Halloween

Here's my crazy family on Halloween night, minus Julia who was in bed with the flu. Kate very generously offered to share her loot, which goes to show that little sisters aren't always annoying pests.

I'd bought Kate this lovely white princess dress for Halloween last year but she'd refused to wear it. "Princess" just isn't her thing. Instead, she opted to shred it up with scissors and splatter it with (fake) blood, for the zombie-bride look. (Personally, I think she looks more like Lady Macbeth with that knife.) We were especially pleased to find the perfect fabric for her veil at Len's Mill, but it made me sick to my stomach to think of how much I'd paid for my own wedding veil 18 years ago. To think that I could have made do with a $2 piece of fabric, a $1 head band and two safety pins ... but it's too late to return it to the bridal shop now. Todd opted not to repeat the Napolean Dynamite act (too embarrassing to Julia, who cringed at the thought of her friends seeing him on the streets) and went for a more basic look.

I stayed home and passed out candy to over 230 kids before shutting down at 8:30pm. When you have a crazy family down the street who sets up a huge and elaborate haunted house and opens it up to the entire community, you can expect a lot of trick-or-treaters. I don't mind, though, and the kids are always pleasant and polite.