Halloween 2013

Our Halloween started off raining cats and dogs.  In the 16 years of having kids, we have never had a rainy Halloween.  Kate, in particular, was somewhat concerned.  She was really excited about both her costume and her good friend Gillian who was coming over for dinner and trick or treating. I came up with some indoor rainy Halloween activities in case the rained continued and she was calmed by that.  But she really wanted to trick or treat.

It poured ALL DAY but miraculously but late afternoon, the clouds cleared and the sky was blue.  It was awfully humid but it was fine trick or treat weather.

We had a small revolving door of kids and adults come eat some pizza and enjoy some beverages and go out trick or treating.  It was fun.  The past few years, I cooked chili or something quick and we have not had people over for dinner. It was really fun having some families over.  BUT....it was too chaotic and the kids were WAY too inpatient for me to get the family and kid photos I like to get each year. I never even got Harry and all his buddies together:(  Everything seemed very rushed.  Middle school boys wait for no one on Halloween! All in all though, we had a great time which is much more important than photos, right?

Gillan and Kate

Kate told me a few months ago that she wanted to be a Venus fly trap for Halloween.  She has always loved the plants and we have had a few for her over the years but I had never seen a costume before.  Lo and behold, I googled it and there was exactly one costume for kids.  Truth be told, it was WAY out of my comfort zone for cost.  So, I tried to convince her of something else.  I put off ordering it for a while.  But as our plans unfolded, I realized that she was the only peanut in need of a costume this year (and a friend assured me that I could sell it on e-bay and recoup some of my investment). So I took the plunge and ordered it.  And I am so glad I did.  She LOVED her costume and so did everyone who saw it.  She even won a costume contest at our school festival last week.  It is one of my favorite costumes ever.

Kate is obsessed with Teen Beach movie and beehive and bouffant hair styles lately.  She styled my hair on Halloween in a half up-do beehive and asked me to keep it in.  It fell a bit due to humidity but I kept it in all night:)



Will did not dress up but he hung out with Gillian's oder sister Maddie.  They have been friends for many years and they took the kids trick or treating.

Our friends.

Catching flies?





Harry got braces!  He dressed in his lacrosse jersey and went out with a big group of friends but I only got these two for photos.







I don't know why but I always love the dumping/looking at candy photos each year:)

I love how Kate got right in the middle of Harry's friends for the candy trading!

She is completely comfortable with all the boys friends.






And here is a phone pic of the pumpkin Kate carved all by herself.  I think she did a great job.



One things that made me very nostalgic this week was Harry lost his final baby tooth. He really is not a little kid anymore.  In fact, in just weeks, he will be a teenager! I am sure most of you will not recall the very memorable Halloween when he lost his first baby tooth.



It was exactly 6 years ago...from first tooth to last tooth.
 It made me a little sad how my peanuts are growing up.

 It was Kate's first Halloween at home too...






We had a great Halloween and I hope y'all did too.

Halloween 2012

Well, the time has come when one of the peanuts no longer trick or treats. I guess Will is too old now that he is in high school. I vividly remember Will's first Halloween.  It seems like yesterday. He was a little bit sick but we still dressed him up (as a dalmatian) and strolled him around to a few neighbors and friends houses.  I have to admit that I get quite sad when I think that in just a few years Will will be away at college.  So, I took a lot of photos.  And I am posting them all.  Life is moving by too quickly for me these days and I want to savor every single moment.

Harry debated whether to go out this year as well but I reminded him to go while he can...childhood ends too quickly these days.

There was one little girl though who was SO excited for Halloween that she had been counting down the days....

I did make Will and Harry get in some photos too (much to their dismay).

(I apologize that these 3 family ones above are a little blurry/out of focus.  Will and a friend took them and the camera is heavy with this lens and I think other people have a harder time focusing with the weight.  I do sometimes too!)






And then we had to get the friends in too....










And I love when Kate comes home and dumps her candy and sorts through it.


















Harry and his friend sorted and traded their candy too but it was late and I don't have good pics of that:)

All 3 kids had a lot of fun last night and I did too.  Three adorable high school girls ended up coming over and taking Will for a few hours.  He hung out at one of their houses.

I am not even going to apologize for the overabundance of photos in this post:)  My peanuts are growing at a rapid speed and I need the photos for my sanity:)  Hope y'all had a great Halloween!

I promise photos of Dave's party are coming soon.

Halloweenie

This year, the peanuts were all dressed as junk food:)  As you can see, Kate was a cupcake. Will was a slice of pizza (same as last year as we were not sure until the last minute whether he would actually go out---you know teens!).  And Harry was a hot dog.  However, Kate called him a wiener!

We are laughing here as our neighbor took our photo and he was wearing a Scottish kilt (his costume).  And we were all hoping he was wearing something under the kilt!

Will and Harry ran off trick or treating with their friends.  Yes, they are too old now to walk the streets of our hood with Mom and Dad.  Oh my.  Kate trick or treated with her good friend "Rapunzel."

Poor little Kate.  She has the worst yucky CRUD.  She walks around with the box of tissues and her eyes and nose are constantly running.  But she rallied to trick or treat. I even offered to let her stay home from school today but they are visiting the fire station on a field trip and she did not want to miss it.





And my favorite lanterns.  I can only use them once a year. This year I discovered the battery candles.  They are the BEST.  They even flicker but they never blow out!

Sorry that I have been such a crummy blogger lately.  I have had too many other things going on and I always seem to get sick this time of year (and this year is no exception). I feel lousy. Anyway, I have some things to catch up on around the blog and will try to do so this week.  In the meantime, we are getting ready for Halloween. Here are a couple quick snappies...

{carving pumpkins...will is getting so tall!}

{Kate and Dave's jack o lantern}



The cake pops at Kate's class party (I did not make them; another Mom did)

{at Kate's class party today.  Poor thing...she is feeling sick too.  She has a BAD cold and a mosquito bite on her eye.  She even told me she might not feel well enough to trick or treat.  I sure hope she perks up soon!}





Have a fun and happy Halloween!!!