Notes on Halloween

1. Ethan lost a tooth somewhere along the trick-or-treat route tonight. Ironic, given his choice of costume.  It turns out it was not his sweet tooth that he lost, contrary to his initial fears.
   
2. Andrew carved his own pumpkin this year, all by himself.  I think it looks like the family cat from The Simpsons, which is totally awesome.
3. Ethan is not going to be a vampire next year, because the makeup is too messy. And he wonders why everyone kept calling him Dracula, even though he was not Dracula, but just an ordinary vampire.
   
4. Emma was going to be a unicorn for Halloween this year, thanks to her cousin, but decided yesterday to be a princess instead.  In the end, she simply could not withstand the gravitational pull that is the Princess Costume.
5. We abandoned our house this Halloween and left a bowl of candy by the front door for the looters. Ginger came with us on the trick-or-treat route, which was a lot more fun than how we normally do it, and I didn't have to be social with the neighbors on my own. 
   
6. Lots of people gave Sophie extra candy because she was cute.  She's two, and doesn't need that much candy.  But she did get me a Mounds.
7. Even better than candy is when people open their doors and they have a dog. At least Sophie thinks so.
   
8. We will be cleaning up feathers from Sophie's costume for the next several months. In addition to the feathers strewn around our house like dandelion fuzz, there is quite a trail through the neighborhood. Was she marking her favorite houses? We're not sure.
   
9. The people in our neighborhood give out awesome candy, FYI.
10. It was 72 degrees and sunny today. Which means tomorrow I must Mow. One more time. Then we'll put away the mower and arm ourselves with snow shovels.
    
11. On my way home from the hinterlands of Indiana today I stopped by a small town popcorn store that has over 400 flavors of popcorn. Yes. (I bought a sampler box. We'll post a report soon.) Anyway, the nice lady at the store offered me samples of about a dozen flavors, then asked if I wanted a tour to see how they make all that popcorn. Yes, I wanted a tour. So she took me to the back where a perfectly serious grown man was standing on a ladder dumping popcorn into a drum whilst dressed in an oversized clown outfit and rubber nose. My first thought was, "Their workers dress up as clowns while they make popcorn? WHAT A FUN PLACE." Then I remembered it was Halloween.
    

Boo!

The Ghosts of Halloween Past

skeleton, ballerina, Voldermort, princess (2007)

Anakin Skywalker, Superman, and...

apparently a damsel in distress! (2006)

2 valiant knights and a princess (anyone notice a trend??) (2005)

Optimus Prime, Ballerina, and a Power Ranger (2004)

Indian and Paleontologist (2003)

Before we went digital, Andrew was also and extremely cute bumble bee and dinosaur. Stay tuned to see what the kids chose this year...

This guest post bought to you by Ginger.

A good quote for Nov. 4

"'Need' now means wanting someone else’s money. 'Greed' means wanting to keep your own. And 'Compassion' is when a politician arranges the transfer."

~Joseph Sobran

Sophie wants to show you all of her funny faces.

The view out our window right now

Happy Birthday, Sophie.

Two minutes old.

Two years old.


We love you Sophie.

"Hey guys, why don't you stand in front of the temple and I'll take your picture."

Um, not like that, Emma.

1986

Our friends threw a fun 80s party tonight. Ginger looked GOOD. Andrew went as Reverend Run from Run DMC. Ginger's going to track down some photos our friends took and put them on her blog. (Andrew's costume was a last minute decision so we didn't get any photos with our camera.)

I've had that shirt since 1988. Seriously. It only gets better with age.

Speaking of the 80s... The other day I was in Target with Sophie and she started randomly belting out Michael Jackson's "Beat It". "JISH BEADIT. JISH BEADIT." She sings that song at home a lot, but that was the first time she's done it OUT LOUD in a public venue.

We're raising them all wrong, I tell you.

This looks cozy

Overheard

COUSIN OLIVER (from the back of the minivan): I wish I was in an
Oliver Ship right now.
ME: What's an Oliver Ship?
COUSIN OLIVER: It's a boat in Oliver Land.
ME: Oh. Okay.

Spicy salsa!

Good Mexican food makes up for bad traffic (almost).

Emma's holding up surprisingly well for having woken up at 1 AM.

Yay for Ruby's

Oreo shakes for breakfast!

The answer to Andrew's riddle

A: The Empire State Building can't jump.