Happy Halloween

Little Lamb and Pikachu set off on their Halloween adventures.

They join forces with their friend Blue Lightning, in search of fun and treasure.

 They find lots of both, especially the treasure.

We've heard lots of strategies and ideas for dealing with all the candy kids get on Halloween, and there are things we don't like about all of them. Clearly the only sane thing is not to allow this much candy into your house. That worked the first few years we went trick-or-treating, but the Halloween candy cat is out of the bag.

This year we gave the girls the option of trading in candy for toys. Hazel couldn't decide whether she wanted a flashlight or weapons, so we were delighted to find this "lightsaber dagger" (it glows red when turned on). She also got a pirate sword and accessories (thank you 50% off Halloween toys).

Juniper's current obsession is Pokemon, a collectible card game targeted at children. We offered to trade Pokemon cards one for one for candy. Juniper initially decided to trade 20 pieces of candy for two packs of Pokemon cards (10/pack). Once she got the cards, she was so excited that she decided to trade in even more candy. By the time she was done, Juniper had 51 new Pokemon cards. Then Hazel became jealous and decided to trade some more of her candy for Pokemon cards. All told, the girls wound up trading well over half of their Halloween candy and feeling absolutely delighted with their decisions.