Spooktacular Halloween

Please know I'm only joking with the title of this blog post. I actually find the word "spooktacular" to be completely corny and a little over-used this time of year. Yet for some reason, saying it with a bit of mocking in my tone always makes me smile.

No matter what you call it, the adorable costumes, the chill in the air and the near constant sugar rush I've been on for days now can only mean one thing: Today is Halloween!

Along with many of you, we did our celebrating yesterday since this year's event fell on Sunday. Actually, it was a three-day Halloween-fest.

Girl's night with a Halloween twist

I got together with a few girl friends this year for a Witches Night Out party. I stole the idea from my amazing sister-in-law who hosted her own version of the party on the same evening in Texas.
We had a great time showing off our witch hats, playing a game of Which Witch (and other witch trivia) and doing what girls do best at these kinds of gatherings: Talking, laughing and eating tons of food.

Guests came wearing their most creative witch hats. I, however, forgot that I had planned to take photos of each hat (or at least of the contest winners) so I only have pictures myself and my friend, Paige (who was one of the hat contest winners for her creation that incorporated all the holidays into her witch hat.)

In another photography faux paux I failed to break out the camera for the group shot until after some of the guests had left. Oh well, even witches can't rely on their magical powers to help them remember everything.

Halloween equation

What do you get when you take this adorable little monkey...

...add a big yellow hat...

...and a kite?

"Curious George Flies a Kite," of course!

We took Lydia for a little trick-or-treating to a few homes in our neighborhood. We weren't really after any candy, we just wanted to show her off. Naturally grandma showed her what Halloween is all about by giving her some M&Ms. She wanted nothing else the rest of the night.
She reminds me a lot of me.

Eating M&Ms at with Grandma Larson

Costumes on parade

Derek's school has a costume parade every year for all the kids. All the teachers dress up and lead their students around the track so parents can "ooh" and "ahh." This year it just didn't seem right to have the man in the yellow hat marching around without his Curious George so I brought Lydia to be his accessory for the parade.
Naturally, they were a big hit.


More of my favorite monkey

Half-monkey, half Lydia