Celebrating Halloween {2015}

This past weekend was a whirlwind of Halloween festivities, and perfect weather to boot. Given that previous years’ of Halloween celebrating have included Hurricane Sandy and Snowtober (two years with no power), we were loving life, let me tell you. Trunk or Treat at Madeline’s school, a Halloween party with the Girl Scouts, a Halloween party, and, of course, trick or treating. Madeline decided right after Halloween last year that she wanted to be a cat, and didn’t waver for one second for the entire year. She is most definitely a girl who knows what she wants, in every aspect of her life.

As for Nick, he decided what he wanted to do, seriously, at the 11th hour, and, luckily, a quick text to a creative friend took care of his shirt, and his friend’s. As he is 13 now, I had almost resigned myself to the fact that he might not be interested in dressing up or trick or treating, but luckily I was rewarded with another year of him participating. I know the time will come where he will likely take a few years, and I’m ok with that, of course, just not quite ready for it…

I love this picture a friend captured for me. I was watching the Halloween parade at Madeline’s school, and this was the exact moment she saw me in the crowd and made the decision to run and give me a hug.

So incredibly handsome. Love him to pieces.

If you’re a regular reader, you know how important this next picture is to me. This tradition started rather accidentally, but every year (except one), we take a picture on the same exact rock in our neighborhood. I love seeing how they have changed over the years, although this year, all three of us remarked at how small the rock suddenly seemed.

Previous years:

Madeline and I trick or treated for nearly three miles, and together with Nick’s stash, we ended up with over ten pounds of candy! As usual, the kids picked out their few favorites, and the rest we donated to a local dentist participating in the Halloween Candy Buy Back program. You can find a local dentist that participates here, and all the candy donated gets sent to the troops.

If you’re looking for recipes to use up some of your Halloween excess, you might try:
This collection of recipes from Taste of Home
I have more than a few recipes flagged from this post from BuzzFeed
Halloween Peanut Butter and Toffee Candy Bark from Bon Appetit magazine (2010)
Loaded M&M Cookie Bars from Averie Cooks
Jenny from Picky Palate has a great collection of recipes to use Halloween candy right here
Hungry Girl has many slightly less sinful recipes for your candy here