Momedy Sketch: Epic Hallowe’en Recap-2013 Edition

Before Thanksgiving is upon us, I thought I would ~~subject~~ treat you to a epic, impressively redundant, minimally edited photo dump of Halloween related activities. Once again, because I did this over a period of days (because there were approximately 4, 5621 photos to work through), this is going to be especially random. I could go through and cut and paste everything into chronological and related groups but then you would be able to tell when I put the same photo in twice, and also since my computer doesn’t like to cut and paste photos right now, it would take a long and annoying time and it’s already taken too long and caused me to pause for many uncomfortable seconds and ponder the photo taking compulsion and where it may come from and whether or not I should seek help for it or just embrace it as an adorable yet irritating quirk. Moving along.

I was a Headless Freudian Slip. Just kidding! No really, I actually did have a head but in order to see my costume I was forced to zoom in and cut it off. Which wasn’t a great hardship (really, really bad hair day). The Invisible Man (Benj) was at a US Women’s soccer game that night. It’s not like I would have let him get away with not being in that picture. It’s me people. Snaphappy Mommy Dearest.

Trunk or Treat at the church and the after party were a good time, as always. Me with some of my fellow soccer moms. Not sure what’s going on here with the hoisting of Gabe but I thought Ryland’s eyes were impressively Halloweeny.

Aaron is such a tolerant husband. I do love that pumpkin.

Although Ella started out deeply skeptical about the trunk or treating she soon caught on..

Those little bloomers were SO cute but she very demurely insisted that they stay hidden under her dress Sad smile .

On Halloween Ella made a few dozen cupcakes for Finny’s class. It was exhausting.

Finny and Ella went trick or treating at the Sorority houses on campus a few days before Halloween. It was so sweet to watch Finny making sure she got her haul. And so sweet to watch how much she loved it.

Can I just say how much fun it is to trick or treat with a two year old? Well at least this one. I seem to remember my others being a little more whiny about it. But Ella was just so delighted with all of it. The ringing of the doorbells, the crunching through the leaves, the walking along the edges of retaining walls, the meeting of adoring fans and comparing of costumes, and of course, the CHOKIT.

Love her expression in the second photo here:
“Oh they wanted cute and they got cute. And what did I get? Not one but TWO Chokits. Oh yeah. I Nailed it”

Here she was literally clapping her hands and squealing in anticipation of chokit. Do you understand a bit more why I can’t stop taking photos? Because she can’t stop being cute? Do you get it? Ok great, thanks. If it wasn’t for Aaron holding her back, she totally could have taken another block. Dads. Sheesh.

Ringing doorbells was a real thrill. She might make a career of it.

It’s been 7 years but yeah I’m pretty sure that none of my former 2 year olds were this adept at Trick or Treating. Or confident about it. Ella does tend to be a bit shy with strangers, not terribly shy, but somewhat reserved. However! Her passion for chokit totally inspired her to dig deep and do what she needed to do. She made eye contact, said “trick or treat”, ignored the cheap candy and went right for the chocolate whenever there was any, and even remembered her thank you’s. She was an old pro.

The quintessential Trick or Treating photo-excited little faces, spiderman making an appearance. I think it is so adorable.

She walked all but half of the last block. At least a mile. What a little pioneer. She was a cold and tuckered out little mouse by the end.

This picture is hazy because I took it right after we got inside and my camera fogged up. Just shows how FREEZING it was. And Ella INSISTED on going sans gloves, sans coat and sans hat from the very start of trick of treating at 6:30 and took her last piece of candy, still unsuitably dressed for the cold, as the town clock was striking 8pm. She outlasted every one of her siblings and their friends but at least a half hour. She was a MACHINE out there. A chokit gathering hardcore machine. A really really cute red-nosed chokit gathering machine. On a related note: why won’t my children wear warm clothing? I find it so disturbing.

I was so happy to bump into my handsome little hero as he ran past us.

Dancing (beauty) queen at the Trunk or Treat after party. And in case you were wondering what the Fox says….there it is. Don’t you love his expression? That’s a kid who just loves having his picture taken. He’s so happy to have a paparazzi mother.

The quintessential Trick or Treating photo-excited little faces, spiderman making an appearance. I think it is so adorable.

Some of our Halloween décor this year.

‘Twas the darkest Trick or treating we’d ever had. Halloween proper was washed out and rescheduled for November, the day daylight savings ended. Dark dark dark….appropriate I suppose but made for difficult picture taking and what is this all about really? The children? Please. The PICTURES. Keep up!

The kids are getting too quick for me to take photos of..there they go

Hooray for photo editing, I got to zoom in on this one. Not exactly an inspired shot but every year I get a photo of Finny and Mateo in action and I couldn’t bear not grab the traditional shot. For posterity. And sentimentality. Really I have a problem.

Perhaps it is because this was the first year Benj did not trick or treat. His choice. I am all for them continuing well into college. He and Keller manned the cauldron on the porch. And now if you will excuse me as I take to my bed and kick off the beginning of my mid-life WHY DO THEY GROW SO FAST? crisis. Omigosh. I honestly have a lump in my throat. It goes so fast. Why does it go so fast? Happily they were really stoked and super animated about their new role so that was a comfort.

Bumping into my little super hero again on our slower route with Ella. Gosh he is a handsome little hero isn’t it? And look! I even saw the Gaber. He was thrilled. What a fox.

The sleeping beauty taking off. She went with friends to another hood.

And here for your viewing pleasure the funniest photo I have ever taken. You are welcome.

The girls unwind after a hard night on the beat. Gracie sorted candy, Ella wrote in her journal about the experience.

And Ella in her leotard and tights inspired me to enroll her in dance class. Because really. Thighs.

On the Monday before Halloween we had a little pumpkin carving party with the Richardsons.

Which means the kids hastily scrawled on their pumpkins, and ran off to play leaving us with the scooping and the carving. And the posing…

Only the shadow knows..

Here’s the sinister group now..

A sampling of our family’s offerings this year. My favourite was the first one. He who must not be named. Sadly the photo doesn’t adequately show his nose slits. But they were there. And they were chilling. I was also rather fond of my leaf.

Our primitive rendition of “mimi mouse” , some trendy triangles and a pumpkin suffering from anxiety.

Anger issues, more anxiety and a daylight shot of Voldermort er He who must not be named, so you can see his natural features better. Isn’t that the coolest pumpkin ever? The raw material I mean. He was born to be bad.

Evolution of a jack ‘o lantern. Ella was very into the drawing part…

Lobotomy, surgery, and illumination. That pumpkin had a really rough day/night. No wonder about the anxiety. Since I am on my way to being a mental health professional I’m going to go ahead and diagnose him with PTSD

Some more pictures of Ella. Bet you didn’t see that coming. She spent a LOT Of time in front of that mirror preening and posing and admiring herself after we got her all dressed up. And I took a LOT of photos of it. (Bet you didn’t see that coming either). I almost cried at how cute it was. I think I actually did get a bit teary.