Halloween 2010

With all the camping we did in October, we didn't have much time to prepare for Halloween. So we just did our usual 15-minutes of preparation, dug some old costumes out, and tried to round up some candy. We didn't even carve the pumpkins this year -- no time!

Wannie got to wear the pumpkin-baby costume from 1998...


...but Gater didn't have a costume to wear at all. We had this "princess" dress that Miss Rose used to wear when she was two or three, and I had a bunch of felt (still do, actually) so I whipped up this little cape and hood for Gater, gave her a basket, and she was good to go.


Bert in 2000's football costume


Wannie suits the pumpkin costume, don't you think? All that roundness.


Somehow we stretched the lion costume that Bert wore last year, over Roks' 18-inch-taller frame, and it worked ok. He liked it.


And Miss Rose wore her prairie dress, which is really and truly too small for her these days.
Joman opted out of costume-wearage and handed out candy with me, instead.




Everybody thought the girls were way too cute.


Visiting with neighbors. They always have a fire pit and scary music, and good candy. They usually get our kids a special little treat, like coloring books and crayons. Sweet! Halloween, while absolutely not my favorite holiday, is my favorite time to catch up with the neighbors -- some of whom we've known since school days.


Here is JK, a friend who came to trick-or-treat with the group of good friends who live at the end of the street.

It has been a real blessing for our family and our children to have these good, creative, fun friends.



Fun times! But what to do with the pumpkins we didn't carve?

Halloween

Fall is fading fast, and within a few days, the trees will be naked, and winter will make a visual, if not actual, appearance.

I walked around the house to get a few pictures, of nothing in particular. Just fall-looking things, and stuff laying around.

Michael's had a great sale -- $1.99 for the grapevine wreaths, $.99 for the fall flowers/leaves, and 40% off the ribbon. So for less than 10 bucks and 10 minutes, I was able to throw this wreath together. It doesn't look professional, but it's nicer than a plain door.



Roks' Christmas stocking in progress.

Sewing today. I think the view from the windows will be changing soon. We can already see the cars zooming past -- they are no longer hidden behind a strip of trees and brush.



We hadn't intended to do anything for Halloween this year. It's just not our favorite holiday. But our neighbors-across-the-street were not vacationing this year, and their children wanted to go with ours. So at about 5:53pm they kids threw on whatever they could find for costumes, and off they went.

Daddy and Gater handed out the $6 worth of candy I had bought. I had planned to eat it or give it to our non-trick-or-treaters, but it turned out that we were glad I'd bought it after all. Hope the visitors weren't too disappointed. They each got a chocolate eyeball and two Hershey's kisses (or one Reese's cup.)

Joman carved this pumpkin last night.

And Miss Rose carved the jack-o-lantern face.

Bert was too afraid to look at himself in the mirror.

Halloween

While Mamma and Aunt Deb were hangin' with the emo's in Millersburg, and doing high-speed chases with the cops, Daddy and the other kids were having fun at home on Halloween.

I can't say that I know what all happened, but I know they passed out candy, dressed up, carved pumpkins and roasted pumpkin seeds, and Grandma and Grandpa came over to help and to enjoy the fun.

Here are the pics to prove it.

Halloween!

After being "undecided" as to whether or not to celebrate Halloween this year, we finally decided to join the fun.

Grandma made and delivered these cute cookies.

I made Joman's sandwich costume, out of tissue paper, butcher paper, twine, and a cardboard box. Can you tell?

The other costumes are up to 12 years old, and saved. Baby's was purchased by Grandma S. for the first baby we lost, before conceiving Miss Rose. I'm glad we saved it all this time. Jr Spragus' costume was made for Joman when HE was three years old. Mammam made Miss Rose's costume several years ago as a Christmas present. It used to be big on her! She's such a young lady now, she wore REAL PANTYHOSE with it.

There were SO many children out and about. We set chairs at the end of the driveway with our jack-o-lanterns lit; big bowl all ready with candy to hand out. Lots of nice little kids, with nice friendly parents.

Do you see mamma's little treat?
Coming to live with us on Monday :-)
It was great getting to meet some of the neighbors we hadn't met yet, and their kids; we discovered that an old friend from high school is living just a few doors down with her hubby and four children. Our next door neighbors saved some special presents for our children -- some books and coloring books; and their son who lives with them, and who keeps a wonderful garden, gave us all the green tomatoes he had, since it will frost this week and end the season.

The deer came out to see the fuss and to visit the neighbor-across-the-street's vegetable garden while they are away in California; the police were patrolling the streets in their cruisers and handing out candy (which my children were really impressed with.)

I made some spiced apple cider, which we brought out in a big red pot and shared with our grown-up neighbors.

It was a good, neighborly sort of night and I'm so glad we participated, after all.