Though we were hopeful, the rain didn’t let up in the least for Gracen’s very first time trick-or-treating… In fact, come dark, it was pouring down so hard that the rain was hitting the asphalt and then bouncing back up at us.  While not ideal for trick-or-treating, what are you going to do? We layered up our little fox, grabbed our umbrellas, and headed out with the goal of visiting at least a handful of houses. 

After stopping by Uncle Brett’s house for a quick visit, we made our way down his street.  Grae was so excited, and within a couple of houses, she had the knock, “trick-or-treat”, and “thank you!” down pat.

After carefully making her way down the steps, she’d squeal, “Different house! Different house!  Yook for yights… Yook for punkins!!!”

Then she’d quickly find another and shout, “Go to dis house!”  The girl was into it.

After looping around, visiting the houses on the other side of the street, and making our way back to our car, we headed back to our neighbourhood.  By then, the rain had lightened up quite a lot, so we headed into the backyard to light some sparklers.

I’m not sure where I originally saw it, but I remember seeing someone using a plastic cup as a sparkler shield during 4th of July festivities with their kiddos.  Brilliant, really.  Before heading out I had cut a tiny ‘x’ on the bottom of an extra party cup we had from Gracen’s birthday party, so all we had to do was poke our extra long sparklers through just a bit, and light them. 

It worked like a charm. 

And since I only poked them through a little bit, the part Gracen was hanging onto didn’t get hot at all.

Gracen happily held on until the sparklers were about half way down, then she’d pass them to one of us, and ask for a new one.

Before heading in, we quickly snapped a couple of shots of Gracen and I, because although we always have a ton of photos of Grae and Bradley together, pictures of Mama and Grae are few and far between.  (Sadly, by this point I was soaking wet falling apart mess, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.)

Inside, Gracen dumped out all of the treats she’d collected. Can you tell we had infused them with an equal amount of healthier “treats”?  Haha!  Who says people don’t hand out stamps, stickers, pretzels, seeds, crackers, organic fruit leather, and organic yogurt-covered raisins (a HUGE treat in our house)?  ☺

Grae then sorted the piles into a “Gracen pile” and a “Mama/Papa pile”, giving us all of the delicious, but terrible for you chocolate and candy, and happily giving herself all of the ‘Mama approved’ treats (that’s our girl!)  

Have you ever seen a child so excited for freeze-dried strawberries when there’s a plethora of chocolate bars, chips, and cheezies in front of her?

The night ended with a treat feast, a glow-in-the-dark bubble bath, and a tired little lady falling asleep to the sound of fireworks filling our neighbourhood.

♥