Halloween 2015

Ah, Halloween. 

We've got a tradition around here of having people over for dinner (chili, hot dogs, and this year we added corn dogs & tater tots) and trick or treating. Some years I've had family here (which I love), but as kids have gotten older it's more complicated for people to travel which I so totally understand (miss you guys). But the tradition of a gathering at my house continues and I'm so glad it does because it's just so fun. 

This year I was Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz, Anna ended up as Belle (there's a story there of course), and Simon was Doc Brown from Back To The Future. 

It was raining throughout most of the day so the kids were pretty up in the air with actually trick or treating. One of the fun things here is that we get a decent number of kids in our neighborhood so it's almost more fun to just sit all together in the foyer and answer the door and check out the costumes and stay dry and warm. 

For the front porch Anna and I mixed real and fake pumpkins. The cheshire cat is probably my best carving ever - I googled "cat pumpkin carving" and saw a variety of images as a jumping off point and just started carving. Anna loved it so much she wrote her name on the top of the pumpkin claiming it as hers "by Anna Edwards." Ha. 

Our guests for 2015: The Ackerman's. Dear friends. The come even though a couple of them have cat allergies (which resulted in an earlier exit this year). We love you guys! 

Originally Anna had planned (and I'd purchased) to be a pink bat-girl. She wore the costume at a party with Chris last weekend and decided she didn't like how it felt so she tried to get me to get her a new one on Halloween day. Uh, no. I suggested she wear one of her many princess dresses already in her closet and after a little back and forth she decided that was a good idea if I would help her look for some of the accessories that went with that particular dress. It was a plan. We found the purse and she was happy with that and that she got to wear her high heels and bright red lipstick. 

Simon's costume was found on Amazon and it really was perfect for him this year. He's been really into Back To The Future (just happened to be around the same time that the movie was getting a lot of play again because last week was the time in the "future" that they travel to in the movie). He wore it to the party with Chris and then to school on Friday. We asked him if lots of kids commented on his costume at school and he said something about "too many people talked to me about it." Love you Simon - it's because you are darn cool. 

Simon, never a fan of rain, decided to skip the trick or treating portion of the evening and watched Harry Potter instead (he was re-invigorated to watch it again after getting the Illustrated Edition of Harry Potter which is awesome if you have a fan in your home - it would make an awesome Christmas gift). 

Chris stopped by for a bit and he and Dave took the girls out around the neighborhood. They lasted about 30 enthusiastic minutes and each came back with more than enough candy and then were more than happy to spend the rest of the evening playing in Anna's room. 

There was some of this, of course. A little crazy chaos resulting from the mixture of candy, junk food, and sugary drinks. 

And Anna wants you to know that KitKat's are her favorite. 

I hope you and yours had a safe and fun weekend!