Living and Loving Martinez Family Style: Halloween 2008

We had such a fun time on Halloween. It was especially fun because this was the first year that Ella really "got it". She had so much fun saying "Trick or Treat"!

We started off our Halloween festivities right after school by going with Ella's friend and classmate, Natalie, her little brother Jeremy, and their mama and my friend, Diana to lunch at our favorite pizza place, Pompillio's and then trick-or-treating in the stores in dowtown Westwood.

The girls scored really big! Conrad's Ice Cream and Candy shop gave them each a giant bag of gummi worms AND a giant chocolate lollipop and then they each got a sparkly purse at the beauty supply store as well as a ton of other candy.

Unfortunately Sofia was pretty sick, so she was stuck sitting in her stroller which did not please her in the least.

Cinderella and Ariel

Our attempt at a picture of all four kids..haha (If you click on the pic it will enlarge and you can see how glazy eyed and miserable poor Sofia was)

With a witch in one of the stores...the girls were not willing to take their eyes off her for a second!

Something was obviously pretty funny! (I love how they are holding hands)

With our neighbor, Sarah, at the dry cleaners where she works part-time. Ella was so excited to see her and shouted, "My Sarah! My Sarah!", but she too busy working on her lollipop to look at the camera.

With my Cinderella and Gus Gus...poor Sofia was just not having it so I didn't even bother to put her pants or shirt on, so she played the role of Mouse with Pants once again.
(and yes I know Mom-Would it have killed me to put on a little lipstick? Hey, I did my hair...that's a major achievement)

The cool ending of downtown trick-or-treating was when we were standing on the corner saying good bye to Natalie and a car drove by and we heard, "Hi Ella! Hi Natalie!!". We looked and it was their teacher, Anita! The girls were so excited. Ella is still talking about how Anita called her name from her car.

We got home from downtown around 2pm and Ricardo surprised us by being home! We hung out for a couple of hours, dressed Mikka up as Yoda

and then Ricardo and Ella went to River Vale to trick-or-treat with Jordy, Sammy (and of course Jess and Andy). Sofia was just too sick to partake and unfortunately I was getting sick too, so we stayed home to pass out candy. I was so bummed because both hubbys got out of work early so we could all hang out and get dinner but it is what it is and I'd rather not get Jordy and Sammy sick!

The area of River Vale where they live is known for trick-or-treating. The streets were packed with kids. Ella got a full sized box of Tasty Cakes at one house (were mailing to our friend Pete in San Diego who is from PA and obsessed with Tasty Cakes!) and a ton of full sized candy bars. She had a blast.

Daddy and Cinderella heading out

Jordy and Ella waiting for their treats!

A snapshot of the busy street

Ella hording her way in for candy while Jordy patientally waits her turn

Deep in candy thought

Look at Sammy Trick-Or-Treating!
I'm so sad that Sofia and her BFF didn't get to hang out. Ricardo said when he and Ella walked in Sammy started looking for Sofia! They are so cute together.

Ella and Jordy taking a detour through the leaves

Our awesome neighbors on either side of us bought special treats for our kids which is just so nice. So I took Sofia to see the neighbors and then Sofia and I decided to spend some time hanging out and handing out candy with SuSu and of course SuSu supplied Sofia with enough candy to make her happy (and feed a small village).

She was so cute trying to put candy into the buckets of the kids who came up. She even tried to say trick-or-treat which came out like "tet o tet" but she got her point across. She wanted to trick-or-treat so badly. Next year, little one, next year!

Enjoying some chocolate with a side of drool and snot

Moving on to a sucker (notice the filthy storm door in the background courtest of Sofia)...

Ella didn't get back from Jordy's until 7pm but we were informed that she had to make the rounds to the immediate neighbors. When we got to Susu's house of course she had to go in to visit and see Ryan who was home from college.

Papa Rick started teasing her and said Trick-Or-Treat. Sweet Ella reached into her bag immediately and handed him...an empty bag of pretzels! Then she laughed and reached in and gave him some skittles. It was very sweet.

It was a wonderful Halloween and I truly enjoyed seeing how much Ella enjoyed it this year. But what I didn't enjoy was her waking up at 6am this morning and announcing that she'd like some candy, please. Oy!

Today we had a Halloween themed playdate with Colden and Tiffany. It just so happened that Colden is Prince Charming for Halloween which worked perfectly for Cinderella and Gus Gus.

On the way there I said to Ella, "Hey Ella since Colden's Prince Charming you can marry him (We're very in to weddings and being married right now)." She looked at me and said, "No, Mommy, Colden can marry me!"

Because Tiffany is the hostess with the mostess and the best nanny in the whole world she had Halloween music, a baking project, and a craft project. We had such a great time. Unfortunately, little Sofia was just beginning to show signs of being sick and was not very happy about. But Ella thoroughly enjoyed herself.