Halloween!

Today was a very fun day :).

This morning was a Youth Sunday at church so Alan was preaching. Today also happened to be Reformation Sunday, so he preached on Romans 1:17 and the Righteousness of God. It was good - of course :).

We almost always celebrate a sermon Sunday by going out to lunch. Today we hit the Lyon Cantina and boy was it delish! It's a little chaotic eating out with two little ones, but they did just fine and we all left with full tummies.

Tonight was a High School Youth Group night but instead of regular YG they had a Halloween party at the home of a couple of volunteer leaders. The girls and I tagged along and had a lot of fun. I took the girls - three high school gals came along - out trick-or-treating for what I would call their real first time. I took Adeline out last year, but it was really late and we only went to a couple of houses and mostly only so she could wear her kitty costume. So this year I count as the first official year :). Adeline was a Princess Kitty. She was originally just going to be a regular kitty (like last year - what she wanted!), then two days ago she decided she wanted to be a Princess Kitty with a tutu and a wand (she kept calling it "wine" - we had to explain she was going to carry a WAND, not wine). The only tutu she owns is attached to an adorable little pink bathing suit Amma bought her for her birthday this year. Brilliant Mommy that I am, I made it work! It was cold out, so Adeline wore some tights, then her bathing suit only pulled up to her waist with the tutu sticking out (if it went all the way over her shoulders potty breaks would have been a nightmare!), then her black pants. On the top I had her wear a sweater underneath her black long-sleeve t-shirt. The kitty tail clipped onto the back and her kitty ears headband went in her hair. The wand is a whole story by itself, because we couldn't find one in the stores. But, once again brilliant Mommy that I am ;-), I turned one straw, 5 glitter pipe cleaners and a piece of pink glitter foam paper into the perfect kitty princess wand with a star at the top (the star at the top was a BIG DEAL!). Adeline loved it and it's all she talked about for two days!

Evelyn reprised her role as a pumpkin wearing the adorable little pumpkin jacket Aunt Laura made when Adeline was a baby. Adeline was a pumpkin once and Evelyn a pumpkin twice. I have no doubt this little pumpkin jacket will be like the Hicks Family skunk costume that just wouldn't die :D. My great grandkids will be wearing this one day with pride!

I was boring and didn't go as anything. Alan, on the other hand, decided to go as Facebook at the last minute. So I cut up a small cardboard box, cut a hole in the front and bent the sides. I stuck blue construction paper on it, wrote BOOK on one of the bent sides and again on the front below the hole (for Alan's face). On the other bent side I stuck a strip of white construction paper with lines on it to look like pages. I stuck the whole thing on a dowel rod from my old Pampered Chef Stoneware Holder and voila! A Facebook costume was produced in less than 20 minutes ;-).

We all had a great time at the party mixing and mingling. Evelyn, after watching her sister and other kids, really got the hang of the trick-or-treating thing. She'd shove her little pumpkin bucket up there with all the rest and make some sort of sound that could be interpreted as "Trick or Treat!" Adeline was very good at saying it, too, and then saying "Thank You." I was very proud of my little girls - polite trick-or-treaters :). We finished the night with a dance party in the garage (to wear out the girls :), a bath (we had a fire going in the driveway at the party so we were all super smokey) and now they are snoozing peacefully.

And with that I sign off and head to bed myself. 'Night all! :)