Chewie, Gooey, Ghoulsy, Cutesy (and we survived it all)

Well, another Halloween has come and gone, and I'm happy to report we have survived yet again.  I'll admit, things weren't quite as put together this year as they've been in years past.  I don't know, maybe it was having two kids in fall sports, maybe it was Duke's travel schedule, maybe I'm just getting old and tired.  But in the end, the kids had fun and that's pretty much all that counts, right?

A good portion of the week leading up to Halloween was spent baking cookies:  4 dozen undecorated cookies for Delila's party at Infinite Bounds; and 4 dozen decorated cookies for Jake's soccer team.  The kids love helping make cookies, so I thought it would be a fun thing to do together.  Two failed batches and a very messy kitchen later, I realized the error of my ways.  So...I turned them loose with their own cookie and some decorating supplies.  I'm brilliant like that!

Good, not-so-clean fun in the making!

 Seriously, can you ever have too much goopy green frosting?

I mean, how else will you get all the sprinkles to stick?  Hmmm, it still needs a little...something.

Oh!  I know!  A little black frosting!!  Perfect!!

Now for the real dilemma:  where to start....

Oh yeah!  Right here!!

We don't worry if things get a little drippy...

...because it's finger-lickin' good!

The frightful festivities were in full swing by Friday night.  We had tickets to the Dallas Mavericks' basketball game.  Kids were encouraged to dress up and were rewarded with all kinds of goodies prior to tip-off. 

Delila's decision to dress as a "magical pink unicorn" worked to our favor. She stole the show and got the whole family moved down to courtside seats. And of course, the Maverick's mascot, Champ had to stop by to see who was stealing all his thunder. Yes, our little lady made it on the Jumbotron that night.

Jake originally wanted to be a penguin for Halloween - probably because we had so much fun watching them on our trip to the Baltimore and Dallas World Aquariums this summer.  But since I wasn't up to figuring out how to make a penguin costume that he could easily walk the neighborhood in, he figured dressing up as a Zombie Football Player was good enough for him.  Let's face it, if it has anything at all to do with football, it's pretty much OK with Jake.

He was looking pretty scary once the makeup was complete.

Here he is, a Zombie Dallas Cowboy rising from the grave.  Hmmm...maybe that's the problem with the Cowboys this year...zombies.  (Oh, and don't worry.  Jake's not rooting for the Cowboys.  His heart still belongs to Pittsburgh.)

Although Halloween was on a school night this year, we stuck to our tradition of gathering with a handful of neighborhood friends to snack and get dressed.

Here's Lila, suiting up under the careful supervision of Katie the Terminally Cute Witch.

Yep, I'm pretty sure that tail belongs on the back.

Hats on!

And the BFFs are ready to go!!  (That's Best Friends Forever, for our non-texting readers - you know who you are.)

And they're off!  Trick or treat!!

As is also the tradition, good friend Karen helped me hold down the fort and dole out treats.  It was a great time.  The only thing that will 'haunt' me - other than Jake's peeling face, of course - is that I didn't get a group picture.  We were pretty disorganized, and it makes me sad that that moment's gone forever.  But that's the only real regret.  The week was a hectic good time.  Fun was had and the treats were plentiful.  In the end, the kids were home in time for baths and went to bed dreaming and scheming of Halloweens to come.  Of course, I'll be having nightmares about the ghoulish mess I have to clean up tomorrow.  But it was a good time and we all survived...and that's all that really matters.