Trick or Treat! (the costumes and decorations)

Now that we had carved and decorated our jack-o'-lanterns, it was time for us to get into costume.

My other granddaughter, Isabel, came over the day before Halloween--she was a cat this year.






Her soon-to-be stepsister, Jordan, came over as well, dressed as a unicorn.
Aren't they sweet?






Tree went as a corporate vampire this year...






Accompanied by Rachele in fairy guise.







And here's Aidan, as Darth Vader. He was heartbroken that he couldn't wear his Spiderman costume anymore (he outgrew it), but it got some use anyway--Iris was Spidergirl, but somehow we didn't manage to get pictures of her on our camera. I'll have to fix that!




Heather went as a leopard. Dave did a pretty good job on her makeup. : )





Here's Heather outside, next to our witch's table. Looks like one of the finished painted pumpkins also made it into the picture. : )





Here's me, in my "enchantress" costume. I really like that cloak! It's actually pretty warm, which means I don't need a coat--a bonus when Halloween night is kind of chilly most years.







And this is me with Heather and Aidan at Mom & Dad's place. It's tradition that every year we go to Dave's folks' so they can get pictures of our costumes. Plus we get as much candy as we want! : )




I almost forgot about my niece, Angela--she was (I think, but don't quote me) a goth angel. Very cute, I think! : )





I didn't get very many pictures of Halloween decorations, simply because there weren't many displays worthy of note. However, there was one place that really did up their yard:















There was another really cool house, with some pretty spooky lighting, and scary...not scarecrows, but I guess you'd call them dummies...they were done up in costumes (one was the guy from Scream, one was Freddy, and I don't remember the other one), but one was an actual person. Last year it was the Scream outfit that had a person inside, this year it was Freddy. Anyhow, generally all is quiet while the kids ring the doorbell and get their candy, but when they leave, the guy in costume jumps at the kids to scare them. Heather remembered the place from last year and wasn't sure she wanted to go up to the door, but it wasn't too bad. : )

This year was a nice change, weather-wise. It really isn't unusual for it to be raining, windy, or snowing on Halloween, and is almost always really cold. We have to find or make costumes that can be worn over cold-weather clothes! But it was in the low 70s early in the day, and it only dropped to the 50s that night. The kids came home with a ton of candy, and combined it with the candy they'd gotten two days before from trick or treating up at the college. I think they've all got 5 or 10 pounds each!

Okay, this has gotten quite long enough. I'll check back in in a day or two--I'll have to tell you about my new job then!

Trick or Treat! (the pumpkins)

So...Friday was Halloween, and
we celebrated by carving (and painting) pumpkins, and dressing up in costumes to beg for candy in the surrounding neighborhoods. : )

Here's Dave, with his favorite carving knife. Heather looks a little worried, there...lol





Here's Heather, scooping out pumpkin guts...








Deciding on how his face is going to look...






This year was the first year that Heather got to carve her pumpkin (pretty much) by herself.






And the finished jack-o'-lantern! Heather thought he needed some paint as a finishing touch.






Meanwhile, Rachele was getting her kids set to paint their pumpkins.






Iris had fun painting hers. : )







Aidan's pumpkin is full of personality! : )








And, oh, yes, we mustn't forget about the pumpkin-goop
tossing, or....





the paint smearing! Dave did the goop tossing, and Tree did the paint smearing. I think Rachele is plotting revenge at some point soon...lol





For some reason, people insist on taking pictures of me, too, so here I am cleaning out my pumpkin...






Carving the pumpkin....







It looks better when it's lit up!







See, what'd I tell you? Pretty spiffy, no?

And really, I think that's enough pictures for this post. I'm going to do a separate one for the costumes and decorations.

Yes, today...sheesh...