Obligatory Halloween post

Holy busy couple of weeks, Batman! Between going to Texas, Jeff being in Brazil, my parents visiting, and the week of Halloween festivities...I am behind in my stories. I have a lot to catch up on. And I'm going to start from the end...Halloween. Because that's the logical thing to do.

Aaaaand, I just realized all my Halloween pictures are on here are in backwards order. Typical.

Okay, so when did Halloween become a week-long event? Since I have school-age children? In different schools? Oh, yes, that's when.

Starting from the very end...

Our pumpkins. If my children ever say I don't love them...

We did the pumpkins on Saturday morning. Mere hours after Jeff came home from Brazil.

I'm serious... his plane landed at 6 am, and he was carving pumpkins at 9:30. Welcome home! Pull up a chair and have children scream and cry and fight while you force a knife through impossibly tough vegetable skin. Good times. Michael had the most fun. After his was done, he spent a long while fitting the discarded pieces back into their holes. A real veggie puzzle. At least it kept him away from the sharp implements.

Way cooler at night.
Trick-or-treating was really fun. Mikey kept up for about half of the night. Lily putzed out 3/4 of the way. I decided she was done when she walked away from someone's house and said (loudly and rudely), "They didn't even give me any chocolate." Andrew was a champ. He hit every house on our street that had it's front porch lit up.

I didn't figure out to turn off the flash on my camera until later. Those are glow sticks the kids are holding.

At home before trick-or-treating. Backwards in time...are you still with me?

Lily is Tiana, from The Princess and the Frog. Michael was supposed to be a frog (insert cute 'awwwwww' here). As you can see, he opted to go with Andrew's old 4T Spiderman costume. He regularly touched his biceps and said, "I MAN". Andrew is a Pokemon...named Articuno. He showed his Aunt Sara a picture in September, and she nearly exactly created this creature. Andrew was so incredibly thrilled...even though no one knew what he was.

Backwards to Friday...

Andrew's elementary school does a Halloween parade. Except that they walk about a mile around the borough (read: town). The locals sit out on their front porches, the kids have a blast. The 5th and 6th graders take a detour through the nursing home in town. It is a lovely tradition.

Back to Thursday:

Michael and I take a little toddler class together. They also had a Halloween party and parade.

This is a picture of us trying to get a group shot. Turns out 2 year olds don't like to do what you ask.

Go figure.

You will notice Michael's costume. He is dressed as "Uncooperative 2 year old"

Also notice how cute the Cat in the Hat is behind him. What a yummy costume!

Later in the day, Thursday:

Lily's class also had a Halloween party and parade. Lily was a pro...waving like a beauty queen.

I think this is later in the day Thursday...seriously, how did I eff up these pictures so royally?

We went to a pumpkin patch, because we were in Texas the week before, then it rained...and suddenly we were all, "Holy crow! We have to get pumpkins! There is a shortage!"

Well, our pumpkin patch didn't seem to have a shortage.

Lily with a pink pumpkin. She didn't end up choosing it...shock of all ages.

Lily having a fit because Andrew touched the pumpkin. She's like fire and ice, that girl.

All in all...crazy week. I'm so thankful that my parents decided to drive here and spend the week with me. I can't imagine doing all this without any support. Parents are grand ;) Now who's going to come stay with me when Jeff goes to Mexico next week? (joking...it's not Halloween week...we'll be fine...)