Trick or Treat

Posting about Halloween this late I definitely deserve a trick, not a treat. But still...here are the pictures I'm sure you've been wanting to see! Wa ha ha ha ha!

I had the brilliant idea of Kyle and I being chefs and dressing the kids up like salt and pepper shakers. I mean, for a reluctant-to-dress-up 3-year-old boy, what could be more fun than being dressed up like an inanimate kitchen object? No batman or astronaut or fireman here. A pepper shaker! (I learned my lesson). It was next to impossible to get a shot with both of them wearing their "lids"...here's as close as we got.

 Here we are at Bee's house. She dressed up in her "crazy witch" costume (it's probably been around for 20 years) especially for us (so sad that someone who loves Halloween so much doesn't get any tricker-treaters other than us!). Do you like Kyle's costume? It's called "the fat chef". It made me smile each time I looked at him.

 Sweaty fun! Owen, Bailey (part of the pumpkin family) and Ben (spider man) at Luke and Mel's famed annual Halloween potluck.

 I love all the homemade family-themed costumes. Here are the King and Queen of Spades (shouldn't that be Hearts)? Katie drew their cards just by looking at the real thing (no tracing) - isn't that amazing!

 Rebecca having the time of her little life in the bouncy-house. Yes, there was a bouncy-house.

 An entire family of chickens - mommy, daddy, and 3 baby chics.

 Nana, the happy Rodeo Clown, with cousin Blake, the smallest pumpkin in the patch.

 Princess Emmy drinking out of 2 sippies. Just can't get enough.

 Crazy Aunt Mel sliding down the bounce house slide. Many an adult enjoyed the slide. (Does anyone remember Mel's costume from last year? She was a large, overstuffed, furry character from Sesame Street. This girl likes her BIG costumes!)

 A happy farmer and his animal family.

 Blue, the pumpkin dog.

 Fat Chef says "bon appetit"!

 Our new friend Yiyi (UT grad student from China who has only been in the States 2 months) - she came to the party dressed as a Hula Dancer!

 Injured football player, his nurse, and their son - Spider Man. Is that how the story goes? :)

 When the Fat Chef got stuff getting into the bounce house, Abby (baby chic) decided to give him a little push. So helpful.

 Here is the entire group. Sorry the photo is so dark. We went right after this to do the actual trick-or-treating. It was a chaotic mess, but lots of fun. Rebecca just wanted to run free throughout the neighborhood. Owen didn't want to actually say "trick-or-treat" but wanted instead to just hold out his pumpkin basket (expecting candy). He finally worked up to telling people Happy Halloween.

A final highlight was getting to see Jupiter through a neighbor's incredibly powerful (fancy!) telescope. The same guy (a retired applied physicist - whatever that is) had his stuff set up last year so we were excited to see him again. 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Halloween morning we took the kids with the other families/kids from our "Village" (our neighborhood-based small group through church) to trick-or-treat at the Westminster Manor (a retirement home where Kyle's grandma use to live). It was a real treat for everyone. The staff gave the residents candy to pass out and we let the kids just go around being kids.

Okay, that's about it. We're getting ready to go camping this weekend so I'm sure we'll have some stories to tell...Yea for fall!