Not-so-spooky Halloween

It was a perfect Halloween - festive and fun, with crisp fall-like weather.

I started the day at Joseph's school party - seriously, is there anything as fun as a 1st grade class party? The kids in elementary school weren't allowed to wear costumes, only orange and black. And it was a "harvest party," not a Halloween party. I signed up to help with the October scrapbook pages for the class, so I took lots and lots of pictures, including a few of my cute Joseph.

The day sped by, but somehow we fit in two piano lessons after school, a somewhat healthy dinner to prepare the trick-or-treaters, and then it was time to take on the neighborhood. As always the holiday is especially festive in our area,and we hand out at least 400 pieces of candy. Several families joined with us to walk the kids around the neighborhood, and Dan and the other men stayed back at the house to answer the door. Bailey is past our family's cut-off age for trick-or-treating, so she invited six friends over to the house for a party.

Aubrey's costume was her own special design: Katniss Everdeen from the book The Hunger Games.  If you know Aubrey, you know that she is the biggest Hunger Games fan out there.  I think she's read the series seven times now. So, she knew EXACTLY how she needed to dress to be just like Katniss. We bought her pants and jacket at Goodwill, and then we shredded and stained the pants to simulate surviving a fire.

She just absolutely had to have a replica Mockinjay pin to wear on her jacket, just like the pin Katniss wore in the Hunger Games. It turns out lots of other people wanted the same pin. So, because of the laws of supply and demand, we paid too much for a flimsy pin ordered over the internet.  Or, Aubrey paid, that is. And she says it was worth it.  These pictures show the costume she wore to school.

 

At school she wasn't able to bring her bow and arrow and couldn't add the fake blood which was essential to the costume (depicting Katniss' injuries during the games). She added that at night.

Aubrey with a Katniss-like expression and preparing to trick-or-treat with her friend Laura.

Joseph, on the other hand, wanted to be Captain America, so in September we bought a super awesome costume (complete with a shield that shoots disks). As we got closer to Halloween, however, Joseph couldn't find the body of the costume. We spent at least a week tearing apart the house looking for it. It is still a mystery - the costume never surfaced. So, he wore the Optimus Prime costume with the Captain America mask and shield.  He was mortified, but I assured him that no one over the age of 6 would notice.

He was not really happy to pose for pictures. He was much too excited to get out there and get some CANDY. In past years he has run out of energy long before the rest of the group, but this year he always pushing the group on with his anxious enthusiasm. 

We finished the night back at our house for some delicious hot cocoa. And then we had to get everybody to bed. I loved every minute of Halloween, except for the fact that the next day was a school day!