Halloween

So, my first experience with trick-or-treating (other than watching E.T.)was in 1989. I didn't have mean parents, although I've lived in 4 countries, I just never lived in a country that did it (is the US the only one?) I was back in Australia in '90 &'91 then here again in '92, but don't remember it.

Then in 1993 Rebekah was here, and I fell in love with Halloween. I love that it's just for fun, and all for kids. Most of all, I love the sense of community that comes with it. In our small neighborhood, several women 1 street over organize a parade. The police come to help - 1 police car leads it, and another follows the last kid. We circle our block, and end up in front of the organizers houses, where they have snacks for the kids before they start the candy binge. Lots of people chip in to help with the food. We had the predictable chicken strips, mozzarella sticks, and pizza bagels, but also raw carrots, celery, broccoli & cauliflower, sushi (there are several Japanese families), chocolate dipped strawberries and frozen banana's on a stick. Also bottled water & juice boxes. It's nice to know that the kids got something other than candy to eat, and I enjoyed some sushi and mozzarella sticks (what a combo) myself.

Rick's Mom loves Halloween more than anyone I know, and Rick does a great job with our house. He even took the day off to come to Emily's Halloween assembly at school & help get everything ready. We have fun doing the house, and love to have friends and neighbors come trick-or treat here. Our street is level, with lots of kid-friendly houses, and our side has no steps to get to the house, so we see some action. Usually we get about 100 kids, but this year we had around 120.

By 8pm, my little one's were bathed and tucked into their beds, our candy was all handed out, Rebekah was home sorting out the "not-braces-friendly" stuff from her bag, and it was all over. For me, Halloween to Valentines Day is just giddy joy, and I'm super excited about the coming months.

Supergirl again.

Rebekah has loved Supergirl forever! She was supergirl when she was 5. This year, Emily (now also 5) wanted to be Supergirl too. I was all for it, since I still had Rebekah's old costume ... But this prompted a lot of "She can't be the same thing as me" protests. Since Rebekah is 5'7" tall, this needed to be her last year trick-or-treating, and she got to have the costume preference. So here is the last ever Halloween costume I will make for Rebekah. Emily got over it really quickly (because she's Emily and great that way) and was happy to be a witch (mostly because her Grandma is a great witch every year!)
I'm just crazy about this rainbow witch.Our darling train engineer. How could he not be a train driver, as crazy as he is about trains?
Jane was quite happy during the parade to just chew on her stroller strap - who needs candy?
Sweet Little Jane Pumpkin.

The reason for it all!