Look What Came For Dinner

Happy Halloween, Part 1

Our neighborhood  has a Halloween Party every year complete with hayride, costume parade, and haunted house.  This year was no different (except it's gotten a little too big for the costume parade, and the guy who makes his carriage house into a haunted house's relative was sick so no haunted house this year).  I use it as an excuse to have a big Halloween Party for family and friends.  We feasted on pulled pork, butternut squash soup (doctored by Janet into a much better version than the recipe called for with some maple syrup -- thanks friend!), snacks and pumpkin cookies. 

Then the kids made their Trick-or-Treat bags and finalized their jokes or tricks (see, here the kids all HAVE to recite jokes or do tricks -- even the tiniest tykes can regurgitate a simple knock-knock joke in St. Louis). 

Next up is the obligatory driveway pose:  mine are Ginny Weasley and Darth Vader.  Also in the picture (kind of L to R)are friends Sylvia and Claudia, cousins Stephanie and Kelli Jo, and friends Tony, Big Ben, Patrick, Nate, Sterling, and Evan.  The picture is a little blurry because they are all chomping at the bit to get going -- the candy mele begins at 6 p.m. and runs 'til 8.  Sharp.  And we're serious about that one.  I don't even buy the hayride tickets any more because the 2 hour window of candy collection is too precious to be clotted up with hayrides.  Yep.  Kids after my own heart.

Here's my Ginny up close (and dorky) to prove I finished the scarf:

So, the routine is that the guys take the kids Trick or Treating and the moms sit on the driveway in comfortable chairs, sometimes with a fire pit if it is chilly and or rum drinks, and give out the candy.  Usually upwards of 250 urchins worth.  It is actually a riot. 

The best joke we heard all evening that was not really a joke:  What did the farmer say when he lost his tractor?  WHERE IS MY TRACTOR?   You know, the 5 year -old made up jokes?  Love them.

I'll leave you with a puzzler (car-talk guys for something to solve):  Look closely at my kids' costumes.  Now guess:  What character did my husband come back from Trick or Treating dressed as?  (no fair guessing Amanda, Christy, or Janet!) (and yes, I know that "as" is dangling -- but the correct way to say that just sounds stupid)  Pics on that one tomorrow. 

Today, on to Happy Halloween, Part 2:  Trunk or Treat at school. 

Comments

[alison]

The scarf came out great! Looks perfect with the rest of the costume! Love all the Halloween pics. :)

[Laura]

The scarf looks great! Looks like you had a fun Halloween.

[GailV]

Scooted in from Alison's blog looking at Weasleys and I MUST make a non-knitting comment: we just moved to St. Louis about 4 weeks ago. So, my kids are all psyched for Halloween, practicing jokes (dh grew up here, so we had the scooop)...and they are the ONLY kids in the entire neighborhood telling jokes! Aargh. But the older folks loved it and gave them extra candy.