Halloween 2013.

Halloween this year fell on the evening of the last day of parent/teacher conferences.  So I was pretty beat.  But, we made plans to go trick-or-treating with the neighbors in hopes that Clara would actually go to the door on her own and perform the trick-or-treat rituals like a big girl this year.  So we got home and raced to get ready for the evening!

First, we curled Clara's hair.  We'd never done that before with a curling iron, so I didn't know what to expect.  But she did extremely well.  She loved it!

 Then, we painted her face to look like a little clown.  She LOVED the face paint.  But it took a few smears and nose rubs for her to learn that she couldn't touch her face at all that night.  I'm still finding little red marks in the down stairs bathroom where she stood on the toilet to admire her painted face!  She just kept saying, "I love my face paint!".

 Then we tried on the crazy clown wig.  That was short lived, but I'm glad we got a picture!

And finally we got her clown costume on.  It is the same costume I wore when I was little.  I was probably 3 or 4 when I wore it, but it is the same!

Here's Clara on the left and me on the right.

Clara looks a little happier in it than I did, though!  And why didn't I add cute yellow pom poms to the costume for Clara?  I should have found this pic before Halloween!

After we ate a quick bite of dinner, we headed out to the streets of our neighborhood.  Our subdivision was swarming this year!  It made it really fun to be out and about on that autumn night!

Here's Clara with Macie as Minnie mouse, and Madison as a pirate!  Clara loves these two girls so much!

The two-year-olds rode in the wagon around the neighborhood, which was perfect!  We covered some ground this year for the first time!

Clara was usually the first to the door.  She knocked relentlessly until the door was opened.  Then she shoved her pink pumpkin in the home owners' faces 'till a treat was dropped in!  But, at least she remembered her manners and said thanks to each house!

Clara was braver than I thought she'd be, too!  If a house was particularly spooky, she was sometimes the only one to go to the door.  She's a little fearless, which scares me!

We were so happy to have a successful Halloween on the books!  Bring on Thanksgiving!