Well,
I spent it chained to my sewing machine. Because, total shock to all of you who know me, I put off starting Halloween costumes until the last minute. (I know! SO unlike me!) However, nothing helps you focus better than a mild case of panic, I've found. And I'm happy to say they were ALL done in time. I may or may not have finished the last bits that afternoon, and Mr. Pickles may or may not have had to child-wrangle independently for several nights in a row. However, we all agree it was worth it.
Two colonial girls (with non-period turtlenecks), and an elf (with non-period glowstick doubling as a sword). I just want you all to admire the elf's hat for a moment, because after all my hard work adjusting and redesigning the resizing the pattern and then putting it together, said elf allowed it to grace his head for all of .024 seconds (or however long our camera's shutter speed is). (I'm not the numbers person in the family.)
This is how Joseph feels about hats in general. Oh, going outside in winter is going to be SOO fun!
Like the good community-minded citizens we are, we supported our local high school's athletci boosters and bought their overpriced pumpkins to carve. I let the girls choose their own pumpkins (with the caveat that they had to be able to carry them off the lot -- with Katie I compromised by having her carry Joseph's while I took hers -- she's such a lightweight most of the pumpkins weighed more than she did). They also designed their own faces, as is pretty obvious.
Sorry, no Homestarrunner themes this year. I thought Katie's white pumpkin was pretty cool. It smelled like cucumbers while we were carving it.
I need to remember to take Halloween pumpkin pictures while it's still daylight out.
For dinner we had ghouled cheese sandwiches and gory soup. The previous night we had kept up family tradition by having Witches' Brew, with heads of lizards, tails of swine, chicken gizzards soaked in brine... that sort of thing. Although Miriam said she wasn't fooled and insisted it was just plain chili. But what does she know, she's only 7.
When it was dark enough we headed out to load up on more sugar than should legally be allowed in the possession of 3 children. I don't think the 3 children would agree with that, though.
(Joseph is pretty good at raiding the pumpkins for loot.)
Joseph was a very cute trick-or-treater. He figured out the loot-for-cuteness pretty fast. He's in the parroting stage, so after about the third house, he began to chorus with the girls, "Tweeeat!" Then he would blow kisses as he was leaving. Naturally, this earned him extra from all the middle-aged ladies in the neighborhood.
The kids were troopers. Amazingly, Joseph walked most of the way himself. For some inexplicable reason, our HOA chose the week before Halloween to tear up the sidewalks -- in between rainstorms -- so getting around the neighborhood was... interesting. And muddy. Katie's arm gave out towards the end and we had to carry her pumpkin for her. It drizzled almost the whole time -- and at one point it even opened up and began to pour -- fortunately we were close to home, so we ran home and were able to wait it out in comfort while we sampled some of the haul. We brought one of Miriam's friends along with us, too, which made things even more fun.
Ahh, just desserts!
The next day our homeschoold group had an All Saints' party with a parade, games, and again, more sugar than should be legal. Because of course no kid got enough the previous night. We ran a game called "St. Martin's Mice" in which contestants would race to push a "mouse" (small balls) across the room with a push broom. This was a big hit with the boys, especially. Mr. Pickles dressed up as St. Martin, in a white bathrobe with an old black T-shirt he had cut up to look like a Dominican habit. It was awesome. And naturally, I forgot the camera. RRRGH!
On the way home we picked up a pizza for dinner. I offered to go in and get it, since I'm not sure how many locals would recognize a Dominican habit when they saw one, or know it was All Saints' Day. :)
It was a fun, fun weekend. And now we are all flossing obsessively.
What's Christmas without paper crowns?
Joseph demonstrates proper donning of a paper crown -- upside-down, and preferably pulled down to one's chin. Also taped together, after one has ripped it in half in one's first attempt to mash it upon one's head.
He wouldn't let us take one of him in his crown, but he was more than happy to mug for the camera.
All hail, their majesties!
