Happy Halloween!

We had to scrap the family costume this year because the only costume Josh would wear was a black dog, we think because he really likes our neighbor's black dog. Unfortunately black dog costumes aren't interesting enough to make it into today's Halloween stores, so I had to make his ears and tail. I'm nominating myself for Mother of the Year for dragging out my sewing machine (which hasn't seen the light of day in years), reading the entire manual to relearn how to use it, making a pattern for ears, cap and tail and then actually making it in time. Thankfully Josh wore the cap with the ears for the whole party--I would have been really mad otherwise!

Molly went as Emily Elizabeth from Clifford, and Josh refused to even consider being Clifford. Chris and I raided our closets and dressed as hikers. Not too creative.

I had to blow out Molly's hair with a hair dryer to get the Emily Elizabeth hair puff. Unfortunately it didn't last long once it started raining.

The kids enjoyed the annual hayride, which involves riding up and down the street in a trailer pulled by a lawn mower.


I tried to get a picture of Josh with Gracie, the black lab that we think inspired his costume, but Gracie had had enough of people for the day and was not interested in posing for a picture. We took a picture with Gracie's co-dog, Remy, instead.

We made a pinata for the neighborhood party this year, and it took all week to paper mache, paint and put tissue paper on the thing. It lasted about five minutes at the party.

Here's the mob of kids rushing the felled pinata:

It started raining at the end of the party, so Josh and Chris went home to hand out candy and Molly and I trick or treated with a big umbrella. It was Molly's first time trick or treating, and she had a hard time leaving with just one piece of candy. One of the kids at the party came up and told me that Molly was stealing everyone's candy--I'm not surprised!