Halloween 2024

I won't admit exactly how late we started shopping for costumes this year.

Okay, it was like 2 days before.  Ross -- and Creative Katie -- to the rescue!

First off, Daniel and Nicky went as Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury (via Super Smash Bros.):

Personally, I think Daniel totally rocks the blond wig.  He could easily pass for a surfer dude.

 

Action shot!  He fell over right after this shot, lol

Katie made Daniel's vest out of a polo shirt.  She wins all the costume mom brownie points this year.

The resident plague doctor had to perform minor surgery on her pumpkin before it was ready for display.

Katie went as a "punk plague doctor."  With bunny ears.  And platforms.  And love.

She hoped the bunny ears would keep small children from being too scared of her.

I don't know if it worked.

Jojo went as Joker from the game Persona, also via Super Smash Bros.

Katie painted his mask.  And loaned him the pistol from her Cosplay Stash.

Andy went as everyone's favorite hero, Link! (from Breath of the Wild -- anyone recognize the selfie pose?)

Ready for candy!

Miriam was working. :(  (Well, it was nice for her patients, sad that she missed out on the fun.)

 

And a closeup of Katie's pumpkin, just because it's so awesome:

(It's a character from the anime Over the Garden Wall.)

Happy Feast of All Hallows!

Great Western Trek, Part 2: In Minnesota

Nicky was initially disappointed in the house.  When we told him it was on a lake, he thought we meant that literally.  He was expecting a floating house, or at the very least an island. 

Sorry, buddy.

A Year In Review

I think 2020 is over... which would make a year-in-review appropriate, although I'm not 100% sure we're not just stuck in the vestibule of Hell from the Inferno.

 

At any rate, here is a summary of what we did last year (assuming it was actually a year ago).  Surprisingly I have remarkably few pictures.  I guess we weren't very busy for some weird reason.

January

The year began as usual, with the disembowling of the gingerbread monstrosity house.

this would be Day 2.

October

Okay before you start reading, you have to go here and have it just playing in the background.

You're welcome.

(I always hear this song playing in my head whenever we go hiking.)

So back in October we went hiking in the Blue Ridge mountains during Columbus Day weekend.  And by "hiking" I mean "walked along a well-defined and relatively easy 20-minute trail uphill and then back down."

the view from Stony Man Summit

Oh Shenandoah...

Andy, human mountain goat

it was so cold and windy!  I never remember to dress warmly enough for this summit.  I spent most of our time up there hiding from the wind in this little hollow

hitchin' post makes an excellent barre!

the dryads get a little bigger every year

motto: No Rock Left Unclimbed!

little trooper made it most of the way himself, but occasionally just Couldn't. Walk. Any. More. (he suckered Miriam into carrying him uphill -- mean ol' Mom refused until we were heading back down)

about a week away from peak color, but still lovely

two roads diverged in a wood...

there were never such devoted sisters...

"Miriam laughs at anything, even when I just breathe -- watch!"

Worn out boys means this hike was a success!

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There was THE most amazing rainbow in October.  The thing stretched across the entire sky, and it was absolutely brilliant.  There was a double rainbow above it, and rainbow echoes below--I counted six (none of which could I capture on film).   Why are rainbows so hard to photograph?

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Katie found a shirt that she just HAD to get, as it perfectly expresses her love for her two favorite fandoms:

I don't know if you can see it, but Epona's cutie mark is a triforce

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Andy's birthday came towards the end of October.  We had a small family celebration on his birthday.  He got to choose all his favorite foods for meals, and play video games (almost) as much as he liked. 

He really, really wanted a party on Halloween, so for lunch we had friends over for a little costume party.  I love having friends with big families too -- you invite one family over and suddenly there are 12 kids in your house!  Instant party!

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Speaking of parties, one morning Mr. Pickles came downstairs and found this little scene:

Halloween 2019

12 Days of Christmas

Happy Epiphany!  I love all the references to light in the liturgy today.  It also helps that today is the first sunny day we've had in ages.

So once again we honored the 12 Days of Christmas by planning on something fun and celebratory for each day.  Unfortunately our plans were slightly derailed by the now traditional Christmastime illness -- but I think we did enough to make the Christmas season feel fun and restful.

Day 1: Christmas!!

All Hallows Eve 2018

In the "leaving things to the last second" catergory:
a) we bought these pumpkins this morning:

note to self: buy more carving knives for next year

b) Andy was undecided about his costume until 3 pm:

I think it turned out well -- Katie helped him pick it out

isn't he adorable??  look at his widdle tail!

Ninja Jojo (that's just fun to say)

Daniel went as Link again

Toothless/Nicky wanted a sad face pumpkin

"Nicky, show your wings and go ROAR!"

also b) I used leftover fabric from the girls' capes and pinned it to Nicky's hoodie to make the wings.  I did exactly zero sewing of costumes this year.  (I used pinking shears to cut out the girls' capes -- no hemming!  Score!)

isn't Katie's Triforce pumpkin AWESOME?

you'll never guess which musical Miriam's into these days...

Someone tonight asked them if they were twins. 

"Kuuuuubooooo....."

(reference)

the post-op trade fest

Nicky ate most of a Hershey's bar and didn't like how his chocolatey hands felt so he decided to wipe them on the carpeted stairs.

Soot Sprite dressed up as a familiar for Halloween

When we got home from trick-or-treating he was sitting up in one of the bedroom windows, lit up from behind.  He looked exactly like a cat silhouette decoration.

ooooooooooo!

The only picture I didn't get but wish I had was a shot of our whole group.  We had 4 other families join us for pretty much our own Halloween parade.  After about one street we inevitably divided up into 3 separate groups, based upon walking speed.  Somehow I ended up with the boys, which was of course the fastest group.  For them candy collecting is serious business -- you don't waste time!  Of course all the teen girls lagged behind, since all they wanted to do was chat. 

Once the small fry were done they all went back to our house and dumped their candy on the floor to examine, trade, and devour.  That's another picture I should have got -- sundry super heroes and army men camped all over my living room, surrounded by a great sea of chocolate and lollipops.

We didn't seem to have as many trick-or-treaters come to our house this year (aside from the 20 or so who were part of our own group), so we have lots of leftover candy.  Oh, darn!  (I always make sure to get all my favorite kinds, just to prepare for this very eventuality.)  (Also, I'm so glad I recoverd from that food poisoning in time.)

Happy All Hallows Eve!

Christmas 2017

So, despite the bout of influenza that made its slow rounds through the fam, we were still able to have a good Christmas break. 

Opportunist Kitty makes good use of feverish people -- they are so comfy!