A Little Bit of Hallowe'en

The Jack-o-Lantern that Joel and the girls carved about 15 minutes before they went trick-or-treating.  They totally win the contest for speed this year.

I did not have the wherewithal to do much with Halloween this year, much as I usually love it.  No homemade costumes.  No dressing up myself.  No pumpkin carving.  And practically no photos.

Joel was out of town last weekend, which is when a lot of Halloween happens in our town.  On Friday night, we had our annual Treat Street, where the downtown businesses hand out candy.  I went with friends Jane & Jared and their kiddos (and dog...that is not Puccini on steroids).  Funny anecdote: Jared is usually out of town for Treat Street and Jane goes with Joel and me.  This year, Jared was in town, but Joel was gone.  I wonder if they'll ever both be there?
Since I was dealing with the kids by myself, photos were pretty non-existent.  The kids actually requested this one at the wall, since we do it every year.  Nice to know I have trained them well.

Otherwise, most of my pictures looked like this:
Though I did get one of each of the girls.  But just one!

Chloe was an 80s Valley Girl (she decided against John Lennon after all) who didn't believe me that ratted hair, especially bangs, was the thing in the 80s.  She also had some amazing fake eyelashes.
Sophia was "Abby Bominable."  If you have daughters who are into Monster High, you'll recognize her as the daughter of the yeti.  She's pretty cute, and I got to repurpose the Ginormica wig from a few years ago instead of spending 30 bucks on the Monster High one.
I also managed to get one photo of her in the fall leaves, but she closed her eyes for it and then ran off before I could get another one.  Candy called. 
Bria was "Miss Mad Hatter" but she only wore the hat to Treat Street because she was going to the middle school dance right after and didn't want to wear her costume there.
After Treat Street, the rest of us had a party at our house (something that has become tradition as well--and it is so much fun!).  Soup and chili and lots of other yummy food.  I had about 35 people at my house, more than  half of them kids.  And I did it all without a husband! I'm guessing that all of my Halloween wherewithal this year went to the party.  Without Joel, I actually had to make his (very detailed) chicken noodle soup AND my chili.  And clean the house and make it look cute.  No pictures of any of it, unfortunately.  I am just not on much of a camera kick.  Next year.

On Saturday night we had Safe House.  This is where the university students decorate their dorms in really fun ways and the kids go trick-or-treating there.  This time we went with MaryFran, Jim, and their three girls.

 Here are the Number Threes with one of their friends from Girl Scouts.
Here are the Number Ones.
I never did manage to get a photo of the Number Twos.  Darn it.  But here is my Number Two without her match.  (She is saying Oh. My. Gosh! in this photo.)
No eyelashes this time...we couldn't get them to stick anymore and I didn't actually think to buy eyelash glue.  And spirit gum doesn't work for eyelashes.  Trust me on this one.

Here's one last photo of Bria in her full costume, but I guess I don't have any photos in which you can actually see the whole costume.  Sigh.  She sure is a cutie pie, though.


Today (October 31), it snowed most of the day.  I have been sick, so I cancelled all my lessons and stayed in bed until I had to get up to take Halloween treats in to the school for the parties and see the costume parade.  In true form, I forgot my camera, but at least I remembered the cupcakes!

All the snow meant it was cooooooold out there come Trick-or-Treat time.  I didn't have the wherewithal OR the fortitude, so I stayed home to pass out candy while The Maestro braved the elements and gathered candy with the girls.

And that, my friends, was Halloween 2012 in our neck of the woods.

Onward to November!