Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone! You would think that, living in Switzerland, we don't have a real Halloween. (Rob would prefer it this way. He does not like the "pagan" tradition.) But that was not the case this year. Last Saturday, the girls dressed up for the annual Stake Halloween Carnival (put on by the Americans, mostly). I was busy running a booth most of the time, but Rob took the girls around to do lots of games and crafts and they had a great time. Here they are with their friend Kelsey (the cute little Dora). Mariah is Tinkerbell and Anna Claire is Ariel the Mermaid. Interestingly, Mariah decided to cut herself some bangs to look even more like Tinkerbell just before the carnival. Surprisingly, bangs look cute on her and she didn't cut too much, so no harm done. (I just hope she doesn't try this again.)

Anna Claire and her best friend Ella both decided to be mermaids for Halloween. This is Anna Claire doing "Aaaa--aaa--aaaahh!" just like the Little Mermaid did when she gave up her voice.

My two cute Halloween girls -- Tinkerbell and the Little Mermaid. This was taken in our yard. Aren't the leaves beautiful?

Tyler was our little "Woolley Lamb". He looked so adorable in his costume -- but it was a bit too hot so it didn't last long.

Mariah can't help smooching this chubby little lamb.

On Halloween afternoon, we celebrated a bit at a friends' house. We tried to gather all the kids for a picture, but Tyler wasn't too thrilled at being nearly dropped.

"Trick or Treat"

We live near a bunch of international people, so last year I bought candy, hoping some kids would come trick or treat. We waited all night and nobody came. It turns out that kids did trick or treat in our neighborhood, but they skipped our house. This year, I took initiative and sent flyers to all our neighbors with a pumpkin drawing they could hang on their door if they wanted to give out candy. It worked well. Lots of the neighborhood participated and it turned out to be a wonderful mini-version of the American trick or treat tradition. Afterwards, everyone came over to our place for pumpkin cookies and spiced cider.

Handing out candy this year! Hooray, lots of kids participated!