Halloween 2013

... AKA the one night of the year we try to remember the names of neighbors we met last Halloween...

My first attempt at carving a jack o' lantern in a very long time. The boys were happy with it, and that's what counts.

Finally it was Halloween and Jack in particular was really excited.  Both boys had demanded to be firemen this year, so Jack wore Ryan's costume from last year and I found a new costume for Ryan at the thrift store for $3.

Jack was quite thrilled to be able to accessorize; neighbors Ali (aka Daphne) and Sawyer (aka Scooby) were not terribly impressed (oh, and guess who got to hold his trick-or-treat bag?!).

 

 Wait, they're giving out CANDY?  I'm gonna hustle - and make Mom carry my fire truck!

Notice how there was only one fireman in the above picture (and only one Fleming child)? At the last moment Ryan declared that he was not going to wear a costume. We explained that trick-or-treating doesn't happen without a costume, which resulted in a epic meltdown. Finally he declared he didn't want to be a fireman, he want to be a cowboy. Uh, what?  The neighbors were standing outside waiting for us, so I grabbed a plaid button-down shirt and clean Levi's and told Ryan to get a move on.

By the time they caught up to us (only 3 houses down the cul-de-sac), this is what Ryan's costume consisted of:

 Oh, right - we don't have cowboy boots in Ryan's size, so he insisted on wearing Sam's.

We had to help him up and down the stairs so he didn't land on his face, but he got into the begging for candy holiday spirit quickly.

After a quick lap down the street, we returned home to pass out treats (glow bracelets, Halloween pencils and granola bars) to other kids. Yes, that is the shirt Ryan deemed most "cowboy".

Because I'm not a total Halloween grinch (even though I'd like to be), the boys and I attempted to make Tarantula Cookies (yes, I realize they are seriously deficient in the number of legs). I thought it would be awesome to mix chocolate-hazelnut butter into the chocolate chip glaze, but it meant the chocolate never set up - so these were some crazy messy cookies. Oh well...

Grandma and Grandpa came over for the neighborhood roaming and we all enjoyed big bowls of Vegetable Beef Noodle Soup, which Ryan declared "a good warm Halloween dinner!"