TRICK-OR-TREAT, GLENWOOD CIRCLE STYLE

Our friends the Hancocks decided against the trick-or-treat hayride this year due to the holiday being on a Monday, and while we considered driving out to Clinton on a school night to play with the Kennedys, ultimately the lure of earlier bedtimes and Halloween-themed brews at Martin's won us over. We parked our car at Gaurav's house early, but the neighborhood was already teaming with families and being patrolled by cop cars ten minutes before the "official" trick-or-treating start time. So we set out to circle our favorite Vicksburg residential playground and visit the homes of friends who live in the neighborhood. We ending up walking with various groups of friends, including the Poda-Mandarino twins and the Tuminello kids, and we stopped to chat with the Gattle, McMillin, Paris, Mitchell, Madsen-Thomas, and Tankesly families, and saw numerous school and soccer and Scout friends out trick-or-treating as well. The kids LOVED it and I think we might have a new tradition... They have far too much candy (the houses are a lot closer together along Chambers and Vicklan than they are out in the county), but we haven't even inspected it yet, so it just sits in the bags untouched for now (I wonder how long we can get away with that?...) Tonight we were all glad for the lack of rain (since we got rained-out of trick-or-treating last year and didn't hear the end of it until after Christmas...)

They requested solo photos in front of the green screen, and they want daddy to make them stars of Goosebumps and Elena of Avalor.

 Stay off the grass!

(And watch out for the scary homeowner that waits just long enough after the kids knock before answering the door with a jump and a scream to terrify them!)

 We spent the night out as Slappy, Elena, an overly enthusiastic runner (complete with safety vest, sparkle skirt, and awesome unicorn/T-Rex tights courtesy of Robyn, though Jay said "So... you're going as yourself?"), and her running coach (Jay wore my dad's old Lincoln Trojans track jacket and donned his shortest of running shorts in a tribute to my old Coach Anton and new "Coach" Mack).

 James was not pleased that multiple candy providers thought he was dressed as a vampire, but I assured him that they just must not know who Slappy is and that his costume was too cool for some people ;-)

We bumped into a few of our running buddies while walking the 'hood (Jennifer Lynn - AKA Minnie Mouse, Amy, JP, and Tank). Clearly I'm going to have to race in these tights without the skirt on in order to show off their full glory...

We stayed out until after dark, but not too long after Cora made it known that she was hungry and wanted to go home. Because we all know what a hangry Cora is like (very much like a hangry Denise, actually...)

 The best house of the night was fully decorated in a Harry Potter theme with characters up behind their iron fence handing out the candy. There was Platform 9 3/4, a webbed Womping Willow, the flying car and giant spiders (James' favorite part), and other cool touches. There were Hogwarts professors and students from multiple Houses (mostly Gryffindor though), Fleur Delacour, and even Dobby (who couldn't have been more than 2 years old, and he was very insistent on giving all the adults candy as well as the kids). Maybe we can make friends with them and hang out in their yard next year - they're my kinda people! Halloween enthusiasts unite!

 We arrived at Martin's as their crowd started to dwindle, but still managed to bump into multiple people we know, and had Gaurav join us for dinner. It was a nice end to the evening. James fell asleep in the car (and Cora pretended to, so we'd "have" to carry her inside) and just like that October ended.

SWEET SORA SAGE

 Meet Sora Sage Irvine, born to Jenny and Ladd on October 30, 2016 in the wee hours of the morning. Isn't she the cutest little thing?! We think she looks a lot like Jenny :-)

HUGE Congratulations to the new parents! We love you guys!!

A BIRD IN THE HAND...

 We went out the front door to take pictures of the kids' jack-o-lanterns and later discovered that it's now the time of year when we can't use the front door after dark. We have a wren that roosts in our wreaths during the fall and winter, and apparently it flew in unseen as we scooted out for photos, because once James was tucked back in his bed to read himself to sleep he called me down the hall with a "Mama, there's a bird in my room!" So we quickly shut his bedroom door to prevent it getting loose in the house, and the kids sat on the floor and watched as I jumped on the beds and over toys to catch the rudely awoken (and thus pretty confused) Carolina Wren. Once I had it in hand, I showed them how to properly hold a songbird and let them inspect it, then walked it outside. Before I could release it though, both kids wanted to pet it's head, then Cora asked for a turn to hold it. After a quick explanation and a reminder to be gentle, she proudly held that bird while I snapped a couple photos. And then it flew off. And I showed the kids the other Carolina Wren that was roosting in the corner of the carport above our heads. Fun end to the evening!

HALLOWEEN BASH: 2016

Party Prep:

Costume Contest Awards

Kiddie corner: Great Pumpkin gummies, glow sticks, and Dum Dum lollipop ghosts

These gummies (spiders and snakes) were given out as Scavenger Hunt prizes

The sunroom got cleared out for the green screen photobooth and kid movies

 Party Pictures:

Emma (tiger), Cara Beth (geisha), Elle (TMNT), and Cora (Bagheera) watching Book of Life and eating popcorn

James (Slappy, after a costume change due to a safety pin coming undone in an unfortunate location...) and Coltin (Squirtle) modeling the ghost lollipops for me

The party kids (most of them!) ready to complete the skeleton bones Scavenger Hunt

I put Kara in charge, and she in turn passed out the clues in order (after each bone was found) so that most of the readers in the group (those who wanted to) could have a chance to read a clue out loud. I was cracking up at Coltin and James repeatedly reading silently over the other kids' shoulders and running off to hunt the bones before the clue was even finished being read!

Success! Skeleton man (12 bones, so, not a complete skeleton by any means) assembled and kids ready for candy!

I thought the sunroom made a good "kid room" this year - we set up the popcorn/movies and a bunch of kid-sized tables and chairs (and cleared out pretty much everything else, in hopes there would be no bike crashing incidents or puking kids coming off the teeter-totter!)

The Donut Chomp game... After the Scavenger Hunt, I retreated to the house to finally eat some dinner and put Jay in charge of this one. He said it took forever to set up (luckily he had some help from fellow tall guys) and then was over in less than a minute, but that the kids (and their parents) seriously loved it, so we'll definitely be doing it again. After he lined up the kids under their donuts, he told them to close their eyes and imagine eating it, then he flicked the string and sent all the donuts flying as he told them to GO! And then Coltin quickly won. Pictured here (thanks to Mike) are Cora, Olivia, Emma, Abigail, James, and Rohan. There were enough kids to fill in the entire front of the carport, but they didn't all make the photo!

The Delta Brewers talkin' shop

Hammerschlagen... Adults only game, don't worry. Apparently Lumberjack Lawrence was best at this, though Jay told me when I tried it after all the party-goers had gone home that he was amazed I could hit the nail so many times without missing (but then, perhaps he was also amazed how many hits it took me to get the nail into the log...) There were multiple rounds, and eventually a glow stick was incorporated for ambiance (or something).

Cora and Emma (and Grady, just off camera) shut the party down with patio dancing and singing. They even convinced Mr. Beane to play them a song on Cora's ukulele while they put on a show.

Forget Elsa and her ice poses, she's all about Elena and Latin dancing now!

A fuzzy bear between the Sarahs...

Me, Sarah, and Christina (whom I didn't get to talk to nearly enough tonight!)

Henry the tiny pikachu - come on, you know you want to catch him!

 Party People:

Costume Contest Winners (we chose via committee this year rather than waiting for everyone to vote). Most Unique: Brawny Man and a package of paper towels, Best Theme: Frozen (Anna and Elsa, as well as Sven and Olaf, were included in this win), Most Obscure: Marla and Tyler Durden from Fight Club (they took the title away from the long-standing pun champion), and Highest Effort: Ash Ketchum, little brother Pikachu, and his mama Pokemon catchers (costumes handmade/hand-crafted for all 4 of them)

Beanes: Clark Kent and Peter Pan

Burkhalters: Cheerleader and Football Player

Donohues: Olaf and Sven

Hopkins: Bat Family

Gaurav: Runner who did NOT survive the Run for Your Lives zombie race

Foshee-Fields: Pokemon Family (Pikachu inside the Poke ball carrier!)

Hancocks: Pokemon Family (with Emma the tiger)

Hearns: Witch and Geisha (Carl was home with a sick Sammy)

Kennedys: Anna and Elsa (Al and Will were on their first Cub Scout Campout!)

Larsons: TMNT Girl Power

Lindsays: Jungle Book

Lucketts (neighbors): Alpine Santa and Cat (kitty Angel was not interested in taking a photo)

Newells: Error 404 Costume Not Found, Flamingo, and Flamingo Wrangler

Prices: Mavis (from Hotel Transylvania!) and Eddie (of Grizwold's fame)

Rices: Super Family

Rowes: Stick Figures (their special UV tape glowed in the dark!)

Heather: Beer Fairy

Van Zomermans: Package of Paper Towels and the burly Brawny Man

 This year was our biggest party yet (23 people/couples/families, we just didn't get everyone posed for green screen photos) and we LOVED IT! Next year we'll go even bigger and better! Most things will stay the same (mish-mash of friends from all walks of life, potluck buffet, beer by the keg, games for kids and adults alike, movies in the sunroom, green screen for photos, etc.), but I think we'll invest in some additional outdoor seating  and I'll plan to make a couple big crockpot/casserole entrees to balance out all the appetizers and desserts. Also, fingers crossed we don't have a 3rd year under burn ban so that we can have a bonfire and roast marshmallows, and that it's not in the mid-80s at the end of October so that fuzzy bears don't melt... Happy Halloween friends!