In The Hartland: Halloween 2021

We wrapped up a busy weekend tonight with three events three nights in a row. After Logan, Ella, and I went to Disney on Ice on Friday night, we were able to attend our ward's trunk-or-treat in our church's parking lot on Saturday evening. Although it rained all week long and is supposed to rain every day this coming week, we were blessed with sunny weather both Saturday and Sunday this weekend which is pretty unusual! All of the kids were excited to get dressed up in their costumes and head out to the church Saturday after an early dinner. We have learned from year's past that it is imperative to arrive at the trunk-or-treat right as it starts as it usually ends in less than an hour when all of the cars run out of candy or when all of the children are done making the rounds. Thanks to our ward combining with the Manorwood Ward a few weeks ago (which was a well-needed change since both of our wards were shriveling up and shrinking to almost nothing since the pandemic), both Ella and Logan now have a school friend in their same ward at church. As a result, both Ella and Logan found their friends (Madelyn and Benton) and had a great time making the rounds ahead of us. So Lia, Ron, and I had a great time taking Emmett around to all of the trunks. Since I have been reading him a variety of Halloween books over the past few weeks, he was very excited to put on his costume and go trick-or-treating for the "first time" that he can recall.

After another early dinner tonight, I helped the kids get all dressed up and ready to go by 6 p.m. After our annual photo shoot out on the front steps, we were joined for the first time ever by Lia's good friend, Alyssa, who lives up the hill. While Ron stayed back and answered the door, the six of us had a great time walking the entire loop around our neighborhood knocking on doors. Like last year, about half of the houses were not answering their doors and there were less children out trick-or-treating. Regardless, we still had a great time making the rounds and I just got the biggest kick out of watching Ella and Emmett (and some times Logan) literally run from door to door the entire time! Although I brought the stroller with me in case Emmett got tired of walking, he was totally fine running the entire time which was just amazing to me, especially considering the fact that Lia only walked our tiny cul-de-sac to go trick-or-treating when she was the exact same age. Oh, how different the fourth child is from the first! But, I digress. Half way around the neighborhood, we ran into our nextdoor neighbor, Poppy, who was walking with her mom while her older sister, Daisy, was at a friend's party. We decided to join up with them and finished off the neighborhood before inviting Poppy to come back home with us to watch Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow that we watch every year while answering the door for the rest of the evening. Thanks to Poppy's dad firing up his popcorn popper in his driveway, the kids munched on freshly popped popcorn and candy for the rest of the evening while running back and forth to answer our door. It was such a great evening and the perfect way to celebrate Halloween 2021!

The Hartland fam poses for a rare, family photo after arriving at our church on Saturday evening.

The four Hartland kids standing together for one more picture.

Ella and Emmett reaching into someone's "spell book" to get their candy.

The elaborate set-up from the first trunk we visited that night.

Ella and Emmett getting some candy.

Ella and her friend, Madelyn, making the rounds together. I found out that these girls went around the parking lot FOUR times before we headed home that night. Needless to say, Ella's bucket was bursting.