Boo!

How was your Halloween? I know a lot of family and friends at home had an usual Halloween - many without power due to a crazy October snowstorm - but I hope everyone was still able to enjoy the day and most importantly, keep warm!

Our Halloween was laid back. Since E. J. had to work late tonight, we had Kathryn do her trick-or-treating last night. We figured while we could take advantage of Kathryn not really understand the meaning of Halloween, celebrating yesterday made it easier for all of us. Naturally, we took some pictures before we headed out.

Of course, she was a cat again this year - her absolute favorite animal

Silly girl

The many faces of a kitty

Determined

First stop: Grandma's house

She grabbed at least 10 - smart girl

We drove over to 3 family member's houses so Kathryn could fill her bucket to the brim. She was a happy girl, even if she didn't really know what was going on.

Winding down with a fresh bottle on a makeshift seat of paper towels - whatever works

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Kathryn didn't dress us only once. Oh no, she dressed up last week too when we headed to our local Halloween Carnival. Apparently this was the event of the year. I think the entire town was there - it was crazy crowded with kids of all ages and loads of parents.

Kathryn was a superstar and was all about playing the games and winning goodies. It was super sweet to watch her participate in the activities. It's hard to believe that just a year ago she couldn't even crawl!

Bowling

Bean bag toss

And of course, you can't live in the country and not have a cowboy boot bean bag game

or pulling lollipops out of a bale of hay

Ring toss

But what really put the event over the top was the next image:

Go ahead, take a guess

When I saw the above image in person, I was confused, especially when we were walking away I heard lots of banging noises.

Since the volunteer fire department was there blocking off the street, I asked E. J. if this car was there as some sort of drunk driving demonstration for the older kids (which I thought was a logical guess since the local school where we attended the carnival has grades K-12 in the same building).

E. J. laughed and said "nope, that's actually one of the games where you can use your tickets. You just beat the van with a bat...they have this every year".

Because nothing says Halloween Carnival like paying to beat up a car. And once again I'm reminded of us living in small town Texas.

Besides being totally taken-a-back by the van beating, the Carnival was actually really great and completely exceeded my expectations, especially after seeing how much fun K had with all theactivities.

When I picked her up today after work, she was happy as a clam playing in a big pile of rocks.

It's the simple things

And before it was bedtime, she insisted on helping her dad with the outdoor chores before bath time.

What a look

Wishing you sweet dreams and a Happy Halloween!