Halloweenish 2011

I'm more than a little behind, so in an effort to keep these remotely seasonal, here's a quick recap of the Halloween-related parts of the end of October. 

We didn't go too far or too much into the pumpkin patch thing this year. Just a quick stop at Old Hyde Park Village where we could overpay for a pumpkin. But, the proceeds go to the Humane Society, so I was OK with that.

Lia and Tirin came over for another slumber party. We painted pumpkins, and it was actually a pretty successful little activity. I waited for someone to flip out over something completely tragic like the wrong paint brush, color, MY pumpkin.

But it never happened. Everyone just painted happily. Weird, right?

I even pushed my luck and announced that we were all going to paint the last pumpkin together. It was like I was tempting the Meltdown Fairy. But she never came. Just a very colorful pumpkin.

 

The slumber party was overall a success like last time. Tirin and Lia went to bed like rock stars; Lily did not. When their parents were shocked by this behavior and assured us that it doesn't usually happen like that at home, I'm not going to lie: I was relieved. 

Ok, so fast forward to Halloween weekend. Sunday night we were supposed to carve pumpkins with some friends. Lily and her bestie, Jade, were thrilled to put on some costumes. 

The pumpkin carving thing never happened, though. First, Tampa seemed to run out of pumpkins, so all we had was the misshapen, overpriced gourd from the pumpkin patch. Second, we got a new grill, and it needed assembly. Third, wine.

Anyway...no one minded skipping pumpkin gutting. Especially because there were cupcakes.
Gotta give Jade points for technique.
Eventually it was time to say good-bye so everyone could go to bed. T'was the Eve of All Hallow's Eve, after all.

 

 

So I know what the big question is (humor me): What was Lily going to be for Halloween? Honestly, I still wasn't sure. First she waffled from "Allison" Wonderland to Pocahontas to Strawberry Shortcake to Ariel. Then one day she decided she was going to be a doctor. 

Yeah, right. Until you see the costume, I thought. I didn't seriously believe my queen of the girly girls and lover of all things "princess" was going to dig that costume at all. I showed her a picture of some pink scrubs online. Yep, she confirmed. That's what she wanted. And for a good solid week or more, she was set on it. I wish I were a better person, but I thought blah, what a boring costume.

We went to the Halloween store, and you know what? I couldn't find it in the girls section. Only the boys. And then I decide oh hell yes, my daughter is going to be a doctor for Halloween. Even though I still didn't believe it. 

So we ordered the online version. And come Halloween night, she loved it for about 14 seconds. When Paulina came as Cinderella, and Lia came as snow white, Lily wanted to be a fairy. I had no idea how stinking cute the doctor costume would be. Oh well.

Baby Cami came over, too.  With a trick-or-treat bucket in hand. Smart girl.
Cami with her mama and her uncle. I think her uncle dressed up as Cami for Halloween, but I didn't ask. No judgment.
And that was the end of the Halloween pictures that I liked, I think it might've been my mood, or just that I knew I was going to have to use my flash because it was pitch black outside, but either way, I didn't take many more pictures of Halloween.

 

The obligatory character lineup that I foolishly put in front of a glass door. Sorry! And the grumpy looks (Lily in particular) is because they wanted candy, not pictures.

And they were off.

Note to self: do make sure to get more trick or treat pictures while Lily is still young and sweet. Just in case she wants to turn into whatever that is behind her. The scariest part of Halloween for a mother of a young girl is seeing the girls around 13 years old and up.