Why didn't I think of this before?!?

after halloween last year, bailey repeatedly told me, months after the dreaded holiday, that she would not be trick or treating until she was five. or six. i had come to terms with this and opted not to even buy her a costume this year. my thinking was that if she decided at the last minute to be brave and risk seeing someone wearing a dreaded mask in an effort to collect candy, then she could throw on one of her many dress-up dresses, accessorize with several pieces of jewelry and a crown and boom, instant princess costume. poor crawford. just about two weeks before halloween, i realized that i had not even thought about getting that cute guy a costume. lucky for me, my awesome friend emmy let us borrow this adorable kangaroo costume! god has sure blessed our whole family with some absolutely wonderful friends! which, although kinda hot for halloween in texas, he didn't mind wearing. as long as we didn't dare put on the attached super cute hoodie with ears. he screamed every time, so enjoy, this is one of many agitated costume moments.
as much as i would have loved to see this happy face with the ears on, i realized it wasn't going to happen and let it go. how very un-tara-like of me but in the spirit of capturing the real experience, i decided that i would be fighting a losing battle to make that boy appear happy with the hoodie on. so i moved on.

we stopped at our neighbors house first incredibly early. at about 5:00 p.m. ellen was kind enough to let us start the trick or treating process. extra bonus was getting a picture of bailey and crawford with reid. bailey sure does like playing with that boy.
crawford was a ball of happiness!!! seriously love that little guys laid back joyful personality.

lindsey and i had talked earlier in the week about our proposed halloween plans. i thought a smaller group might be best but was so thankful that it accidentally turned into a bigger group. i mean, really, why didn't i think of that before? to trick or treat with a big group of friends made it a zillion times for fun and less scary that trying to go at it alone. so we all met up at the harris house for pizza before heading out to brave the night.
of course, bailey was pumped about seeing her friends, but i don't know if i have ever seen crawford so happy and excited!!! he just smiled, giggled and babbled excitedly practically nonstop and he cruised back and forth between billy and me. talk about heart melting!!

when we arrived, it was a little toasty inside, so we took crawford's puffy kangaroo shirt off. instantly he was transformed into a character from narnia, being half beefy man on top and kangaroo on the bottom.little miss lainey lou as little bo peep. she's a favorite for sure at our house :)
all of the kids right before we headed out. not one of my group pictures turned out all that great but that's just not a realistic expectation. from left to right: crawford, caleb, bailey, jack, penelope, henrietta, abbie, paul, kennedy and millicent. wesley and lainey lou stayed for pizza but then left to do their annual trick or treating with their neighbors. luke somehow didn't make it in the picture. so, all together, there were eleven kids.

and they all had SO MUCH FUN!!!! they eagerly ran to each house and crowded the door, yelling "trick or treat" before the door even opened. it was a mad rush to the door every time and us parents took turns making sure everyone backed up, said thank you and didn't fall. the whole thing was adorable and i loved just walking around with friends enjoying this experience with our kids.

one of the most beautiful things about the night was how much more confident bailey felt surrounded by her friends. she was too busy chatting it up with caleb to even notice most of the scary (and inappropriate in my opinion) decorations. if she got scared of a house, she would hang back with me until she saw her friends run back with candy. then she would run up and get some herself. for us, this was a huge blessing.

crawford stayed in the stroller a majority of the time. about an hour into our fun, billy decided to go ahead and take him home, which was a smart move. bailey and i stayed the course and trick or treated with our fun group for a solid hour and a half, well into the dark. i kept telling her how proud i was of her and thanking lindsey for hosting and organizing everything. really, i could not have asked for more!! it was such an overwhelmingly positive difference experience than we had last year. we are definitely making this a tradition and are even planning on adding our community group as well.

on our way home, i was again telling bailey how proud of her i was. we passed a house with all of their lights on as we walked home and i confidently suggested that we trick or treat at one last house. i guess i wanted to prove to both bailey and i that we could do it on our own.

but then some fool answered the door wearing a really scary, almost freddy kruger looking mask. immediately, i turned bailey around to face my stomach as i explained that she was extra scared of anyone with a scary mask on. i even asked the man to take it off please because she was so afraid. and he DIDN'T!!! in shock, i just grabbed a piece of candy for her, said thank you and again, she is just really scared of masks and got out of there as quickly as i could. i felt so bad for my beautiful little girl and shocked that a grown man would think that it was appropriate to come to the door dressed like that when the only two people out there were a little 4 year old girl in a pink princess dress and her mommy. i wish i would have said more and know that it wouldn't have been offensive to do so. oh well, bailey recovered and we were all ok. mental note, do NOT go there again next year and be think through ahead of time what to do in case something like that happens again.

overall, we all had such a wonderful time. i was so surprised with how well the entire evening turned out, masked man and all. i think we are all actually looking forward to next halloween when crawford can join in the fun a lot more!