The Line Up

We had a Luigi (minus the mustache because a certain little boy complained to the point of tears about how itchy the glue was on his face).

Look at that shiner.

Our resident Pterodactyl was present.

And bringing up the rear were the Bees.

There was Baby Bee.

And Momma Bee and the Beekeeper.

Can you see our grumbly bee?

We had a great Halloween.  Troy took all the kiddos door to door while I made dinner and handed out candy.  We finally had to turn out the lights since we ran out of candy and had to put the kids to bed.  October was a lot of fun, but alas, on to November!

Black and Blue, and Bitten, Too...

Two of my three kids look a little monstrous on this Halloween day.  They are so timely...  It's just too bad that their costumes are already done. 

Otherwise, Orry could go as a boxer.

On Friday, Orry was running during recess and fell, face first, on the blacktop.  I got the dreaded call from the school nurse, who explained what had happened and told me that she gave him an ice pack.  I didn't have to go and get him, but I was warned that his face was already bruised and swollen.  

And Annie could go as a mild version of Sloth from The Goonies.

Our last significant rainfall here in Houston was on Oct. 9th.  And with that rainfall came the hatching of flood water mosquitoes.  Annie must be very sweet because she surely got bitten about 4 or 5 times all across her forehead.  One of the bites happens to be on her eyebrow.  She has a bad reaction to mosquito bites and swells a lot.  I think I'll have to douse her in bug repellent before we go out tonight.

Luckily, Isaac is still looking like Isaac.

This is about as close as he will get to looking like a monster this Halloween.  

I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!  Be safe and be sure to brush and floss before going to bed.  And beware of large mosquitoes and menacing blacktop while you're out there!

Deck the Halls With Ghosts So Spooky

It's been four years since we've decorated our house for Christmas.  And this year will make five.

I seems that we are always traveling during that holiday season.  And what's the point of buying and decorating a tree if you won't even be home to look at it.

I don't know what it is that kids love about decorating their houses for holidays.  Something to do with the twinkling lights, I'm sure.  I remember pressuring my own dad to put lights all over our house.  And I remember the sheer joy I felt when he finally got out the ladder and climbed on the roof, risking his neck to hang lights that would only have to be taken down less than a month later.  Ah, one of my happy memories.  Thanks, Dad.

So it comes as no surprise that Orry asked for "bat" lights when he began seeing other houses getting decked out for Halloween.

I love Halloween.  I love costumes.  I love candy.  I love Halloween.

So this year we have traded our "Christmas Decorating Fund" for a "Halloween Decorating Fund".  We carved our pumpkins with spooky ghosts and kitty-bats (Thanks, Grandma Tammy!).  We hung spider webs on our fence posts.  We even replaced our porch light with a black light.  We've got an orange string of lights for the porch and a spider string of lights for the window.  Our costumes are ready, though I won't tell you what they are just yet.  Okay, okay, here's a small preview because I'm sure you could have guessed it.

Orry had a really great time making our house "spooky".  He really loved putting the spiders in the cobwebs.  His pumpkin turned out pretty great too.  I'm not a 100% sure that the littler kids know exactly what's in store for them.  I am, however, 100% sure that this Halloween will be one heck of a treat!

His "pumpkin face"