A Day in the Life: Halloween 2011

The house is almost, ALMOST quiet. (Why are 3 of my 4 children night owls? It's a cruel reality.) Brandon is working on a presentation about prostate cancer for a prostate cancer support group tomorrow (doesn't that sound fun?), and I'm here typing with one eye closed. I'm feeling a little down today, and I'm sure it's because I'm tired. Here is the Halloween report nonetheless, because these kids just keep on growing, and because my memory seems to get worse every day. (I like to say my hard drive is full. This blog is like my external hard drive.)

Friday night we went to Cornbelly's for the last time this season. We went to pick our pumpkins, but maxed out on the other activities first. Kate forced me to go in the creepy clown fun house thing. I held onto her like a high school boyfriend with my eyes closed the entire time. (I'm getting too old for this stuff.) Eating kettle corn while sipping hot cocoa around the fire was a highlight. It was cold!

Saturday was carving day. Brandon was on call and home only long enough to do the pumpkins (about 3 hours), but he got the job done:

I made pumpkin doughnuts with a little help from my assistants:

FYI--last year's recipe was way better than this year's just-as-good-even-though-they're-baked-instead-of-fried recipe. The baked variety were a disappointment. Brandon kind of said I told you so in a nice way. But much like pizza, even bad pumpkin doughnuts are pretty good:

Rachael's:

Elizabeth's (with considerable help from Dad):

Will's:

Kate's:

Believe it or not, I didn't spend a single penny on costumes this year. The weekend we were going to go looking, we first pulled out what we already had and everyone came away happy. Hand-me-downs and leftovers are a beautiful thing.

The joker:

The self-appointed "disco hippie":

This is NOT a witch! This is "a little girl with long black hair" as she was quick to tell everyone:

Elementary school parade:

My favorite adult costume of the day from Rebecca:

Will's class party. We did a "Fear Factor" theme, and I brought baby food for the kids to take down. Some were braver than others. Will wasn't among them even though he ate a BBQ'd larvae at another station:

My baby food idea was nothing compared to what another mom brought. Look at this stuff:

The Goth condescends to join the group for a picture. She and Will were taking themselves pretty seriously. What a crack up:

I think I pulled off The Flying Nun pretty well, except I probably should have done it "years" ago. When I told the kids how many people have said I look like Sally Field and then showed them the picture from the show, Elizabeth said something nice about me looking "way older" than her. (I guess she was a teenager in the show so I can't feel too bad.) My favorite moment of the evening was while driving home after dropping Kate off at her friend's house. I happened to see another woman dressed as a nun just standing in her doorway. Our eyes met, and with a totally straight face she raised her arm in the air as if to say "Bless you, my child." I was laughing the whole way home:

We really lucked out on the weather. Last year was freezing and rainy. Last night was clear and cool:

Liked this one:

Will went off with his friends as well, so it was just me and the girls while Brandon manned the candy bowl back home. I could just spit when I think about how easy it would have been for me to bring the Flip video camera along. Rachael was so stinkin' cute and kept saying the funniest things. Stuff you can't make up let alone remember. 4-year-old stuff. I'm so tired right now that it seriously almost makes me cry that I didn't get any of that on video! She kept saying "Happy Halloween, Mom!" and "This is the best happy Halloween day ever!" It's the tone of voice and her little lisp that makes it so darn cute. Why didn't I bring the video?? Why don't I go to bed! (Head is on the pillow now, typing with both eyes closed, only opening to spell check occasionally . . .)

A family two doors up makes fried doughnuts out of their garage every year, complete with a variety of toppings:

They also show "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" on the side of their house. Here are the kids with their glow sticks, watching from the comfort of the tramp: