Halloween 2013 {Our First Year as a Keto Family}

Morgan as Arwen

 As usual I was too busy wrangling kids to get any good pictures! You might recognize some of these costumes from my post about the Lord of the Rings /Hobbit Party. I told the kids that I was only making one set of costumes this year. Anyone who got a new costume for the party had to wear it for Halloween too! I did tell them that if they could scrounge up their own costumes from our well stocked dress up box (mostly filled with costumes from previous years), they could get a new one for Halloween. Everyone was happy to use the same costume though.

Owen as Frodo

 Last year, Owen was still extremely picky about everything he ate and didn't really like any sweets except Tootsie Pops and M&M's. He was perfectly happy to walk around and ring doorbells. He actually told people "No thank you", when they offered him candy. This year he thinks he's starving despite gaining over three pounds since starting the Ketogenic diet. I was really worried that he would be begging all night for the candy. He actually did really well though. He had a bit of temptation when he was handed a Tootsie Pop, but he just looked at it a long time before putting it in his bag. I made up a "recipe" for him that lets him eat 6 grams ( about 7) of M&M's with 28 grams of macadamia nuts ( the only candy I could find in the Ketocalculator and luckily one of Owen's favorites). He wasn't able to have any on Halloween since his last meal was just before we went trick or treating, but he can have some over the next few days. The rest of his candy we put in a bag on the table for the Candy Fairy. We told him that the Candy Fairy was a special fairy who picks up candy from kids who can't eat it due to medical issues and replaces it with a toy. Owen got a mini lightsaber and a set of stomp rockets in place of his candy.

 About halfway through our trek from house to house, Brenna finally realized that she was getting candy. After that she said "Treat or Treat" at every house. She never did get over her fear of Cameron's troll mask though.

Cameron removing his mask to keep Brenna from crying.

 At one door, the man who answered jokingly asked the kids to choose a candy or a vegetable from a big bowl of cucumbers. Owen reached for the cucumber and the man took the bowl away and told him he was just kidding, he could have candy. Owen said okay and took the candy, but continued to look longingly at the cucumbers so the man told us to take one for him. I guess I need to come up with a recipe that has cucumbers in it. The man said he's been asking kids that question for 5 years and NEVER had anyone choose the vegetable over the candy before.

 Duncan wouldn't let me get a picture of him even in costume. I remember when this little boy would BEG me to take his picture multiple times a day. Devon, Connor, and Cameron made plans to go back out trick or treating after we brought the little ones in like they have done the last couple of years. This year Duncan asked to be a big kid and go with them. The 4 big kids averaged a candy intake of  5 lbs a piece! It seems business was slow this year and toward the end people were giving them much larger than usual portions!

 Now comes the fun part for Mom. The daily portioning out of candy so children don't gorge themselves, get overly hyper, eat in front of Owen, or leave candy wrappers everywhere. If the kids were younger I think I'd just have the Candy Fairy come for all of them, but I don't think that would go over well with my big kids. Devon is going out of town with a friend this weekend to visit another friend, so I'm guessing that will take care of a large portion of her candy stash. I can't believe how much candy 3 teenage girls can eat in one weekend.