Walker Talk: Halloween

Well, I survived another Halloween. Is it obvious that this isn't my favorite holiday? This year was pretty painless, actually, so I really shouldn't complain. Here is a (not so) brief summary of the festivities.

We started Thursday, with Annie's Joyschool party. All the cute little girls dressed up, had a costume parade, sang spooky songs, and ate cookies. They were very cute, and I was very grateful that I was not in charge.

That night, we finally had a free evening to carve pumpkins together. (Seriously, that was the first free night since before we went to Colorado.) I did lots of cutting and gutting, to choruses of "I didn't know you were gonna kill it!" My kids are all Peanuts fans, obviously.

We ended up with 6 cute pumpkins. Annie's original pumpkin was a bit of a casualty- it had apparently been dropped at some point, so it had a big soft spot on the back, and was moldy inside. Gross. We carved her tiny pumpkin that she brought home from Joyschool, instead.

Friday, the kids were all supposed to wear their costumes to school. This was a first for us- in Manila, the kids weren't allowed to wear costumes. I don't think the elementary kids in Lajes were either, but I could be wrong. I do know that the jr. high there had the kids come as vocabulary words. The result was very cute- Rebekah won a prize for her costume of a "somnambulist". That may not be spelled correctly. I'm too lazy to look it up. Emma, Annie and I got to watch the costume parade in the afternoon, and cheer for our boys!

Halloween dinner was a fun treat from Grandma- she made mummy dogs, beets (for the bloody quality), carrots, and apple salad. We actually got some good food down the kids before the carnage began! Trick or treating was fun. We started by visiting Grandma Shipley and some of her neighbors, and then came back to our neighborhood. The weather was beautiful- warm and only a few drops of rain. Much better than past years in sleet/bitter cold/three feet of snow. All in all, it was a good day- now if the kids would just finish off their candy so they can get back to normal.... I don't believe in moderation and doling it out- I just want it gone!