Halloween Two Thousand Thirteeeeeeeeennnnn (Insert Spooky Laugh Here)

Jacob and I aren't shy about our true feelings for Halloween, but we have discovered a fun side to it: the non-scary, kiddy, goofy part. Oh, and the part that gets to dig through her candy after she goes to bed at 8pm.

When you're a kid, every holiday flies by like a shot, leaving way too much time between things to be excited about. And presents and candy. As you get older, though, you're all too aware of how long holidays actually are, leaving just enough time for the Dollar Store to change out their front-of-store display. I have a personal rule, though: I don't decorate until the actual month of the holiday. So while we're fueling ourselves with Pumpkin Spice Lattes, we waited until the beginning of October to acknowledge the imminent Halloween.

 Having a giant window smack in the middle of the house has come in handy for decorating times such as these.

 I bet you can't guess which bats she put on the wall. 

She wasn't she least bit excited for Halloween.

 Ta da!

 The only cat to survive in this house: a paper one.

 Ok, we may have gone a taaaaaddd overboard with the Dollar Store decorations.

 Ahh! There are ghosts in the house!

 Zoey decided early on that she wanted to be a butterfly and never changed her mind.

Frankenstein cup, and giant plastic rat with red eyes that wound up being more her pet than a Halloween decoration.

Previewing my costume. That's right; for the first time in my history of Halloweens, I purchased a costume. An actual costume, not just stuff from Goodwill to make a costume. And for the first time in my history of adult-Halloweens, I'm not just putting on my high school cheerleader uniform (which still fits, thank you very much).

 I love Candy Corn and I'm a witch: ta da! Candy Corn Witch! Before scoring this costume at Ross, I thought it would be fun to dress as a Candy Corn since I love them and only eat them during this time of year. Then I saw this and thought, what the heck; I'll break my streak of 31 Halloweens of homemade costumes. It was just a bonus that it turned out a little bit slutty.

 Jacob expertly rocked the homemade costume since this was a week before Halloween as we headed out to take Zoey to Boo at the Zoo. He borrowed my Lucy wig from last year, wore his Ricky shirt, and became an SNL's Californians character, at least that's what I thought. It ended up being 60-degrees out - though - so he had to ditch the wig and wool beanie pretty quick.

 A butterfly and bee landed on the goat.

 She was bursting with excitement on the inside, I swear.

 Rachael joined us with Layne and Libby.

 Libby wasn't the least bit excited about the goat.

 Libby in charge of the farm, that sounds about right.

 I'm not a big garden person outside of dreaming of having a wedding in one but this plant was interesting. It's an Easter Egg Plant because whatever grows on it (I didn't get that far in the sign) is shaped like an egg.

Carrying the candy bucket was too much work for anyone, apparently. Finally, a reasonable purpose for the wallet-chain (ok, it works well as an anti-theft device, I suppose). Meanwhile, Layne and Zoey are making offerings to the monkey and zebra gods.

 Going through our Boo at the Zoo loot.

The animal show provided a great opportunity for kids to sit down, take a break, and take candy inventory.

We took an unanticipated break from Halloween/fall activities and wound up being so busy we didn't even have a chance to get pumpkins much less carve them. I wanted to go to a corn maze, or at least a pumpkin patch, if only to add to the pool of pumpkin patch pictures on Facebook. But in the end, we got a small pumpkin from Wal-Mart that sat in the middle of the kitchen table and was promptly forgotten about until taking down decorations the day after Halloween. There's a box of Easter Egg die on my kitchen counter we haven't done anything with, either. We get into the spirit of things but are still pretty lazy about it.

Actual Halloween was at the end of an already crazy week but it was a lot of fun. Mostly it's fun to watch Zoey have so much fun.

 Continuing the tradition of Trick-or-Treating in Mer's neighborhood, Girls Weekend Elkhorn Cohort, Debbie, her husband Andy, and her girls, Eliza and Myla (sp? Sorry, Debbie!) added to the fun. Here Eliza, Zoey and Myla are donning the traditional It's Freezing Outside So We Either Have to Cover Up Our Awesome Costume or Make It Look Ridiculous look. I have to say, in all my growing-up years, we never tried the snowsuit under the costume. It was effective but Myla did have a bit of trouble going up and down stairs.

 The only butterfly in the world I love and am not scared of.

 Kona and Boone came too. Although they did not wear their traditional costume as Adult-Beverage Carriers.

 Ready to take care of business!

This crown made of Christmas-ish lights was made for Meredith by her friend for her birthday. Who would have guessed it had so many uses? Come Christmas time she can help Rudolph guide the sleigh.

 Zoey had to learn that you ring the doorbell first and where to find it, otherwise her and Eliza were old pros.

 Zoey and Myla.

 There are a lot of neighborhoods - especially in downtown - that really go all-out for Halloween. In particular, Clark Avenue spares no expense. We didn't go there this year but I thought Mer's neighborhood was equally impressive. To be fair, anything beyond Dollar Store decorations is amazing to me.

 The kids were so distracted by everything, they forgot what they were there to do.

 Trick-or-Treaters in the mist.

 It was like all three girls sent around a telepathic memo to latch on to Meredith at one point in the evening. She's never had children of her own and while that doesn't make or break how people interact with children, as a self-proclaimed disliker of young-children, Mer sure is amazing with them and they absolutely love her. And I'm sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the candy and Popsicles she always has on hand.

 Zoey graduated from last year's wanting to go inside every house (except for the one that had a dog and was handing out light-up Princess wands) to admiring/wanting to play in everyone's landscaping. After collecting candy from this house, she turned around and said, "A pond! Can I play in it?"

Purpose of the costume accomplished and cast aside, now it's time to get down to brass task. Bat candy-collecting bucket full, this is only a fraction of what she scored.

Zoey immediately crashed after all was said and done Halloween night, and so did we. It was fun but it makes me look forward to the days when she's old enough to go with her friends and me and their mothers can sit around a bonfire with a bottle of wine until we guilt them into sharing their candy upon their return. But it's a double-edged sword because I know I will spend that time wishing she was this little again so I could take her Trick-or-Treating. For as much as Jacob and I hate Halloween, kids always manage to change our minds and make us actually enjoy it for the month it's hanging around.