Costumes, Pumpkins and Candy!

We woke up early and got pretty busy right away.  Obviously Madison had school today, so she was off and running early, this time once again dressed up as Wednesday Addams.  Because why not?  She had a great day at school, although everyone was probably a bit more focused on the holiday itself, and the prospect of candy.  But in the meantime, Daddy and Mommy were setting up the house somewhat, still cleaning from the last party we had Sunday, but also taking a few things down outside, and bringing some things in:  wind was in the forecast tonight, as were freezing temperatures.  Some potted plants made it to the garage this afternoon, and can report that they are safe.  Meanwhile, Daddy was working on a few pumpkins - first of all, he painted the "Forky" pumpkin that he made this past weekend.

So this final product came out really well.  The last few years, we've been putting our pumpkin sculptures out on the porch, those that survive long enough after the pumpkin party.  We had a few this year, including Forky here, who was a bit fuzzy on the inside, but still solid enough to use on display outside.  We had some other pumpkins too, including this one that Daddy sculpted - and painted - in the morning.

BIG FOOT PUMPKIN !

It's Mr. Foot!  Big Foot, to be precise.  It was such a recurring theme recently, that it was obvious to make a classic Big Foot pumpkin design.  I found this stencil idea elsewhere, but not on a pumpkin.  So Daddy made a Big Foot Pumpkin, and I think it turned out rather well.  All our pumpkins got good responses from visitors to our porch tonight, according to Mommy.  But Forky got the most, for obvious reasons.

Anyway, it was Thursday, so Daddy was off to visit a school with the others, and we had fun doing Halloween there, using our invention to "read minds" to see what costume would be best for which kid.  And yes, there was all sorts of free candy there.

And afterwards, the guys got together and we played a few games of "Monster Crunch Cereal," which is super fun!  Seriously, this card game was actually really enjoyable, involving strategy, sudden surprises, and a lot of screams or laughter, depending on what card one person or the other would play.  On the surface, it looks complicated, but just read the simple rules and you're pretty set.  We had a great time playing, and of course being that it was our "Game On," series, we'll call it "research."  Fortunately, Mommy made some October cupcakes for everyone there at the office, and she even baked a lot of pumpkin seeds for the fellas there - these pumpkin seeds are extremely popular.  There are three of us in particular that have no self control when it comes to pumpkin seeds that Mommy makes!

Daddy got home, and things were somewhat of a rush from there, as they usually are on Halloween.  He had got the guts out of two pumpkins earlier, so he and Madison could do a few more for the porch decorations tonight.  So the two of us were once again - one last time this year - carving out a few pumpkins.  First, here's Madison's:

It's a simple design, but it's perfect.  I love that she carved in the word "Hi" up there.  It is only noticeable with pictures like these, where we left the camera shutter open a little bit longer.  But yes, it turned out great.  Daddy was in a super hurry on this next one, his second pumpkin of the day.  We'd been eating Monster Crunch cereal all month long, and there were these free stencil ideas available, all of them advertised on the cereal boxes.  Anyway, one of the stencils was for Uncle Fester, so I drew this one free hand, and it came out okay:

With just a few changes, it could have been Squidward!  Anyway, our pumpkins were done, and we were scurrying to get costumes on.  We had guests coming over, as our neighborhood is a great one to go to.  We missed a few others that used our driveway, but here's a group shot of the first wave, including Madison, just before heading out for trick-or-treating.

Notice that there's a Queen of Hearts and a White Rabbit there.  That was not planned, but Madison was going to be Alice all along, and there she is with the Queen of Hearts and the White Rabbit.  Don't worry about the clown, the dinosaur riding cowboy and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle there. Here's a closer look at the group from Wonderland:

It was really cold, as you can see by Alice's extra layer there.  It was in the seventies earlier in the day, and now it was dropping to the thirties, with an extra windchill thrown in for good measure.  Daddy was dressed up as a pirate, with extra layers on!  Mommy usually goes out on the porch to sit, but not tonight!  The kids were ringing the doorbell tonight as she sat by the fireplace keeping warm.

Here's some of the pumpkins that greeted our guests tonight, who were plenty, by the way.  Mommy gave away nearly all of our candy tonight, and we're talking about three bags or so.  Despite the cold, there were a lot of visitors, although this year they seemed older than usual.  I think the weather did make it more difficult for our younger kids. 

But it was dry.  And that's the big, big, big thing.  It was forecast all weeklong that it would be a rainy day today.  And it was, but at exactly 4:30pm, the rain moved on.  We'd been watching this forecast all week, and we'd been watching the storm move out just in time for the trick-or-treaters.  It was going to be during trick-or-treating earlier, and then things moved along faster as the week went on.  The point is, by the time tonight rolled around, the storm had cleared out.  The clouds were swirling all around up top, with grays and full of highlighted colors from the sunset, like those clouds you see in the live action "Host the Grinch Stole Christmas." 

Some decorations were blown off course a bit, but for the most part, all the amazing decorations that go up at the houses were there, from large inflatables to all the orange and purple lights strung up along front porches.

And of course, God's decorations were the best, the colors of leaves on trees simply remarkable.  You can see here one tree losing its leaves, but they are so brilliant in their red coloring.

Madison led the troop from house to house, including this little Ninja Turtle. His name was Judah, and Madison took it upon herself to make sure he was okay for the evening, safe and having a good time.

She was very kind.  He had such energy, as did all of them at first.  The motivation was free candy at the next house.  You could see them a little fatigued from time to time, but then the very mention or sight of the next house, and that hope of having more candy suddenly infused them like a bolt of lightning, and just like that they were off and running full steam ahead towards the next house, yelling "Trick or Treat!"  And then of course, "Thank you!"

This year we saw a few more great pumpkin carvings too!  This is a Captain Marvel, who sat alongside a great sculpture of Albert Einstein.  There were a few others too along the way, some folks who really get into pumpkin carving like we do.

There's just no way to visit all the houses in this neighborhood, at least not at a reasonable pace.  We did do quite a bit though, enough to add some serious weight to those candy bags the kids were carrying.  It was getting progressively colder, and everyone was slowing down just a bit.  The battle cry of "Free Candy!" became more like a sort of zombie moan, "Free candy.  Free candy."  We made our way back, stopping at all the houses along the way back, including the ones immediately around our house.  I think we were done about 8:30 tonight, which was over two hours of harvesting candy.  It's such a fun night for the kids.  Here's Madison's harvest below:

Mommy gets the Snickers and the Heath Bars.  Daddy gets the Almond Joys and the Baby Ruth bars. Madison gets the rest, unless we sneak some out after she goes to bed.  Or when she's at school!  Don't worry, Madison.  We won't do that!

It was a good night.  It was a great day, in fact.  We had such favor, and we are so blessed.  It's Daddy's birthday today, of course.  That's why we played a game this afternoon, and there were little things that happened throughout the day that just reminded us all of God's love.  A song played on the radio that I requested in my mind.  Time spent with friends and family.  Kids in a classroom singing "Happy Birthday."  Carving pumpkins.  Faces of joy running from house to house.  Seeing the kind heart of my daughter as she watches over younger children, instead of thinking only of herself.  Oh, and Josh got me the one thing I wanted for my birthday, and I didn't even tell him that.  He got me a copy of that game, "Villainous!"  Anyway, it was a fantastic day, and a great close to the month.  Tomorrow night, we're doing something related to this season, but right after that it'll probably be all Christmas, all the time!

Still, we had a great season this time around.  We were worried about things to begin with, given the trips to Florida, Mommy's stay down there and Ba-Ba's current condition.  But God allowed us some very special times together, and has given us such favor.  We continue to pray for Ba-Ba, of course.  Can you believe he and his wife sent a birthday card to me?  It arrived in the mail today.  Amidst the struggle he's going through, he thought enough to send me a card, and a gift inside too.  It touched my heart deeply, and still does.  Such love.

That's what makes these days so special, the relationships and love.  We are truly blessed!