Our Happy Hallowe'en

We did not win prizes for our organizational skills on Hallowe'en. Micah and I went to Thea's school to pick her up at 3:30, but since she was having so much fun playing with Lucas (who was in his Indiana Jones costume and was absolutely adorable), we hung out at school for a while. Usually there are more children around at 3:30, but yesterday it was just Thea and Lucas.

On the way home we stopped to see if the local grocery store had any larger pumpkins for a Jack-O-Lantern, but came up empty-handed. Fortunately the Blawenburg Market had $4 large pumpkins, so we quickly picked one out and zipped home to start carving. Micah and I had put up a few decorations outside before leaving for Thea's school, and our candy was in the basket ready to go.

Thea drew the face for the pumpkins, helped scrape the gooshy stuff and seeds from the inside and pulled out the pieces for the face while Steve and Micah did a little bit of trick-or-treating. Once the pumpkin's candles were lit, Thea went out for a little pre-trick-or-treating; the main event would be when her friend Emily and Emily's family arrived.

Last year we got bunches of trick-or-treaters, all the way up to 8:30 or so. This year - with a ton of candy on hand - we had many fewer.

While the girls and the dads were out accumulating more candy, Micah and Emily's brother, Nate, played a little, coveted whatever mylar balloon the other had (Thomas the Tank Engine or Elmo), and snacked. Micah had to have consumed at least a half-dozen mini Tootsie pops - unless checking the sofa cushions proves otherwise.

I managed to not hear the timer go off so the pound cake (home-made, my mother's recipe) had a dog-biscuit consistency crust on it from the extra 15-20 minutes it spent in the oven. Fortunately I had oatmean chocolate chip cookies as a back up, and if those failed, there was ice cream. It was nice having grown-ups around, and to see Micah playing nicely (more or less) with someone his own age.

Emily and Thea had a sleep over, so it was nice having Emily do the honors of being with Thea, listening to the Backyardigans "All Around the World" CD. They got up around 7 am, but didn't appear for another hour or so because they occupied themselves with playing doctor to Thea's great big tiger. They can do really well together and seem to keep each other entertained without a lot of adult involvement or supervision, which is so nice.

This morning we did eggs and pancakes, and then the girls played downstairs. (Micah sort of has a little crush on Emily, the first thing he said this morning was, "Emily here?")