Halloween (very clever title, I know)

If you have been reading for a while you know that I live in a small rural town in northern Vermont.
If you have been watching the weather you know that 3 days ago we got some snow and that it's darned cold up here right now. However, we in the Northeast Kingdom are no stranger to bad weather and no amount of snow or cold is going to deter this town from celebrating Halloween.
One of my favorite things about living here is that we have traditions, certain things that bring us all together like a family. The stars and stripes, homecoming, a genuine 100 year old football rivalry, snowflake festival, relay for life, and many others. Halloween is no exception. The whole town does it's best to get into the spirit, businesses give out candy and stay open late. All the houses in the village decorate and everyone (adults and children alike) dress up and get into the holiday spirit.

Autumn would not let me get pictures of her Cleopatra costume, apparently she is "too old" for that...

This year started out like all the others, searching for costumes, carving pumpkins, getting the yard decorated. On Halloween though, 2 big things changed: Autumn went out trick or treating for the first time with just her friends and the Hubbs took Lili without me. I stayed behind to do candy duty this year (we went through 19 bags!). I was so nervous about letting Autumn go alone, it was one of those moments where I caught a glimpse of my future, her learning to drive and going out on a date, and I wasn't sure I liked it.

The tanning salon and mattress shop put up a little haunted house for the little kids

The graveyard at our house, those lights are actually orange...

This growing up things is getting harder everyday, when did your kids first start doing things on their own? is it normal to feel so lost?