Happy Pagan New Year!

November 1st is a gimme, what with all the Halloween photos and all. Kate & Sarah went as Ariel and a witch, respectively. We decided Kate's Ariel should have red hair.












That can of hair color is some of the worst-smelling, potentially carcinogenic stuff (hello Worst Mama Ever points!) I've ever dealt with. Kate loved it. As soon as I peeled the protective sheet away from her costume (it didn't work, the black shirt she wore underneath for warmth was full-on pink from her hair) she bounded out the door to strut her stuff for our next door neighbors. Charlie saw her and said "Wow" in that long, drawn out way you say "wow" when you can't figure out if the individual dressed in fishnets and stilettos and a flack jacket next to you on the train is a dude or not. Meanwhile, Sarah made great strides towards ripping her costume clean off. I put a black shirt on her, too, and that was that (turns out witches have very sensitive skin and that dress is hella scratchy, yo.) While she did tolerate the dress, I spent the bulk of the evening chasing her around, placing the hat back on her head. It's not easy to do when you're also carrying everyone's sweaters, the camera bag and your beer. I'm just going to put this out there right now, I deserved every last piece of those kids' candy I ate.






Once properly costumed, we headed out for pizza. Kate & Sarah already each had gigantic goody bags from school. Kate dumped the contents of hers into her pumpkin head and then, presumably to make room for the new candy she was on the brink of acquiring, she ate most of it en route to the pizza place. On our way to meet up with the Third Avenue Gang, we made one trick or treating stop on East Lake. Our neighbor was outside with her pooch (who was in costume) and gave both girls and huge handful of candy and a stuffed animal. Then she gave me a pumpkin-shaped treat to take home to Lola. "Well!" I said, peering into the girls' candy totes "Looks like we can call it a night!" They overruled me on that one. We arrived on Third, stopping first at Aunt Jo Jo's and Uncle Steve's of course. From there, the evening it a bit of a blur, but I do know that once all the houses had been hit, we sat around in Kore & Brendan's front yard with a big fire, food, and plenty of beverages.












Kate and Sarah ate massive amounts of candy and Kate screamed and screamed as Uncle Steve forcibly loaded her back into the wagon to head home, over an hour past their bedtime. Her buddy Catherine had just screamed and screamed when her father threw her over his shoulder and brought her inside to bed, too. These fun evenings typically end in a lot of screaming.

This morning, Kate is crying because I told her it's not Thanksgiving, that Thanksgiving is weeks away ("Noooooooo it's today! I told you!") and Sarah is ululating dramatically because I told her she couldn't have candy for breakfast. I sneaked upstairs to write this post with a couple mini York peppermint patties while no one was looking. November 1st always has a grimy morning-after residue to it...