Way Too Much Candy

Halloween has come and gone.  And now Christmas is upon us.  I know this because last week (before Halloween, I might add) when I went to buy a Halloween coloring book, every store had replaced the Halloween and Fall items with the Christmas things.  And, last week (before Halloween, I might add again), we turned on the radio, and to what did our wondering ears did appear, but Christmas songs.  Now, lest you think I have become a total Scrooge, I have been listening to Christmas music for a couple of months, now.  But does that mean I was ready to hear it on my soft hits station?  Not quite.  That being said, now that Halloween has been over by two days, I say, bring on the Holiday Cheer!!

We should probably at least look at all the candy that we got on Halloween, since we worked so hard for it.  We went with a group of neighbors and friends and there were probably 20 or more kids in our group, literally running from house to house.  

Here they are, getting ready to fill those buckets!  Avery is a baby, Maren is a cheerleader (who at different costume times, was dead.  But not this time). Ryan is Frankenstein and Grant is a tiger (who at different costume times, was Spiderman).  Good thing we get to celebrate multiple times so that we can do costume changes.  And, good thing that all I ever do to provide costumes is tell them to go look in the dress up bucket.

 Here are some of them, getting ready for the race.

 Lots of yummy candy.

The weather was as beautiful as it could have been, which was nice for Frankenstein's bare legs and arms.  I didn't even wear a jacket until the very end.

That morning, Jen and Lynnette came with their kids for a little Cousin Halloween Party.  We used up the leftovers from preschool and the other kid's parties the day before.  We turned Oreo's into spiders, ate donuts without any hands, and Maren and Ryan provided a spooooky Haunted House for the littler ones, complete with brains, bones and zombies.  I wish I had more pictures!

Here I am with my preschool class and Abi and Lili at our Halloween party.  Somehow I also signed up to help with Maren's party, and to be in charge of Ryan's party.  It was a long day of partying.  No wonder I am now ready for Christmas!

A few days before, we carved our pumpkins.  Did I tell you we ended up with 20 pumpkins in our garden this year?  And, of course, everyone but Avery picked the biggest ones to carve.  It made for a lot of pumpkin guts to clean out.  But they turned out fun, so it was worth it.

 That was Grant, right before he gagged and almost puked.  Apparently he doesn't like pulling the guts out.  It's probably some weird, repressed memory of his birth and all the guts I had pulled out...

 Ryan's pumpkin was the biggest.  It weighed in at 35 pounds!  That is almost bigger than him!

 This little green one is mine.  I know, I know.  You don't even have to say it.  I have a gift for pumpkin carving.

And now that I have reported, Halloween is officially over!  You're welcome and Merry Christmas!