halloween parts II,III,IV

Halloween part I was the pumpkin patch the other day, I figure. Yesterday Erin's school held one of it's semi-regular "lunch on the lawns" where parents can come to school at lunch time and spread out a blanket and picnic with their kids. And if your kid's friend's parents can't make it they can join you too. So I had Erin's friends Maia and Mary with us for a total girly gang giggle-o-rama on tha grass. The twins really loved being able to be at school. "Are we going to a picnic today? At Erin's school?" they asked me umpteen times all morning. And they especially enjoyed the "big kid" kindergarten playground after eating.



This was a short day at school so a little while after lunch the kids were dismissed and everyone got into costume for a halloween parade on the playground. "Princess" was a very original costume choice in Erin's class.



Erin and Maia, a powerful and now royal team.



This is one of Erin's classmates and I couldn't resist taking his picture. Because his name is Elvis. Really.



Last night I was busy getting our decorations together and John and the girls prepared the pumpkins for carving. John left carving the faces to me. So Erin and I sat down and discussed what kind of jack o lanterns to make.



"I'd like a very pretty girl pumpkin with heart-shaped eyes and beautiful hair," she announced. Good grief, Charlie Brown. "Jack 0 lanterns don't have hair,'" I countered. Kate decided, "I want a scared scary face pumpkin!" I did my best to accommodate all requests. Erin's pumpkin is on the left, she named "her" Emily.


Today Maia's mom picked Erin up after school and took the girls to a halloween party/carnival at a local community center. She came home with a pumpkin balloon and a good amount of candy and stories of a gigantic slide that she and Maia rode down about a hundred times, which was about a hundred fewer times than she wanted to ride it, according to Maia's mom.

Then when it got dark Maia joined us for trick or treating in our neighborhood. People with all signs of willing to participate in this mayhem (by having porch lights on and such) seem slightly more annoyed at this whole process than I remember from my childhood. I think maybe our crowd of four rang the doorbells more than once each time. And when the people opened their doors Kate and Allison always rushed in toward the candy. I guess overall their halloween etiquette needs some work.


And now it's over. And we cut the girls' candy sampling off about an hour ago. And Allison has been in one powerfully bad mood ever since. And I wish they'd fall asleep already.