Halloween Night

Well, we had snow, sun, some wind, so it would only be fitting that it would start raining in time for trick-or-treating, just to ensure all our weather was covered.

After the parade at school where the weather was good, it started sprinkling late afternoon, of course.

Trick-or-treating in Pittsburgh is different than how I grew up.  There are designated times for trick-or-treaters. Our township was from 6:00pm-8:00pm.  We live in a neighborhood of 2 streets where the majority of our neighbors are elderly. We have 3 of the approximately 6 kids in the neighborhood.  So, last year we  headed to the neighborhood that borders ours. That was our plan this year too.  

The battery in our car died.

Seriously.  It was raining, cold and now we have a dead battery.

New plan.  We decided to head over to our family friends' house that was on our agenda anyway, but that just became our only plan.  That way we could get our car jumped if needed to come home. 

Andrew's costume had to go in the trunk due to the body being so big.  Well, of course, randomly the trunk wouldn't close. Not because of anything in its way, but rather something was wrong with the latch. Seriously. Rain, dead battery, trunk malfunction. Oh and at this point we were running late.

We had planned to stop by the outlaws' house to show them the kids in their costumes.  After the rain, a dead battery that we jumped, running late and a broken trunk my husband managed to get closed, when we got to the outlaws' house, George couldn't get the trunk OPEN to get Andrew's costume out. Seriously?!

That shortened our outlaw visit, since we left the car running anyway and finally we were off to our family friends' house to get some trick-or-treating in and to get the trunk open for Andrew's costume. Sheesh. Stress level rising...

Andrew said, "This is the worst Halloween ever."

Our family friends are our family: my "stand-in" parents I've mentioned before. My kids adore them and the feeling is mutual.  So, Pappy came out to help George with the trunk while Andrew headed in and told Granny this was the worst Halloween ever. ;)  

My favorite line of the night came next, as Pappy said, "Did you try the key?" 
*crickets* 

In the 5 years I've had the car, I don't think I've ever used the key in my trunk! George said, "There's not a place for the key."  It isn't on the trunk part that opens, but rather lower on the car and near the bumper. And ta da! It opened the trunk. HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

Costume disaster resolved. Thanks, Pappy!

Finally, we can get this show on the road! George headed to get a new battery for the car and the kids were finally ready to trick-or-treat!

Lego guy. Check.  Lily the kitty. Check.

Reagan had decided after everyone at school thought she was a cat, that she just wanted a cat face painted on her face, so she called herself a werecat. :) 

Parade Time

Andrew and Reagan had a Halloween parade at school on Monday.  We're so lucky to be in a school that still celebrates Halloween and being a kid in so many ways!  This year with Andrew being in 6th grade this was his last hoorah before heading to junior high next year, so he wanted to be something "good" that not everyone would be.  He was right.

There were lots of the guys from Scream, witches and werewolves. A few sumo wrestlers, Strawberry Shortcakes, crayons, a Scarlett from Gone with the Wind, a washing machine, a Burger King King and a myriad of other cuties. 
There was only ONE Andrew:

Ta da!!!  He just wanted to be the plain and simple Lego guy. :)  I LOVE it!
Reagan was a girl werewolf, but said most people thought she was a cat:

She literally ran right past us, so that was the only picture I got of her, unfortunately.

I couldn't stop laughing at the lego guy...

We dressed Lily in her daisy costume to go watch her brother and sister too:

It was cute to hear all the older girls in the parade, "Oh look at the flower, she's so cute!"

Lily just kept saying, "hi hi hi hi hi hi" as everyone walked by.

The parade was fun!  And after the snow on Saturday, we were happy it had warmed up a little bit too! It was clear and sunny!

I had to deliver Andrew's costume to him at school before the parade rather than him carry it in to school that morning...and well since it wasn't complete yet when he left for school!  I'll do a construction post all about it.

Happy school parade!

Here are some of the other kids' costumes I liked:

Haunted House

Sunday evening, Andrew volunteered with Scouts selling hot dogs and hot chocolate at a local family friendly haunted house. George, Lily and I met him at the end of his shift to go through the house too.  Since we'd had the snow the day before it was still pretty chilly.  Not terribly, but still cold enough.

This family decorates their house and does this haunted house around their front and back yards and to go through people either donate food or money to the local food bank. They had a couple fire pits set outside in the cul-de-sac where they live, the Scouts selling. Despite it being chilly, the had a pretty good turnout from what I could tell.  We spoke with the man whose house it is and he said they start working on it October 1st. It was open for two nights this year: the 30th & 31st.

We dressed Lily in her daisy costume (one of her costumes) to go! She wasn't quite sure what to think about it. haha

There were kids dressed up as werewolves, things popping up and out at you. Lily wasn't phased by ANY of it. She said, "hi hi hi hi" to the werewolf that walked up to us. 

Her favorite part was the chocolate she got at the end... until she was over having her picture taken.



It was past her bedtime after all.

Andrew had a good time working and then going through the house about a dozen times with his buddies and with us too. love that kid! It was a fun night!