Happy Halloween

Wanted to do a quick post to recap Halloween.  Our festivities started last weekend when we got to drive up to Tenino, Wash., to visit my aunt Patrice and uncle Terry.  It was an awesome party, with so many family members that we don't get to see very often -- my cousin Ben and his family, my cousin Michelle and her husband, my sister and her family, my dad and his crew, my cousins Anita and Gayle, my aunt Linda, and even...drumroll, please...all the way from Colorado...Aunt Donna and Uncle Jim!  I wish we got to see everybody more often!

Here's a pic of Desmond and Molly in their costumes that weekend.  Desmond is a witch/warlock, and Molly is his black cat.

And here is a pic of some of the adults that weekend.

Hold the phone.  As I was uploading these photos, I realized our Halloween festivities started waaaay earlier than this.  Back up to October 11, when we made our first trip to the pumpkin patch!  (I say 'first trip' because we actually ended up at the pumpkin patch three times this year.)

We also went to the Tualatin Pumpkin Regatta.  This is a really fun event with giant pumpkins that are carved and used as boats in the lake.

This event inspired us to try and grow our own giant pumpkin next year.  We'd love to have some other folks trying along with us, so if you want to grow one, let me know and we can all do it together.

On Friday at school Desmond's class had a costume parade.

Friday night, of course, was trick-or-treating.  Molly practiced, saying, "Trick or treat.  Give me something to eat."  Desmond was a witch/warlock again, and this time Molly was a butterfly.  Her costume was given to us by a friend at school, and it was a big hit in the neighborhood.

I should also mention that we were joined by Auntie Teresa, Uncle Luis and Damien, as well as Aunt Helen, who has not missed a single year of trick-or-treating with us yet.  :o) 

Molly kicked off the trick-or-treating at our neighbor's house, where she said "trick-or-treat," got a piece of candy that was supposed to be the first of three, and immediately thrust it into Auntie Teresa's face, saying, "Can you open this, please?"

Today I snapped some pics of the kids with their pumpkins.  Molly didn't design hers herself, but Desmond did.  For the past month he's been drawing his perfect pumpkin, and each and every time, it looked like this:

So we attempted to carve it exactly like the drawing.  Pretty close, huh?

And now I shall leave you with a video of a house in our neighborhood.  We have a lot of houses in the neighborhood that go all out, but this one took the cake.