This year Meg was…well I don’t know what her costume was, but she was cute. Purple and black with a funky hat. Very twelvish! It was all about the candy for her.

Mita wanted to be a bumble bee. I was thrilled that she wanted to dress up. She has never really embraced Halloween and the two previous years she didn’t wear her costume at the last-minute. This year she wore her costume, but put on a sweatshirt the whole time so I never saw the whole suit and of course she didn’t let me take a picture :(

Enu wore the same costume as she did last year, Tiana. She looked beautiful, but this year is definitely the last year for that costume! It was snug to say the least.  On our second round of Trick or Treating she went as a golfer.  Girls change their minds a lot it seems.

Enu as a golfer

  My baby is almost seven. This year for Halloween she dressed up as Rapunzel. She loved dressing up and her outfit was completed by a Gecko and a frying pan as well as a smaller Gecko and small frying plan. If you have seen Tangled, you will  understand the frying pan thing.  She is still excited about the costume.  How many years will I have left with her excitement? How long will it take for her to say M &M’s correctly?

Ella as Rapunzel

As I write this the girls are trading their loot. Heavy negotiations going on. It brings back memories of my brother Josh and I when we were little.  The fun part was trading and pulling one over on him!   Of course in about a week I will combine all of the candy into one pile to save space, but they seem to have forgotten that fact right now.

I wonder about next year. Will I have only two costumes to plan for?  I guess there is always the grandchildren in 20 years!

1) My carrots from last year, see this post.

2)What a neat 16 year old girl.  (Fictional I know but whatever.)

My hand out bag has its fair share of candy as I hit coupon gold at CVS this year, but I also have vampire teeth, spiders and pencils along with tattoos and stickers.  It is a given that you are going to have a lot of Halloween candy so I like adding other things as well.  I know that non-candy houses get a bad rap, but so can out of control children with bad teeth!

So when my friends at Dole sent me some fruit snacks as an idea to give out as Halloween treats I said SURE THING. We love Dole at this house (good product, great coupons!)  Have you tried the Real Fruit Bites?  They are yummy.  Dried fruit covered in yogurt and whole grain oats.  Good and sweet with some nutrition! 90 Calories and no trans-fats while high in vitamin C. Not to bad for a tasty treat. A box sells for about $3.99 and I have seen them at Walmart and Krogers.

With Apple, Mango and my favorite Pineapple your kiddos should easily find one they like. Mita and Meg like the Pineapple and Enu likes the Apple best. Elle, well Elle sticks to applesauce mostly, but I hope someday she’ll add to her diet!

So when you are out buying your loot this week, think about Dole Fruit Bites. Either to give out or to feed to your own kids when they are needing some real food!

Oh yeah, that show I mentioned above. The kids who got the carrots said, “Oh, you are that house.”! I wonder what comments I’ll get?

Don’t forget my Shutterfly giveaway! 3 sets of 25 cards!  Ends 10/31.

(Disclosure: I received a few samples of DOLE Real Fruit bites for my honest review.  No other compensation was given.)

This week I’m going to post a lot of my pictures as I have been taking them like a mad woman.  With  one more Halloween party and trick or treat I am sure to take another hundred or so this week!

Mita participated in her first ever Pumpkin Bowling game at her cousin’s birthday party.

Elle wanted me to take this picture. She was feeling cute I think!

Enu was still recovery from the flu, but she loved getting out in the fresh air for a walk.

Meg milking a cow.  It was a fake cow built to teach people how to milk.  Not sure why this exists, but it does and it is at our local corn maze for the kids to check out!

All these pictures were taken by ME, Mom or Mandy W. in October 2009