Is anyone else still in a sugar coma? I’ve tried to curb my candy consumption this year, but why must it be so good? I mean, it’s nearly physically impossible to avoid any peanut butter and chocolate combination, right?!?

I wasn’t the only one crazy for candy. E. started thinking about it as soon as she woke up. She jumped out of bed for once and was so excited that she got to wear her costume to school since their Halloween, er, sorry, All Saints Party, was starting in the morning.

In case you’re not current on your Disney princesses, that’s Merida, the newest one from “Brave” and E’s (and her mother’s) favorite one ever.

It was actually pretty hilarious to see her as a redhead. I had such high hopes that she’d be a ginger. Her hair was very strawberry blonde her first year of life. I come from a family of redheads. My grandmother was one and my dad, brother and many of my cousins are VERY redheaded. Alas, E inherited her Daddy’s goldilocks. But she sure did look cute as a red.

That was some wild hair. From the back, I’m not sure if it looked more like Merida or Medusa.

I really hope this is our last wig year. Last year, we battled all night to keep her Princess Leia wig on. But I think this year’s was worse. It was so heavy and I’m not sure who’s head their fitting when they create the caps on these wigs, but it’s certainly not a preschooler’s head. This one probably would have fit me better than it did her. I tried holding it in place with bobby pins, so of course E told everyone that I had “sewed it to her head with needles.” Yup. I’m an awesome mom like that.

This year, E’s BFF from preschool came to our house first (with her parents) and the six of us walked over to our friends for our annual pre-Trick-or-Treating party. They live a few streets away, and every year, a bunch of us gather there first for dinner (we switched to pizzas last year because it was becoming a pain organizing weeknight cook-outs) and drinks for the adults, then set out together once it gets dark.

The kids were so excited that Trick-or-Treating was finally here.

Merida finally got to sling her bow over her shoulder just like in the movie (no pretend weapons were allowed at school) and her friend was a Vampire Bunny Princess. How is this not a thing yet? You heard it here first. By next year, it will be the hot new costume. Kids are seriously the best.

Why is my child so strange? She’s a big fan of the goofy face for pictures these days. Just know — whenever you see a picture of her smiling, I worked HARD for that precious moment.

It’s always fun to see what our friends dress up as, and this year, they went all out.

On the left, is the Stormtrooper suit that our friend BUILT, from like 1,000 pieces. On the right is our friend who always dresses up as some version of a zombie — and it usually involves that white suit, which just happens to be the suit he got married in. Last year, he was a ’70s disco zombie. This year, he was zombie General Robert E. Lee. Hilarious. I’ve already given him a gold idea for next year — zombie Col. Sanders. You’re welcome.

But, the most impressive costume of the night was my friend B. See that awesome R2-D2 skirt she’s wearing below?

She MADE that. On a sewing machine. Just because she had the idea to try it. I have no such ideas. I told her I want to borrow it. It’s super cute, huh?

And for my fellow Star Wars nerds fans, how awesome is it that their son (the one next to the Stormtrooper) was a Jawa with glowing eyes? So cool.

I also got to do something really fun … hang out with my new baby bumble bee cousin.

Backstory time (you know I love me a good backstory). The bumble bee’s mommy is my cousin. Let’s see, I think we are third cousins? I’m not sure how that all works but her grandmother is my late great-grandfather’s sister. So their parents were my great-great-grandparents (and her great-grandparents). Make sense?

But we’re from Pennsyltucky, so we just call everyone cousin and even your third, fourth, fifth cousins are considered your immediate family. But here’s the really funny part of the story. H. and I grew up two hours apart. I know her grandmother very well but not the rest of her family as well. We think we may have met when we were 4 or 5 (we’re the same age) but neither remembers. All I know is that when I moved to Florida (back in the old days before Facebook) her mom and my mom saw each other at a family reunion and figured out that we actually lived in the same neighborhood. We both, independently, kept meaning to seek out our mystery cousin who lived nearby. Then, two years ago, at this very same Halloween party, my friend up there in the R2-D2 skirt was actually the one to figure out that H. and I were cousins. Such a small world!

So yeah, not only did we live in the same neighborhood but we lived about three blocks apart and had mutual good friends. Sing with me now, “It’s a small world after all …”

But back to the bumble bee. How sweet is she? She’s 9 weeks now and so sweet. She let me hold her forever without crying and she’s holding her head up like a champ. She was born premature and weighed less than 7 pounds at birth. Now she’s 10 pounds but still felt small since I still expect every baby to be the beast that mine was as a newborn.

This year’s surprise was a family member of a different sort … a fellow Syracuse fan!

E. better be on board for some kind of Syracuse-related costume for next year because it was awesome!

Finally, it was the moment all the kids had been waiting for — trick-or-treating time!

It’s like trying to reign in wild horses. Our group swelled to about 20, so it was hard to keep everyone together and, more importantly, to keep the kids from RUNNING from door to door. It’s a blast though.

As I said last year, Halloween makes me fall in love all over again with my neighborhood. Everyone is really into it, the houses are all close together, there are plenty of sidewalks and we’re constantly bumping into people we know. E. is really lucky to grow up in a neighborhood like this.

Of course, the one picture I took during ToT doesn’t feature any of the things I mentioned above, but you get the idea. Besides, how funny is E’s wig? For the record, she did eventually abandon it and the bow. In fact, she eventually abandoned her legs. After about 90 minutes, she was EXHAUSTED and begged her Daddy to carry her from house to house until we got home. She’s got him wrapped around her fingers already.

This is how tired she was — she didn’t even ask to have any candy when we got home. She was ready for bed — and by 9 (which for my bedtime-fighting night owl isn’t that late).

After she went to bed, I scrounged for my favorites inspected her loot, and I was pleasantly surprised by how many non-candy items she got this year. There were a ton of toys, candy and games in there. Go neighborhood!

All in all, it was a great night. Perfect weather. Fun times with good friends. And, in my humble opinion, the best Princess Merida in all the land.

Now, bring on Thanksgiving!

What’s your favorite candy? What do you hand out to trick-or-treaters? What’s the best wig you’ve ever worn?