This year I realized we are gradually growing out of Halloween.  I can’t even do my traditional Halloween collage because it was like herding ants to get everyone here at the same time let alone dressing up at the same time.

For all those years I dreaded it.  The changing-of-minds on costumes over and over and over.  The madness of the rush from one party to the next.  The sewing.  The whining.  The coordination of trick-or-treating with neighbor friends.  Trying to trick-or-treat with five kids wanting to go in five different directions and one or two bawling with candy drool dripping off their chins.

But as my mom and I took Lucy up and down the street one time until she was ready to call it quits, my other kids all spread out happily with friends doing their own things, I got a little melancholy and I missed these guys:02722_n_8ablnh9hs259603572_n_8ablnh9hs25703587_n_8ablnh9hs2692005-10-31 Halloween 061
I even missed these guys:2005-10-31 Halloween 166
I missed all the young families we have hung out with for our annual Halloween potluck every year and realized none of us are young families any more.  All these sweetie-pies are teenagers now, some dating and driving.2005-10-31 Halloween 252How did that happen?

But Halloween was still good.  I do love simple.  And this year, aside from a few costume morphs, things were pretty good and pretty simple.

Costume morphing:

For the school fall festival Claire and Lu got dolled up as a cheerleader and a bride:2013-10-25 Halloween stuff 90991
I hadn’t had time to help Claire fix up the Alice in Wonderland outfit she wanted to wear, and Lu and I hadn’t rounded up a Rapunzel outfit yet so they just went to the costume box and pulled out some gear.2013-10-25 Halloween stuff 90989
Made things sooooo simple and put a big smile on my face.2013-10-25 Halloween stuff 909932013-10-25 Halloween stuff 909942013-10-25 Halloween stuff 909962013-10-25 Halloween stuff 91006
Every once in a while Lu morphed into Nanny McPhee too 🙂2013-10-25 Halloween stuff 91007
Then back to bride:2013-10-25 Halloween stuff 910112013-10-25 Halloween stuff 91013
This is the only pic. I got from all that hoopla that night:2013-10-25 Halloween stuff 91022Love that Josh for enjoying the hoopla with us and enduring the haunted house with the kids.

For the Trunk-or-Treat they stayed the same and Grace joined them as some kind of rendition of Pocahontas:2013-10-30 Halloween 91300At first she wasn’t too excited because we didn’t happen to have baby pjs big enough for her so she could match her friends but that’s what we had in the costume box.

But gradually caught the spirit:2013-10-30 Halloween 913062013-10-30 Halloween 913102013-10-30 Halloween 91314
She even helped her little sister morph back into a bride.2013-10-30 iPhone 91767
…a bride who couldn’t let go of her twirly hairdo from school that day because she loves that one so darn much.2013-10-30 Halloween 91315
The neighborhood trunk-or-treat was a hit.2013-10-30 Halloween 913192013-10-30 Halloween 913222013-10-30 Halloween 913232013-10-30 iPhone 91769(Thanks Emily for that cute pic!)

Dave and I morphed from Great Gatsby folks:2013-10-25 Halloween stuff 91031
…into normal run-of-the-mill parents on Halloween night:2013-10-31 Halloween 91363

Max and Elle morphed into high school kids on Halloween day.2013-10-31 Halloween 91329
Max and his friends were 50’s guys.2013-10-31 Halloween 91330
Luckily my mom was here to help whip Claire’s costume into shape since we put it off until Halloween night…2013-10-31 Halloween 91331
Elle and I made this dress out of some curtains we found at Good Will a while back {THIS POST is about how we made it}:image
But Claire wanted it a little shorter to be more authentic, so here was the finished product:2013-10-31 Halloween 91333
…with a monster behind her…2013-10-31 Halloween 91335
Lucy decided to be an “angel” instead of a bride because her flowers itched her.  I can’t imagine that sequin thing was any better but she was pleased as punch about that thing.2013-10-31 Halloween 913422013-10-31 Halloween 91336
Have I mentioned how much I love my dad?2013-10-31 Halloween 91338
Max was a volleyball guy with messy hair…since he had volleyball until almost 10 that night.2013-10-31 Halloween 91339
Grace and friends…2013-10-31 Halloween 91344
Let’s just go ahead and excuse this super blurry picture but I have to at least have a pic. of Elle on Halloween.  She was a bat as you can plainly see…2013-10-31 Halloween 91354-22013-10-31 Halloween 913582013-10-31 Halloween 91367
After eating THIS SOUP that I love, we sent the big kids off with their friends leaving a trail of bikes behind them.2013-10-31 Halloween 91375
And I set up the front walk for the trick-or-treaters as the nostalgia kicked in.2013-10-31 Halloween 91404
How am I going to tear myself away from this house filled with so many Halloween (and so many other) memories?2013-10-31 Halloween 914262013-10-31 Halloween 914392013-10-31 Halloween 91440
Lucy was very patient with me while I wiped my nostalgic tears.2013-10-31 Halloween 91372
Then we walked around with my mom just long enough to fill up her tiny bucket with a few treats and for me to lament about the good old days when all my children were babies.2013-10-31 Halloween 91462
This is how Lu looked by the end of the night passing out candy (which she loved):2013-10-31 Halloween 91387Gotta love that angel hairdo…

These girls had to come home for a break in between trick-or-treating…2013-10-31 Halloween 91371
These girls survived without their own trick-or-treating adventures this year.2013-10-31 Halloween 91448The loot:
2013-10-31 Halloween 914582013-10-31 Halloween 91460
Oh boy, just like I realize after Halloween every year, I do love that great holiday and all that comes with it.

Until next year…ha ha.

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4 Comments

  1. I was totally nostalgic too, and probably mostly because my teens chose socializing over costumes and candy swaps for the first time 🙁

    And that Pocohontas needs a papoose … just sayin' 😉 I think that was in our rotation too .. but I wasn't sharp enough from jet lag. Wonder if they'd redress for me …. 😉

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