We had a beautiful night for trick or treating, with a full moon and temperatures in the upper 60s. (A big shout out to the Halloween gods who have been most gracious to us Bostonians over the past 6 years, favoring us with unseasonably warm and dry weather every Halloween. You rock!) Before it got dark though, we had a trial run with the costumes.

The boys got to slip into their Mario and Wario outfits early for a trip to some shops in the neighborhood who were handing out treats to kids who showed up in costume. The overalls fit great, B's pillow belly was perfect and the shoe covers were just right to finish off their costumes. They were Mario and Wario from head to toe! And as we visited the shops, all the adults recognized them right away: "Hey, it's Mario and Wario! Cool! You never see Wario!" We hit about seven or eight stores, just enough to get an early sugar rush. Wee was with us too, of course, and even I wore "a costume".

look, I'm a Muggle, but only on Halloween, you know

We came home, ate some dinner (we always try to make the kids' favorite meal for Halloween night so we can get as much real food into them as possible), and then got ready to go out for what the boys called "real Halloween." Real Halloween included the last accessories for the boys' costumes: the white gloves and the moustaches!

We were all cracking up when they first put their moustaches on. Then they had so much fun getting into character that wee one couldn't help but join in. She's flapping while they act all Mario-y ("yeah!") and Wario-y ("heee-heee-heee"). The last laugh was on Wario though, as he got called Luigi all night long: "No! I'm Wario!" Thank goodness he got all those kudos in the afternoon. The game store and book store folks really showed themselves to be way more in the know than the moms and dads of non-Wii obsessed kids in our neighborhood. In their defense though, they did say that the Luigi costume was great!

And wee one - we can't forget wee one!- was a very pretty butterfly (even though some of the same neighborhood moms and dads thought she was an angel), thanks in part to hubby who played wing-man most of the night, flipping her wings back up when they flapped over.

Everyone was very generous with the candy this year. People were giving wee handfuls of the stuff! (Wario was helping himself to handfuls all on his own. No surprise he won the family candy count!) Thank goodness we had that extra hour last night from the time change for them to spend brushing their teeth! And then, it was over. The kids went to sleep and I didn't sew anything. Another successful Halloween - costumes, candy, craziness, and a dark, spooky and very good night.