Trick or Treating 2012

I know I mentioned that I am not a fan of Halloween, but I do have to say that the boys all dressed up last night gave me a little bit of a soft spot for this weird holiday.  We started with getting them all dressed up inside so that Penn could be a part of the festivities.  With the cool weather and his cold, I decided to not take him out and about last night (and that gave me an excuse to nurse my sore throat and cold more too, plus I missed out on scary stuff).  I got Koen dressed and Doug prepped Tavin.  Tavin was so excited to be "dressed up."  He kept just saying, "I dressed up, Mommy."  Koen was also very excited to be a knight this year.  We talk about knights a lot.  Very easy illustration for explaining how he can be strong and fight, but they are kind to others and fight to defend not to be mean, etc., etc.  Here are two great knight books we've particularly enjoyed as we try and help Koen wrap his mind around being all boy, but also a man of character.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Princess-Three-Knights-ebook/dp/B004OR18JW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352061554&sr=8-1&keywords=3+knights+and+a+princess
http://www.amazon.com/Brave-Young-Knight-Karen-Kingsbury/dp/0310716454/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1352061606&sr=8-2&keywords=kingsbury+knight
Thought I would share for my mom friends with little guys.  But back to the hilarity of 3 kids dressed up for trick or treating!  The chicken and the knight watched as Penn was transformed into a fuzzy froggy (or "kah-bee" as Tavin says it).

Since Penn wasn't going out with the big boys, we took a few pictures of all three.  Tavin was so excited and silly about being dressed up, he is just laughable in these pictures.  I was laughing out loud at him as I edited these.

Then as Doug headed out to the door for shoes with the big boys, I took a few more froggy pictures before getting Penn out of his super warm costume.

I ran down to take a few final pictures of the boys before heading out.  I had to get some pictures of Koen with his sword and shield that he and Doug had been working on for the past few days.  I think my favorite picture might be the first one here which Doug actually took on his phone.  The way Tav is looking at Koen is priceless and it's just hilarious to have a knight with his sidekick, you know, the chicken.

In case you are wondering, the saying on Koen's shield is from 1 Peter 2:17.  Doug wrote the reference on the back of the shield in case Koen got asked where it came from and he could remind himself.  Several people did ask him about it and he was proud to say the reference (although I think he got the numbers jumbled up a little bit sometimes).  What a great verse to live by for a little boy...we'll be keeping this one in our vocabulary!  Ok, back to the pictures of the odd pair.

And the hilarious (and a little snotty) chicken before walking around...

And afterwards a very hungry (and still snotty) chicken.  

Tavin didn't last long outside, which was fine.  I just can't believe the plunder the boys got from just a few houses on our block.  Tav hung out with me in the kitchen while I finished making the boys' dinner and Koen stayed on the front porch with Doug to hand out candy.  Koen loved that job and was surprisingly unphased by the yucky costumes.  Tavin kept me entertained with his chicken noises.  Enjoy for yourself...

The boys enjoyed the trick or treating and thankfully it all went smoothly despite juggling three little guys instead of two this year (and this annoying cold!).  Hope you liked my cute frog, hilarious chicken and strong knight!