesday and hand out candy. Glad you all enjoyed the evening too! {:-Deb
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet costume Emily put together!
ReplyDeleteBTW, I totally thought about you so much throughout the month of October whenever I thought about the 31 days of blogging. It was definitely a challenge, huh?! I failed miserably at it and must be a glutton, because I am now trying to blog about gratitude for the entire month of November! We'll see how long this lasts.
Reading that you are now listening to Christmas music makes me smile. :) Have a happy weekend, Jen!
Fun times! Our daughter is grown and gone, so we sit in the driveway and wait for the kids to come to us. The little ones are absolutely adorable. The cutest one we saw was a little girl dressed in a ladybug costume--she was so small and her treat bucket was so big that the bucket bumped on the ground as she walked!
ReplyDeletehaha...my step-daughter dressed up her 11 month old as Carl too...her hubby made a little walker from pvc and tennis balls...it was so cute. Your daughter did a great job on hers. She looks darling!
ReplyDeleteI love Emily's costume. So cute and so original! This post was sweet, and it makes me reflect on how quickly they grow up. We were just talking about this on Halloween night, and what age will we be ready for Boyd to go trick-or-treating alone? I know I will blink and that time will be here. I love your reflections here, and it sounds like you and your husband had a fun night!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's just my current mood, but I feel the bittersweet emotions captured between your words here.
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful they grow UP but it's hard to believe it's gone so fast. And that eventually they will not look back for us very much at all.
Your daughter's costume is really clever. I loved that movie.
And I really enjoyed this xcellent post.
Thank you for sharing your heart here.
A+