The pumpkins were gathered and the paper was laid. Carving commenced with little involvement from me. Even Johanna is independent with design and execution of her carving. So while they carved, I made dinner and roasted pumpkin seeds. 4 pumpkins yield a lot of seeds. A few years ago we started roasting them and putting them out on Halloween. It is now a tradition and I look forward to it.
 |
| Carving some Harry Potter elements |
 |
| Rachael in design mode |
 |
| Megan gives a Pumpkin a facial |
 |
| Bridget's Mockingjay |
This year Halloween threatened to be a rain out, but the storm slowed down. It was really warm out and humid when Jim and I went to the elementary school for the Halloween parade. Johanna chose to be a Hogwarts student, and she wore Gryffindor robes. She originally wanted to be Harry Potter but had no tolerance for the glasses and was happy to be a regular student.
Bridget spent a number of days working on her costume, with only a tiny bit of help from me. She wanted to be a Mockingjay, inspired by the Hunger Games books. Bridget used a dance costume as the base and then made wings. She hot glued tons of feathers and had the glue burn to prove it. It turned out amazing.
Megan invited her cousin Katherine and her good friend Rita over to hang out. I grabbed them some snacks and face makeup and they wound up deciding to put their handiwork on display with a short burst of trick or treating.
Rachael also gathered a few friends and visited other friends nearby. Rachael dyed her hair green and with green lipstick and tendrels of ivy, went as Poison Ivy. Adam and Simon helped her carve her Celtic chain design on her pumpkin before she headed out.
The weather forecast for the evening was for high winds and possible tornadoes, so we decided to get the evening started early. Our regular Halloween crew of the Brinks, Shumakers, and Arciagas were all on board. We ordered pizza and got the kids out the door. Jim took the kids around this year and Johanna was so excited. My Dad comes to dinner on Thursdays so he joined us this year. When the kids and parents went out trick or treating, my Dad, and I sat on the porch and handed out candy. Becky joined us and so did Keith Arnold as we waited for the Trick or Treaters to return.
Candy was spread and sorted and they watched movies, while the adults sat outside on the porch. That slow moving storm respected our holiday and waited just long enough for the kids to have a good time before bringing in the heavy rain and winds. Everyone headed home ahead of the storm and the teachers were probably all happy that the kids weren't up too late. It was still a school night, and it was a Happy Halloween!
