Halloween 2008

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween this year!  We had the best Halloween yet.  Every year this gets more fun, as the boys get a little older and more participatory.  

I learned a few things trick-or-treating this year:

1.  Grown men in masks wandering around large groups of children kind of freak me out.

2.  I love chocolate.

3.  If you are a 17 year old chubby girl and trick-or-treating, and have to explain to people that you are not dressed as a "Fairy", you are a "Hot Fairy", maybe you're not.

4.  Val is a better cookie decorator than I will ever be.

Aidan went as Leonardo the Ninja Turtle, which was what Dane was last year.  (This is a recurring theme at our house.  Last year Aidan was a dinosaur, which, you guessed it, Dane was the previous year.)  Brandon made the Ninja Turtle costume last year, after observing the cheesy Turtle costumes being sold in the stores.  Dane went as a Knight in Shining Armor.  He has no idea what a knight is, he just knows that weapon-carrying is involved.  And he got to pose with a big sword much of the night.  Big Boy Joel went as a lion, which, apparently, also involves weapons (nun-chucks, to be more specific).  

Ever try to take a picture of three boys as they are preparing to trick-or-treat?  This was the best it got:

Here are a couple of shots of Aidan's costume.  He was so excited to be a Ninja Turtle.
Please note the shell detail.  If I was making a shell for a costume, it would involve green spray paint and perhaps a black Sharpie marker if I was feeling extra creative.  Not so for Brandon's shell.  Multiple colors of green paint and various paint brushes were used last year for this shell.
The shell, however, was a bit large and didn't easily lend itself to wagon-riding.  By the time we got to the last house, this is what Aidan was wearing:
Is he an extra from "Flashdance"?  Jane Fonda from the aerobics-video years?  You decide...

He's going to kill me when he is 19 and I show these pictures to his girlfriend.

When we finished trick-or-treating, we returned to Val and Izzy's house for a bit of sugar cookie decorating.  I was quite proud of my purple, lopsided pumpkin with near-legible icing-writing.  I am normally not quite so artistic.  Of course, Brandon kept asking me what "Manoy" was...

Then I saw Val's cookies and my Inferiority Complex Involving All Things Artistic flared up:

Then I saw the last cookie Val decorated and was reminded of one of the many reasons why I love my sister-in-law:

On a completely unrelated note, one week from today my baby sister is marrying Andy.  Not-Quite-Uncle-Andy ("NQUA"), also dressed up for Halloween.  He is Raphael, 2nd from the left in this picture.  

I think he's going to fit in with the family just fine.