All Hallow's Eve

I love when Halloween falls on a Saturday.  It just makes the day perfect.

We all got up early and cleaned the church building.  Okay, everyone else cleaned, I just wandered around aimlessly. By the time we got there everything was mostly claimed and/or done.  Michael took the kids home and I wogged (this is a real word; I don't care what the squiggly red line says) home.

After I took a much-needed shower we carved some pumpkins.  One year Grace and Sam are going to want to carve their own pumpkins.  Right now they are content to dictate designs, scoop a few guts, and wield a knife for a few moments.  Then they walk off while Michael and I finish their pumpkins.

Sam is hiding, as he should be.  He instructed Michael he wanted the girl vampire from Hotel Transylvania.  He scooped out about two seeds and then wandered off and left the rest to Michael.  Grace did a little bit of the carving on her pumpkin but struggled to cut curved lines.

All lit up!

After the necessary clean up, we ate lunch and then had the most important part of the day: My birthday!  The kids gave me cards they pilfered from my closet.  The girls gave me sculpy creations and chocolate.  Sam gave me a card and Ethan gave me...his love? Michael gave me flowers and an arm strap for my phone so I can take it wogging and not have to put my phone in my brocket (spell check does not like me today).

Excruciating hours later, the kids finally got to their favorite part of the day.  We put on our costumes, made a brief appearance at the church party just long enough to eat dinner, and then headed back home.  It was time to hit the neighbors up for candy.

My niece Isabelle joined us.  We had Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley.  I was honored to take the three most powerful witches and wizards in history trick-or-treating.

Sam vacillated until that very evening on his costume decision.  At the 11th hour he finally settled on Batman.  Thank goodness we have a well-stocked bin of hand-me-down costumes from all the older cousins.

Grace knew exactly what she wanted to be for weeks.  Say hello to Pippi Longstocking.  Her costume made me so happy.  Watching her run around the neighborhood with her braids bobbing up and down was the most adorable thing (and yes, there is a wire coat hanger in her hair).

Watch out...

 for...

those spells!

And Batman is a true gentleman.  Did you ever doubt it?