A Happy Hallowe'en

The kitty pumpkin drawing in the book that inspired A's pumpkin, my cat-lover

Hard at work Sunday after dinner

So excited about the jack-o-lantern.  But didn't want anything to do with the
cleaning out of the pumpkin gunk.  'Ewwww!"

Strangely, this was the second year in a row the S was not around for Hallowe'en.  For the kids, they're so excited that it doesn't matter (so much).  For me, it's more of a work load getting them all fed, dressed and out the door - especially as they're all rather hyper with anticipation.  Iz made it a little more exciting.  In the kitchen, I heard A yell:  "Mom - Iz just dumped her bowl of soup on the table!"  Ai corrected her, "No, she did the mess from her mouth - frow up." Would have been hard to tell what happened as the pureed lentil soup looked the same in the bowl as on the table - except I'd heard her cough.  She and Ai had come down with colds on Sunday morning - but that didn't stop either of them from having a great time.  Just explains why Iz was perhaps having an especially hard time keeping her hands off the candy while we were out.  She sat on lawns, on stairs, on the sidewalk - any chance she could get to snack on a treat.  She must have been pretty hungry . . .

Not having S to cover the home base also helped me get to know my neighbours better.  They kindly passed out our candy while we went trick-or-treating.  This year, I didn't put out my bowl with a sign to say, "Putting the kids to bed, please take one or two and I'll be back in 5 minutes."  Lost my favourite glass bowl that way last year, not to mention my chocolate bars and a bit more faith that people will do good when offered the opportunity!

We left at 6:00, home by 7:15.  They were pretty sweet (though I'm biased).  Very enthusiastic at every door, big thank-yous and lots of kangaroo hops from Iz.  I enjoyed getting a better feel of the neighbourhood - lots of really friendly people, many elderly and quite a few Filipino families.  And it was the perfect night here - more mild than its been in a week.  Ai and A didn't even put their jackets on!  Surprisingly, its turned out to be a really quiet evening.  Everyone done by 8:00 and no firecrackers or fireworks in my neighbourhood.  Not even one.  Rather nice, I must say.

I hope you had a fun time at home or out knocking on doors.  Here's some pics from our day:

All pooped out and ready to be hauled home.  So glad I brought the wagon along!