Happy Halloween!

Another Halloween has come and gone. The time certainly flies, especially when the days are as hectic as this one was. It was perfect Halloween weather, beautiful, hardly any breeze, and just a hint of fall in the air. It was even more perfect because, since this year "trick or treat" fell on a Saturday, we got to have all of the grandchildren together. They love it and so do the grownups, but you wouldn't believe my house after getting 11 children all spiffed up and ready to greet the evening. Whew! It still kind of wears me out just thinking about it. We also had our "Kid Fest" carnival at church, which was a great success. Lots of fun activities (I must admit, I am rather popular at this event because I give away goldfish and thanks, Dawn for all the help, I would not have survived without you, literally). The last news I received there were over 800 in attendance and I believe it! But it makes it all worthwhile to see such a good turnout as this is our church's gift to our community.

This year we had quite a variety of spooks in the family. There was a headless horseman (I'm afraid this is just the beginning of Max's trip to the gross side of Halloween), a Knight in Shining Armor (or Prince Caspian as Sam called himself), a dragon (which I am relieved to report the knight resisted the urge to slay), a member of the Ninja Dragon Elite Force (and yes this was Emily), a cute little teddy bear (Heidi was completely oblivious of all the activity around her), Elphaba (one of the witches from the Broadway musical "Wicked"), Frankenstein and his brother, the mad scientist (who only briefly wore his glasses), two of the cutest "Wonder Women" you have ever seen, and of course, Spiderman. We had a great time and yes, I did send goldfish home with all of them, much to their mother's dismay. They can't complain, I provided bowls, food, and a talk about the short lives of goldfish. :D

Ben, modeling his best "dragon face."
Guess who? Max actually left this contraption on the entire evening, personally, I think he loved grossing people out. The top of the neck was pretty graphic with exposed spinal column and blood.
Prince Caspian looks very handsome, if I do say so myself.
Basically, Heidi just tolerated the night, but she still got her own goldfish.

The Dragon Ninja demonstrates an elite fighting stance. She does take karate, don't you know?
Ella loves to have a mean witch's face, even though Elphaba wasn't particularly mean.
These two were just too precious. Ryder even tolerated his costume quite nicely and Brock, the mad scientist was just hilarious!
Cooper loves being Spiderman. He kept shouting "Cheese" for pictures like you could actually see his smile...
How cute is this chubby Wonder Woman? My sister made this costume for her granddaughter a couple of years ago and Rudy got to put it to good use again, though we did have to squeeze her into it.
Beautiful Lily's costume, on the other hand, had to be taken up to fit her slim self.
One last picture and I will close this massive post. Obviously, the crew was running out of patience with all the picture taking and was anxious to gather some candy. Hope everyone has a blessed week!!