It's Halloween Night!

Mostly I am going to do a photo dump.  Because lots has happened, and it would be a lot to catch up on.  Basically we had our Halloween Party again this year (after a brief hiatus).  Small, but fun.  Lea and Chuck went too and helped the kids make a Fall craft (which they then used to collect candy -- or in Desiree's case, cookies and cinnamon rolls that were leftover from a reception at the funeral home earlier in the day.  I had to laugh when I saw that in her bag...).  And I turned 32 yesterday.  Yippy skippy.  And my husband found out he is now on mandatory 6-day weeks.  Starting this week.  How thoughtful of his job.  Grrrr...  So our plans to go to the Cheesecake Factory for my birthday on Saturday have been thwarted.  However, we will still enjoy a nice dinner out to a new restaurant that's local and a little more on the pricey side (it's a Mediterranean place) and then go to Coldstone Creamery after that.  The rest can be told in pictures (with maybe a comment by me here and there). 

 Okay, so this one was a bit before the Halloween festivities.  This was Home Coming for Xavier's high school.  He was a Duke.  So I went to enjoy the show along with Lea and Chuck.  Plus it's proof I sometimes still take pictures of myself ;).

 These are supposed to be witches' broomsticks.  I didn't have time to tie green onion around all of them (maybe chives would have worked better).  I wish I would have had the time, because the onion made them even better.  But it's just string cheese and a pretzel rod otherwise.  Fun, and easy -- if you didn't do the onion part.  Plus not a sweet snack!

 Deviled eggs.  This is the first year they weren't completely edible, because my mom didn't feel like doing the black-olive spider thing.  But the kids loved the spider rings even more anyway...  I think Desiree collected 8 rings (she didn't eat that many eggs though).

 Booberry treats.  I love these things.  It took me a while to find the stinkin' cereal, but I finally did :).  Maybe I should try Frankenberry or Count Chocula treats.  But there's just something about the Booberry...

 Fritos with green slime dip.  The dip was a hit.  There was none left to bring home.  And it's marginally healthy for you (if you don't count the cream cheese and sour cream :)).  It has salsa (or in this case tomato sauce, since I forgot to buy salsa), chopped spinach, green onions, cream cheese, sour cream, garlic.  That may be it...  anyway, it was good.  Except Desiree didn't like it.

 Easiest Halloween treat ever:  pumpkin poop.  They're just cheeseballs with nothing special done.  The hardest part was finding them...  (I don't think they make the Planters blue can ones anymore...  And now I have a million more of these still to be eaten.  Clearly I had a lot of pumpkins...) ;).

 Rotting swamp punch.  Or, if you're my mom, Rotten Stump punch.  Either way, it was okay.  Way lemony in my opinion.  But it also was gone by the end of the party, so it must have been good enough.

 Jack-O-Lantern pizza.  We do this every year.  Because it's main-dish"y" and offers a little more sustenance than some of the other options.

 Mummy dogs.  Made for the same reason as above.  They'd be cuter with eyeballs of mustard or ketchup.  But I didn't have time.  As it was, I was making these and the pizza AT the funeral home at the last minute (and beyond.  Thankfully everyone was running late :)).

Now to the part my dad actually cares about.  The kids.

 So Emily went as some character named Claudine from a show or movie called Monster High.  I'm out of the loop, I guess, because I don't know what it is.  Except I've seen the dolls and I'm kind of unimpressed.  Anyway, she did not look 3 1/2 in this outfit.  More like 15.  It broke my heart a little bit.  I think she should be Tinkerbell or something.  Also, she's not used to long hair, so she was constantly brushing the wig out of her face.

 Desiree was also a character from Monster High.  Draculaura.  Again, I wish she could just be a Disney Princess.  At almost 8, she looks quite sophisticated in the above picture, in my opinion. 

 Here are the kids eating their Halloween-themed food.  Saria, Benjamin, Samuel, and the back of Emily (with Desiree over talking to her Grandma).

 And here are Saria, Desiree, and Samuel making the craft with Chuck and Lea (not pictured).

 Then it was on to Halloween Bingo, which was a big hit!  The kids loved it, and even Emily held her own really well.

 Another shot of Bingo with my mom.

I didn't get as many pictures of Brad's kids on the still camera, but I got more of them on the video camera than I did of Desiree and Emily.  Eh... I'm a work in progress.

Sunday was the Primary Program.  We survived another year.  Yay!  Desiree and Emily were sick, so they weren't there to do their parts, and that made me sad :(.

 My visiting teachers came and decorated our house while I was at work yesterday.  For my birthday.  To the immediate left there (not pictured) is a pretty heavily-trafficked road.  So I'm pretty sure lots of random people knew it was my birthday.  Haha....  This is also the infamous door I left my keys in that time...

 Just a close-up of the hearts they stuck in the ground.  Can you tell it's wet and rainy?  That's pretty much how it's been the last week and a half.  Yep, fall is here.

And here's my birthday booty.  Purple fuzzy socks and the flower plant from my co-worker friend Sylvia.  Caramel apple from visiting teachers, Chocolate cream thing from co-worker friend Deanna, cute man/woman statue (that I can't wait to display in my house one of these days :)) and awesomely 80s candy mix from my bestest friend Juliebean.  And they did cake and ice cream at work as well.  So it was a good birthday.  And it's been a pretty good week.  I'm just glad tomorrow is Thriday (because Thursdays are my Fridays :)).  And that Jeremy will be on swings next week.  And that we can enjoy a birthday date night on Saturday :).  And maybe I'll even remember my camera and take a picture ;).

Happy Halloween!

P.S.  Stefanie, here's a link to a betamax.  (In fact, my dad has that very one!  And I think it still works!!!)  I sent you an email explaining it, but I don't know if I have your current email address :).