A Week of Halloween

Halloween - does it get any better? Sure, Easter's great with its candy eggs and chocolate bunnies, but Easter comes with all the heaviness of death and resurrection. Not Halloween -- all the blood and gore in this holiday is just for fun. No big spiritual message or life lesson to this Hallmark holiday. So…without further ado…let the fun begin!

We got into the spirit early with a surprise package from Mimi & Bubba. 

Glow in the dark Pez, light up pens and Boo pony-tail holders -- all a big hit!

We pretty much partied it up all week.  Festivities started on Thursday with the party at 'school' (Infinite Bounds), continuted into Friday with school party #2 for Jake (at Teddy Bear Junction) and Scare on the Square in Old Town McKinney.  We definitely got our money's worth out of this year's costumes.  Lila was Lady Bug Girl...

Jake, following through on the Birthday racing theme, was Dale Earnhart Jr.

We still hadn't had enough of the fun and games (or the candy) when Halloween actually rolled around.  The evening got off to a creepy crawly start with an unexpected visitor.  I wanted to put him in my cauldron and serve up some eye-of-newt soup.  The kids wanted to keep him as a pet.  The final decision was to set him free in the front yard where, hopefully, he'll enjoy dining on all the mosquitoes.

Next we carved our pumpkin.  The weather can be pretty warm and often damp in Dallas this time of year, a carved pumpkin can get really scarey really fast around here.  So we usually hold off on carving until Halloween afternoon/evening.  I think this fellow has quite a charming smile, don't you?

We invited a few friends over for some pre trick-or-treating snacks and then the kiddos hit the neighborhood with a vengance.

While the kiddos terrorized the neighborhood, 'Aunt' Karin and I hung out by a cozy fire (and a bottle of bubbley) to hand out treats.  Duke built us a great fire.  We were very happy campers.

I think everybody had a great time.  The kids are all hopped up on sugar -- and I'm pretty sure they will be through the end of the year.  Jake's taking a cue from the squirrels and stashing his in corners, under beds, etc.  I'm pretty sure I'll be finding sweet stuff hidden around the house for many days to come.