Trunk-or-Treat past and present

Last year at this time of year my Mom was in town visiting. So the Saturday before Halloween we dressed the kids up and got ready to take them to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat (in other words, Trick-or-Treating from car trunk to car trunk in the church parking lot). As we drove to the church the wind was howling like crazy. Leaves blew around the car like they were in a tornado. It was raining a little and very chilly. But we were sure that they would just move the event into the Gym of the church. No problem. When we arrived at the church they directed us where to park so that our trunk would be ready. This surprised us since we were sure it would be moved inside. As we got out of the car we realized that the lights were out in the church. Electricity had been knocked out by the storm. So we stood outside for a while, then we realized that some people were inside in the dark. So we went inside for a while. Inside, people were saying "we're still going to do this outside". Other people were saying "It's not safe to be in the church with no electricity - go outside!" So we went outside. There someone was saying "We're still going to do this inside by flashlight. It's too cold out here - go inside!" By this time it was already pretty late for our kids. Plus this event was supposed to be a dinner and they were attempting to light a grill outside in the gail-force winds. Astonishingly, it wasn't working. Anyway, in the end we left and went to Chili's for dinner where Naomi was the star of the restaurant in her Ballerina/Bee costume.
Fast forward one year to yesterday. Richard is still out of town so I got the kids dressed up all by myself, which was a feat of it's own. And we headed to the church. The weather was fabulous. It was about 72 degrees and a very little breeze was rustling the leaves. Hardly a cloud in the sky. Inside they had bounce houses, carnival games, and food. Then we went outside and trunk-or-treated until Naomi's bucket was full. Asher and Isaiah happily sat in the stroller (it was after Asher's normal bedtime and he gets super mellow when he's tired). It was a fabulous evening.

I didn't get a great shot of Naomi in her Belle costume. But here you can see the detail - right down to the earrings. I'll get a better shot on Halloween - it's a little hard to dress all the kids AND get a perfect shot of their costumes.

Here is Asher in his Doggie costume. I made it myself but I can't say I'm incredibly proud. It didn't turn out how I thought it would at all. But at least nobody said "And what are you supposed to be?" to him. And he was so happy to point to himself and say "Doggie!"

Isaiah had no idea what was going on -but he made a cute Pooh anyway.

I wasn't going to dress up, but Naomi told me I had to. So here is my costume. When people asked me what I was, I said "Eccentric."

A cute shot of the whole Doggie costume. If only I had thought to include a leash! That would have made my life easier during the games and food part of the evening.