HaPpY HaLLoWeEn! the wrap up. including last minute costumes switches, and fancy jack o lantern pancakes.

delightful. TRULY. delightful Halloween! all the build up, and prep, and it's over in a couple hours.

well Halloween is over. and someone is plumb tuckered out.
(and no that isn't his bag of candy , he stole it when everyone went to bed)

So here's the wrap up. it's lengthy. and wordy. and has loads of pictures.
a video. some off topic discussion, and a cooking segment. i know! what more could you ask for?
oh and there are some bonus kids thrown in throughout. see if you can spot someone you know.

at the costume parade. people in our neighborhood all meet at the same house every year to watch the school kids walk by.

Here's Lance and Pierce and Hope.

Liberty-a goth rock fairy is what they decided she was once i did her hair today.
(this was her last year to parade and i missed seeing Peyton this year. only the primary grades get to participate.)

Ashley wasn't keen on having me stop her for her picture.

Little L looked lovely

Oh look it's Nick Jonas
(Paxton)
(the black hair spray is not rad, he took a shower between school and trick or treating and seriously the bathub? NASTY! can't wait to see what it looks like after liberty is done in there i took a picture, maybe i'll share when i find my camera)

OhhhH a Piratey Mr. T! he was thrilled to see me.
(in my imagination at least. and he did make it a point to get my attention, i almost missed him his disguise was so good)

Oh look a Fairy named Joy! please note the wings i got LAST NIGHT
since she broke her other dollar bin ones. on Wednesday
~~end parade fun. ~~


oh and bonus shots of Pierce in Liberty's costume. she left it un attended for a while. and he tried it on. then scaled the shoe bins and climbed on the counter. please note the crap on the crap counter.

Oh and he needed a hat to complete the ensemble. please note it's on backwards.

~~

well ya know how kids are. at least my kids. there were lost Horns. lost cat ears. costume changes. and impromptu decisions. the things they wore for the morning parade? yeah not happening this evening.

i went with it, i can TOTALLY go with the flow(occaisonally). happily there were NO tears this year.

Pierce's horns got lost. and so tonight he was a lady bug. a manly one. we are classy. but he had his red devil shirt on. so so we added wings, and a wand and he was more than happy. he had no clue and didn't care anyway. and like the said in "a Bug's life" not all lady bugs are female.

Joy decided she was tired of the fairy costume (please see the above picture and the new wings), i think it had something to do with having to lug that freaking dress home after school. she was peeved i let them walk home. and i had considered picking them up, but lost track of time. and well darn. i missed out on that treat.

tonight Joy had a velvet dress on, that was a Christmas dress of liberty's a long time ago. so i don't really consider it church worthy. (i have issues like that, i know it's odd.) anyway. she'd worn it to get water and ice cream, and was starting to pitch a fit about wearing her body suit , or sweater with her dress. so i asked her if she wanted to just be a witch and so she was. i'd planned on alternate options for Liberty's costume. and had a witch hat and striped tights to go with her costume instead of the dark fairy wings. so Joy put those on, and i safety pinned a pink and black bow on her dress over the red flowers. and did her hair and makeup. and WHALAH a witch is born. (she met up with her Pal Emma just as we were setting off, so they went together for awhile, then Joy joined them , there was an issue with the rendezvous to give her back to Lance, and i wandered around the block to track her down, we eventually got her back, and I'm only slightly horrified to have misplaced her, and inconvenienced Emma's family)

downside? because of the quick costume change. we didn't have time for a Halloween family shot.

That and my brother and his family were here to go trick or treating with us

,of course we weren't quite ready to go, since we cleaned all afternoon. and did a last minute run for water and ice cream. (reward for cleaning) while i mopped.

so no picture of the family. not that i'm sad i looked sick today. no time for me.

no time for make-up or cute clothes(everything is dirty), or anything else.

so i'm not sad i wasn't captured .

~~

for most of the evening I was at home, i only do my street, Lance takes the kids the rest of the neighborhood alone. or this year with Aaron. we hung out. we ate beans (pinto) and rolls. for dinner. my mom thought that would be a good idea. and it was nice to have ready and waiting in case anyone was hungry either when they came over, before or afterward. i think my mom was craving beans.

i prepped for company just in case and i'm glad i did because we had some visitors.

look who stopped by!

it was SPIDERMAN! ! (actually Andrea and Ben and the family)

Joy was so excited Ashley came over.

(excuse the red eye. i'm too tired to edit pics)

today i was meant to clean. there was no way around it. the forces were against me and i was obligated to do it. we had spill after spill. on the floor, and on the crap counter. and holy crap i was peeved.

i spilled a whole cup of ice in my new purse and had to empty it this morning, and dropped my own beverage coming in from the costume parade. and pierce did this. and put a dog under a box in the store room. i heard an odd scraping sound. the dog was under the box. i took video. and yes his name is "Billy bob"we are white trash for sure. actually he came with that name, so we use it . and do you enjoy seeing the laundry on the floor spilling out into the store room from the laundry room? CLASSY.

at the same time that i was taking the video (did you hear the "hey ya" ringtone?) Liberty called because the shirt she changed into after the parade was "itchy" and i had to take her a new one. and on and on. ALL DAY. i'm so glad it calmed down. and that really in the long run, it worked out for the best. but still i was pretty frustrated.

~~

and my plans for making Halloween JackO'lantern pancakes before they went out trick or treating, were put on hold until after because of the cleaning, and costume changes, and overal tardiness. which was fine. since the kids could then eat and go home or to bed.

some were epic failures. and others were successful. i finally figured it out and took some pictures of the good ones.

i got the squeeze bottles at Walmart last night in the bridal/cake decorating section, and i got 2 for $1.88. way fun. i made the batter this afternoon and colored it and filled the bottles. so it didn't take much effort tonight. awesome!

and note this is the crap counter, all clean. no crap.

i think we have a new tradition.

MMM yummy pancakes. thanks Trish for the rad idea!

i had wanted a picture of Peyton as Harry Potter with Mckenna as Hermione but as you can see here, Peyton stripped off his tie and costume stuff as soon as they got in the door.

see Hermione?

here is Peyton as Harry Potter .

super bonus ? i watched Pierce scale the fence today. so now i know how he's been escaping . since i got caribeners for the latches, he's still managed to get out. i happened out at the precise moment he was on top of the brick pillar. he climbed up one side, and down the other. this was of course after he'd pushed my computer chair over to the door to undo the latch. DANG HIM! and problem is he can't open the caribener, so he can't get back in. he tried to let himself in the back gate. which has a caribener on that latch too. anyway. it's not really Halloween related other than i discovered that skill of his today.

~~
anyway it all went well. it's over.

i'll be sad to take down all of my FABULOUS halloween decorations.

i have loved having them up.

now christmas prep is in full swing. ACK!

prepare yourselves for black friday talk.

i'm trying to gear up mentally.

Hope your Halloween was FABULOUS. i can't wait to see your pictures of your fun and your costumes.

and OH by the way BOO to you!

i never boo'ed anyone. so everyone snag that button from here a couple posts ago. and boo yourself. it's not too late. you know you want to.