Trick or Treat!

Here is Madison's official costume of the 2012 Halloween season.  She's Jasmine!  She's got the purse, shoes and the look.  And, as you can see in the picture above, she's got the hair too!

This is, in fact, the costume she wore to Disney for the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, so we've gotten quite a bit of mileage out of it already.  Tonight, Hannah and other family members came over to the house for the traditional romp down the street:  it was time to trick-or-treat.  I can't say enough how blessed we were to have the weather we did.  We're still feeling a cold breeze, but it's nothing like the blast of cold air from the north we had yesterday.  Hurricane Sandy was huge - it stretched from Canada all the way down to where we live, swinging around all this cold air.  It was too windy, and it was too cold.  Tonight, however, was fine.  It was cold, sure.  But it wasn't like yesterday.

Madison and Hannah ran down the street together, and once again, they collected their weight in candy.  I was so glad to hear that she was able to go trick-or-treating tonight, and having a great time.  Our neighborhood is loaded with generous people, who go all-out when decorating for this night.  Cobwebs are everywhere, spiders, large inflatable ghosts, and yes, a ginormous raptor from Jurassic Park.  I have no idea why the dinosaur, but it does look cool.

Meanwhile, Daddy spent his birthday at work.  ALL DAY.  Fortunately, we had cake.  Cake tends to be a really helpful remedy to things like that.  Daddy also got his new driver's license, and tag, and all those other last-minute things that we were tending to.  We did make a big decision today, mainly because the white car is giving us a little trouble:  we're getting rid of it.  All of the sudden, there are three specific problems that could cost a little extra money - and that was like a sign for us:  donate the car.  We were going back and forth on this issue and leaning towards keeping it as a back-up, and an option for someone who needs it.  But just like that, we're leaning in the direction of giving it away.

We're donating it to a ministry here, just like we did the previous two cars we had.  The tax write-off is good, but another thought we had was the difficulty the next owner may face with some of the issues we're just starting to deal with.  We know of a ministry that can fix up this car, and it'll be tremendously helpful to everyone involved.  So, that's where we're leaning right now.

Tonight was our Fall Festival at the church.  We had about 1,200 kids show up, which is quite a bit to manage - but it all worked out fine.  They were all in costumes, running around and enjoying all of the inflatables.  It wasn't quite trick-or-treating, but they did all get a bag of candy as they left.  And plenty of memories:  I heard a few kids exclaiming this was the best night ever.  That brought a little warmth on a cold night.

Because Daddy had to work all day on his birthday, he didn't get to see Madison trick-or-treat or really see her much at all.  Madison didn't come to the church's activity because of the hour she has to get up in the morning - so it wasn't exactly the best birthday ever, I suppose.  But we knew this going into it, and that's why we planned a huge, sudden trip to Disney.  And the party we had on Sunday was absolutely perfect as well.  So, as much as one would like to focus on today being a downer in a few areas, it has been a wonderful season for us.  Just look back on this month and see all that's happened, and the simple fact is that although the birthday itself was somewhat of a yucky day, the entire month we had this year was the best October ever.