How we do Halloween

Halloween always starts a few days or weeks before the big day, when we do a dry run with our costumes. This also allows me to sneak in a few pictures on a day when the weather is nice and the kids aren't trying to race out the door to start trick or treating.

This is what we were supposed to be this year: the kids were minions from the Despicable Me movies. (If you don't have kids in the house then you may not have ever had reason to see these movies!)

Chad was Gru...

And I was Vector, the villain from the first movie.

When the big day arrives, we all dress up. Even the cats! Actually, this is the first time I have ever bought a pet costume. Judging by the cats' expressions I would guess they are hoping it's also the last. (Truthfully, they tolerated the costumes pretty well.)

Lucy did not want to keep her hat on, though.

We order pizza for dinner and get together with gramma/grampa/aunt/uncle/cousins to show off costumes prior to going our separate ways to trick or treat.

We had to put Despicable Me on to show everyone what exactly we were dressed up as.

Before anyone's head explodes, we try to take a group shot on the front porch. This was the best one this year. Every year is a little bit easier! Luckily we were somewhat covered under the porch... because it rained, nonstop, all day long.

I take another one of these two, too, just to give myself some options!

Then we say good bye to the rest of the family, and set off trick or treating. First stop is Mallory's friend Rowyn who lives two doors down.

I snap a few more shots as we go door to door, but it's pretty wet out, so the camera gets packed away early.

Luckily we all wore something on our heads (even if only a skullcap) so the rain didn't feel as bad as it could have. And, it was pretty warm. Mallory never lasts as long as Liam, so I took her home early while Chad stayed out with Liam. We relieved gramma and grampa of their duties - they had been handing out candy for us while we were out on the streets ourselves. Chad and Liam made it home eventually and we all ate too much candy before settling into a sugar coma-induced sleep.