Happy Halloween Happiness!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. And my favorite part about it is pumpkins. They are just so bright and orange and cheerful. So these are the pumpkins we harvested off my surprise pumpkin plant. All of the orange pumpkins (and the one green one) we grew and the white ones were gifted to us.

We only carved two. The plan was to let the kids carve them. We helped design them and Michael couldn't bear to let them get messed up so he "helped" the kids carve their pumpkins, meaning they stood there watching their father carve their chosen designs. Speaking of chosen designs, I tried to talk Libby out of a flower but that is what she really wanted. So she got a flower pumpkin. Ethan decided to stick with a spooky bat.

Two mummies and a lady bug at our homeschool Halloween party. Ethan wanted to be a mummy and then at the last minute Libby decided she wanted to be a mummy. I had about ten minutes to get them in their costumes. Sam was screaming and Grace was exhausted. Thankfully one of the other moms scooped up Sam and trotted off but good grief! Mummies are hard and time consuming and messy and make me want to run screaming into the night even more than I normally do. So we did a haphazard job and I sent them on their way. They didn't seem to mind. Grace on the other hand HATED her costume. You would think I had put her in a straight jacket and a diaper made of cactus needles for the fuss she made. And then she realized that there was candy involved. Everyone she went up to gave her candy! Life was great, and the costume was nothing but a distant memory.

That evening we went to the trunk-or-treat at the church and once again I had to wrap up both kids (shoot me now) in their mummy gear. Grace tolerated her costume now because she suspected it might have something to do with free candy. They got tons of treats and we came home and promptly fell into sugar-induced comas.

Saturday morning we packed up and went to Boo at the Zoo. At this point Ethan and Libby were forbidden from even mentioning the word mummy. Libby dressed as a witch, her original choice, and Ethan donned a fire fighter costume from years gone by. Grace practically dove into her costume this time. That ladybug thing was a candy magnet. We biked to the Zoo for some good wholesome fun. We met a couple of friends and started on our adventure. One word: madness. If I was allowed two I would add torturous. The zoo was beyond packed. At one point Ethan looked up at me and said, "Mom, if I want to go to Boo and Zoo next year remind me not to." My sentiments exactly. If you are tempted to go only go if you love crowds and crowds (and more crowds) of people.

After much hemming, hawing and such, we decided trick-or-treating around our neighborhood as a family (Grandma Hobson included!) would not land us beyond about the Third Circle of Hell (Gluttony). See how much happier Grace looks now than she did up there at the top?

Thus the trek began. Ethan peed in the bushes, Libby biffed it on someone's step, Grace soiled her diaper, Sam fell asleep and all the kids (especially Gracie 'cause everyone thought she was the cutest of them all) scored some high-quality Halloween goodness. Everyone had a good time, and we're so thankful we don't have to do it for a whole 'nother year.