Trunk or treat manipulator

Saturday night we had the ward's annual Trunk or Treat. You know chili cook off, carnival games, cute babies in costumes. Getting candy at every car without having to walk so far. The kids get so excited to go because I feel a lot safer letting them roam around with their friends on their own since I won't let them do this with regular trick or treating. When we first got there Avery was so excited to see her friend Claire also dressed up as Strawberry Shortcake. They both looked so cute and they were so happy about having the same costume. They wanted to hang out together all night and Ave was thrilled when Claire asked if she could go with their family around trunk or treating and Deke and I said yes. Off they ran holding hands, two cute little strawberry shortcakes. I love that they wanted to hold hands. Cute. The kids had fun playing the different carnival games and of course taking a bizillion turns going through the different bouncy slides and climbers. Hunter asked permission to "hang out with his friends by himself" and so we let him go around with his guy friends checking in now and again. I'll admit this was my first year doing this and I tried to not be paranoid but I kept checking on where he was every few minutes. Can't help it, he is just too precious to me. Emma was obsessed with a game that consisted of pulling rubber duckies out of a small wading pool and matching their numbers. She kept running over to it and pulling the ducks out and handing them to me. I would toss them back in and again she would hurry to grab more. She seriously about took a swim at least three times. This was the only activity she wanted to do the whole time. I kept trying to get her hooked on something different but inevitably two seconds later she would be toddling her little feathered behind towards the pool. Then it was time for some chili and hotdogs. Then grab up our jack o lantern buckets and off to trunk or treat. Emma who was not even sure what we were doing saw how excited Avery and Hunter were and started laughing and pointing at the cars. When we went up to the first car she was pretty unsure about the whole thing. She watched Hunter and Avery walk up, say trick or treat and hold up their buckets. I walked her forward and helped her hold up her bucket. She at first turned away afraid and then she heard them tell her how cute she looked and drop something in her bucket. One look inside and her eyes got wide. She reached in and picked it up and showed us rambling something excitedly. We walked up to the next car and she very willingly held up her bucket. "Oh look how adorable you are" the couple started telling her and put some candy in her bucket. She smiled sweetly at them and then reached into the bowl in the ladies lap and grabbed another candy. "Emma, you already got one" I told her. "Oh, it's okay the woman said, she is so cute she can have another one." I thanked her and we headed to the next car. "Deke I can't believe she just reached into her lap like that" I told him as we laughed about it. Next car Em held up her bucket. "Well isn't that just the cutest thing" came a compliment. Emma smiled so cute and I should have known what was coming yet I was still surprised when I saw her little fist reach into the ladies lap and clench a tootsie roll. "Emma!" I said this time a little more shocked and a little more stern "Oh she is just fine she can have as many as she wants, can't you sweetie." Emma dropped it into her bucket and started of to the next car. "No lady I thought to myself you don't understand how smart this baby is, this is totally on purpose." What do you know she used this tactic on every single car or at least attempted to. Everytime the reaction was the same, "comments on how cute she was so it was okay" Emma grinning sweetly totally playing it up to achieve the maximum results. Oh my precious little manipulator you are way too smart for your own good. You'd better believe that she had more candy then Hunter or Avery when buckets were dumped out at the end of the night to check out the goods. She knew exactly what she was doing. Oh boy. :) :)