Happy Halloween!!

At last, Halloween is over! I always love the lead-up to Halloween, but then when it's over, I am very relieved! Probably too much sugar clouding up the brain. Also, I am very happy to look ahead to Thanksgiving and Christmas, and all the decorations/treats/traditions associated with those holidays. So while I love the ghouls and ghosts in October, I don't like them to overstay their welcome.

The lead-up to Halloween was still a lot of fun, though, with activity after activity for the kiddos. Here's Celeste at preschool the day before Halloween, with some of her dressed-up classmates:

They all looked very adorable. By the way, Celeste does have girl classmates, but none of them had arrived when I took the picture! Oh well...she was the lone proud female presence for a little while. She brought along popcorn balls to share with everyone (left over treats from our Primary Sacrament Meeting program!). A good time was had by all.

The 31st ended up being one long series of costumed events. Here's Lorelai, ready for her school's Halloween parade!

We had a little more time to do her hair in curlers than at the trunk or treat, and I thought she looked gorgeous! It's so neat to see how well my little tomboy cleans up.

Of course, this pose is much more in keeping with her personality...that of an energetic, lovable goofball! Lorelai even told me that this costume was "too fancy" for her. Next year, she wants to be a decrepit mummy! I wonder if she will ever want the glamorous "princess" life that her little sisters crave. Still, it is nice that she likes being pretty...once in a while.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get pictures of the school parade; I was baby-sitting a few other little kids, and I thought the Green Valley Library's Halloween-themed storytime might be a little more fun for them:

What a cute bunch of little girls! The dragon looked a little forlorn though...I suspect she missed her mama somewhat.

The library (thankfully) doesn't hand out candy at their Halloween parade. Hooray for restraint! Instead, the kids got stickers, tatoos, spider jewelry and Halloween stencils at various points in the library...handed out by their excellent staff:

The kids did get a little distracted, though, by the "teen gaming" area...too bad none of them can read the sign on the table!

After school was released for the day (the kids only had a half-day on Halloween...nice timing!), the kids and I all hurried home. This year, I decided to go a little crazy and have a Halloween party at our house!

I invited several families over for a pot-luck style lunch (healthy treats only!) and a "scary" movie (we finally settled on Wallace And Gromit: Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, since many of our guests are not too keen on actual scary movies). Some of the other kids watched The Nightmare Before Christmas on our TV upstairs.

Also, one friend brought a huge cooler of home-brewed root beer...or "witches' brew" as she called it!

The kids were mesmerized by it. It didn't taste exactly like any root beer I've had, but it was still sugary and yummy, so that's a win. The moms had a great time visiting; the kids had a great time eating, watching movies, and playing. Our house was left a little messy afterwards, but it was worth it!

After some hurried cleaning, it was time to get the girls back into their costumes, and time to send them out trick-or-treating with Daddy. I got the jack o' lanterns set up outside, and the black-lights going! Our house looked appropriately spooky...

It was a lovely night...perfect for walking around the neighborhood picking up candy! I hope all my readers also had a happy Halloween...now it's time to get ready for Thanksgiving!