Halloween Recap

Another year of NaBloPoMo begins! Unlike previous years, I am not starting the month out with a post about our anniversary. After all, there is only so much that can be said about it, right? ;-)

This year I thought I'd start out with a recap of Halloween festivities, and showcase some photos, most of which were taken with our brand new DSLR camera.

First up, the costumes. I recycled my 50's girl costume idea from 2010, but did not reuse many of the same clothing elements. Check my Project 365 blog post here to see what I wore last year.

Contrast that to this year's costume, where I cut a poodle shape out of felt and glued it on to my skirt. And yes, there are real petticoats underneath the skirt!

This year, Todd dressed as an Army soldier. Yes, I know the rank is upside down on both his helmet and his vest. Maybe that's the way it has to be, for a costume?

This year, we did something we've never done before: decorated the house! I bought some window decorations from the local seasonal Halloween store, and Todd drew and cut out additional Halloween-themed pictures. I also strung up lights along our deck railing. The reason I chose to decorate this year was because I wanted to attract more trick-or-treaters. We live in a community whose residents are mostly senior citizens, so there is always a dearth of kids out and about. It's such a treat to get the rare little kid coming to our door. It must have paid off, because I think we doubled the number of kids that came by (and by "doubled" I mean we went from 6 to 12 ;-P)

Here's a shot of the front of our house (excuse the wash-out from the bright porch light)

You'll note a couple of jack-o-lanterns, as well. That's another first this year: carving pumpkins! Todd visited the local pumpkin patch with our church's youth group a few weeks ago, and brought home a couple of pumpkins. He and Daddy immediately set about designing, drawing, and carving their own pumpkins.

Here is Todd, hard at work:

And here are the final results: one pumpkin pi and one happy jack-o-lantern!

 

Doesn't pumpkin pi look really pretty, glowing in the dark?

 

And doesn't Todd's pumpkin look especially friendly? He sat at the door, greeting the trick-or-treaters as they arrived. I think the square nose made him look especially benign and friendly.

What of the festivities?

Well, as I mentioned earlier, Todd took a trip to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. The weekend before Halloween, he attended "Boo at the Zoo" at the Santa Barbara Zoo. Here he is, resting in the grass and enjoying some candy:

On Halloween itself, he got to go trick-or-treating with our youth pastor, who, being his usual wacky self, decided to throw a little twist into the event by going door-to-door and singing Christmas carols. Hey-- you can't say they didn't earn their candy! ;-)

As for me, I participated in the campus's staff costume contest, and actually won a runner-up prize for "cutest" category. And our department held our annual mini-pumpkin decorating contest (where the only limitation is that you can only use items/supplies in the office). Here is my royal pumpkin, relaxing regally on his throne:

How was your Halloween?