Warriors.....Come out and Get Candy.

The strangest thing happened to me last night readers.  Realizing how cute she was in her baby Rat City Roller girl Halloween costume, I was pretty sure that Mrs. LIAYF and I had sat Annabelle down with her orange pumpkin candy receptacle before taking her picture for posterity.

But when I looked back down at her, the plastic pumpkin was gone!

I thought I was just old and losing my mind, until later when I looked on the camera and saw this on the digital picture!

It was a Ninja.  A Black Ninja had stealthily snuck in and stolen away the pumpkin!!  Can you see it happening in the picture above?   Don't blink or you may miss it.  Anyway, If it weren't for the magic of digital photography this mystery may have forever gone unsolved.  

And, putting two and two together I realized that this Black Ninja might be the same Black Ninja who appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, in the gaggle of kids we were out trick or treating with later that evening.  

This particular Ninja would always be the first to the door, knock, and when the unsuspecting patron opened the door he would grab a handful of candy and have slipped away into the night before the homeowner had even detected him.  All that was ever heard was the echo of a "Thank you" from somewhere close by.  This would obviously leave the poor dad, and yes they were usually the dad's handing out candy, confused and also a bit frightened.

I was impressed.  I just wish Lukas would have been there to witness the amazing moves of this particular member of the Ninja brotherhood.  But for some reason I couldn't find him until later, at home.

I was able to witness this, only because I was walking among the aforementioned gaggle of kids, carrying Annabelle, or 'Hell's Belle' (her roller derby name) from door to door to collect some candy of her own.

Hard to see, but I have a bruise above my right eye
for authenticity.  I got it practicing my walking.

Honestly, it's been about 18 hours since we finished our 1.5 hour tour of the finer homes of our neighborhood and my arms still feel like jelly.  Jelly!!  Carry a 25lb baby - face out, chest high, up and down stairs for 90 minutes will do that to you.

But it was totally worth it.  Totally.  To see Annabelle, who turned one the day before,  reach down with a smile and grab out Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers,Twizzlers, (and even once a two pack of Twinkies) for her daddy was enough to warm my heart.  Not to mention making our friends and neighbors very happy and willing to give out extra goodies.

The night was extra fun, because it was also Mrs. LIAYF's birthday on Halloween too!  Happy Birthday again, sweetie.  We celebrated with gifts, cake, and presents in addition to the trick or treating.  It was certainly a pretty fun evening all around.  So much so, that I think we'll do it again next year.

With a first birthday party, two family birthday's and Halloween all in the course of a 4 day period, this dad and husband is completely spent.  

I think I'll go sleep now.  Or maybe once the sugar rush wears off.