It's true. I was very happy. I was flushed and I was tired -- beyond tired -- but I was really happy. We were all starting to decompress from the busy-ness of the day as we settled together on the couch, one body melding into another, big and small alike. It had been a beautiful day for us all, including the weather which was absolutely gorgeous. We had some time to kill when we got home from school, but Aidan couldn't wait to put on his costume. So while I got things ready, Aidan saved the world -- Super Hero style -- from the vantage point of our backyard while Grace helped "Pop Pop" do some yard work.
Finally, it was time for Phase One of our Halloween Adventure. The kids were dressed and we paid a quick visit upstairs to see Grandma and Grandpa and, of course, the cameras were clicking away. 
We then drove to meet my sister-in-law at her house, tackling their neighborhood together. Aidan was ecstatic, racing from house to house with his cousin and some other neighborhood kids. The funny highlight of that visit was a comment that my nephew made when he received a gobstopper. Not knowing what it was, Michelle tried to explain it to him, and then he said, "Oh, yeah! I know what this is! It's a suck ball!" Well, that's one way of describing it ... !Grace, however, was fit to be tied through all of this. I guess I should have known better than to dress my upbeat, energetic little girl in the costume of a depressed donkey. She was miserable. She strained at the straps of the stroller; she wrangled her way out of the top half of the costume. Thankfully she was appeased by Spiderman's generosity of a small bag of pretzels from his growing stash, but even my Super Hero was getting weary by that point and we decided to head back home.
After a crazy, interrupted, doorbell-ringing dinner of meatloaf, tater tots and corn, we planned Phase Two of our Halloween Adventure. Aidan switched costumes, transforming now into the Blue Power Ranger (thank goodness for older cousins who grow out of their things just in the nick of time!), and this time it was Daddy's turn to tackle the neighborhood with the kids. With an unadorned Grace on his shoulders and a Blue Power Ranger by his side, they visited our immediate neighbors, my aunt and uncle, and some other outrageously decorated homes alone the way. Meanwhile, my task was to clean up the house and answer the doorbell, which rang non-stop. My poor, poor dog. For a Beagle, Jack doesn't bark much. But when it comes to the doorbell, he goes nuts -- as if it's his destiny to serve as our second doorbell. If I missed the bell the first time around (which, of course, would never happen), his Beagle Bellow would be sure to capture my attention. I couldn't believe how many kids came to our door (and poor Jack will be hoarse tomorrow), but it really was awesome. I had so much fun, and you could see the kids were enjoying themselves too.
I got nervous, however, as our four big bags of candy started to dwindle in no time. I got so desperate, in fact, that after the kids came back home, I raided Aidan's stash and picked out all of the crappy candy and/or stuff that he would not (or would not be allowed to) eat -- any and all hard candy, peppermints, gobstoppers, disgusting taffy, a few lollipops, bubblegum (can you believe someone gave him leftover chocolate from Valentine's Day? Gross!). All of that quickly went out the door too (except the foil-wrapped chocolate bears holding hearts that said "Be Mine." Those went in the trash). Finally at 7:50 p.m., with my kids heading off to bed and just a couple of pieces of candy left, I turned off all the lights and locked the door for the night.I use the word "hallowed" very, very loosely to describe our evening. While it was not holy or consecrated or venerated in any way, it was indeed "set apart" in a way that was very special to us. We bonded as a family, we bonded as a neighborhood, the kids bonded together in a sweet, delightful way. And as we four cuddled on the couch together last night, hugging and patting, with Aidan looking up at me saying, "I love you so much, Mommy!" ... it was indeed a very special day.
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