Boo To You!

Another Halloween has come and gone.

Being the little bit she is, DD still fits into her TinkerBell costume from last year, even if it is a tad snug.  Gm even bought her a Tink sweater in WDW to coordinate and keep her warm.  Unfortunately that is a bit big.  Fortunately, I had come across another costume for DD to wear.  Years ago, when I was shopping for boys, I found a cute cowboy outfit, and had already purchased a hat and boots from Gymboree that was part of a coordinating boy/girl line.  I had actually lent this to one of DD's male friends last year (he could easily wear the 12-18 month size outfits) for Halloween, and discovered it in the closet earlier in October while contemplating cleaning said closet.  While looking nothing like the actual Disney/Pixar characters, I spent no money what-so-ever turning DD into Woody and me into Jessie, along with a plush horse for Bullseye, as we already owned all components necessary, if you don't mind everyone thinking DD was a cowgirl.

Thanks to the generosity of friends and family, DD also raised $115 for UNICEF this year, not to mention an additional $40 plus raised by her team mates (Baby Boos).  I had hoped to take DD around trick-or-treating again, but the family came up with another idea instead.  Almost every church in metro-Dallas has what is known as Trunk-Or-Treat.  My family and I have seen the signs for years, but no one ever knew what exactly it was.  After looking this term up on the Internet (we needed an idea of what we were getting ourselves into), I discovered that people have "tailgating" parties where they decorate their trunks and pass out candy.  Driving down Beltline, which I'm convinced is named so due to the numerous churches on this never ending (though name changing) street in the Biblebelt, we passed at least four places that were hosting such events on All Hallows Eve.  One required a bag of individually wrapped candy for entrance.  Unable to convice DH that DD's trick-or-treat bag already filled with our unwanted individually wrapped candy qualified, we continued to the next church, which was ending its festivities.  We discovered the motherload, however, at an extremely large parking lot of a Baptist church.  At least 30 cars and trucks were decorated, had games, and candy and chocolates.  DD filled up her pumpkin but refused to relinquish the heavy load, all while playing the various games of skill and chance to the best of her (or an accompanying adult's) abilities.  We forewent the face painting and bounce houses, and unlikely won a door prize, although I did discover a coupon to a pizza place that I'll be visiting in the not too distant future.  I believe we were invited to such an event last year, and now I'm kicking myself for not attending.  Oh well.  Next year we're going to plan more strategically.  As mentioned before, one of the churches was ending it's event upon our arrival, we stayed until the end at the one we did go to, and then passed another church still partying on our way to dinner.  So, we'll be taking notes of names and times on church billboards next year, "and have real gay time," along with a few tummy aches, I'm sure.

Show me more Halloween photos, please.