Halloween twenty fourteen

I do not know what it is about Bob and Halloween but he just loves it.  When summer turned to fall he was sad for about five seconds and then declared, "Halloween is in fall!"  Dressing up in a costume and trick or treating -- that's what it's all about.  And Owen, ever glad to delight in Bob's excitement, was on board as well.

All October the boys were all crazy for everything spooky.  They wanted every scary book from the library, they wanted to pick pumpkins and carve jack o'lanterns, mix "witches' brew," draw monsters, make ghosts, buy spiders, hang bats!

Deciding on costumes was easy for Owen (Leonardo all the way) but hard for Bob (plain ninja, Princess Jasmine, something "evil and not smiling" and finally we decided on a black cat skeleton-- which was constantly smiling, by the way).  My mom came over the night before Halloween (because I am ever the procrastinator) to sew costumes for us.  Bob needed a tail, and I had an idea for making a sock monkey costume for Maisy from an old sweater I never wear.  (Owen was all set because I am the master of cardboard construction.)  Four hours later we were almost done.  (I came to realize the truth about why my mom didn't celebrate Halloween when we were kids.  She probably sewed one or two costumes for David when he was little and then was like, Oh heck no I'm never doing this again; Halloween is against the Bible!  Just kidding, Mom.  I love you.)

All the spooky anticipation finally culminated on Halloween day.  As soon as they scarfed down their breakfasts Bob and Owen both got all dolled up in their costumes.  Then I spent the entire morning sewing on eight snaps and two buttons, whilst my anxiety levels fluctuated between holycrapidoNOThavetimeforthis and calmdownandjustdoitbecausethatistheonlywaytolearndamnit.  

Here's a little Pupper and Wooden costume video for the grandparents, because a video is worth a thousand photos apparently--

We had planned a morning trip to town which didn't work out, so instead we just took a quick ride down the road to a "cemetery" and a "corn maze" (the quotes indicating that these were neither a real cemetery nor a real corn maze... of no consequence to us, of course).

We made a couple of pre- trick or treat runs over to Shawn and Kathy's followed by some afternoon treat eating and photo-taking...

And finally five o'clock rolled around for the real deal!  A sweet neighbor stopped by too and after just one official stop the pumpkin buckets were already half full.

Our Halloween wouldn't be complete without a stop at Judy and Bonnie's, which is always awesome.  Their house is totally decked out for every holiday.  {Last year's Halloween post with inside photos is here.}  The boys are awestruck and as they try to get a closer look Aunt Judy shouts, "No touch no touch, bup bup out no no careful careful!" and Bonnie intervenes, "Now don't touch Aunt Judy's things!"  We're all used to the routine... I say, "All right, well, we'd better be going.  We love you!" and shuffle everyone out the door with piles of treats.

Then we picked up Dad from work and met up with James and Bailey (aka Elsa) for trick or treat at Grandmother's.  Maisy got to hang there nice and warm while we hit up the hood with B and the boys. It was a gorgeous night, if a little cold, and the adventure did not disappoint.  Trick or treat is so exciting!  Dressing in a costume, walking the streets at night asking for candy!?  So fun.

Owen fell asleep on the drive home and Bob practically did, chatting nonsensical banter to Ben and me about organizing his loot all the way while barely awake.

It was a sweet night of fun memories made.  And now, I'm very glad to pack up all the fake spiders and shift our focus toward giving thanks.