Halloween Redux

The non-stop activity of the end of last week.

Thursday started off with my moms in touch meeting in the morning, followed by tutoring of a second grader, sight-word tester for the first graders, and then library aide for the 4th grade. Skip had a geometry exam after lunch, and then immediately after that, I collected all 3 kids, pulling them early from class, so we could go to the Google Family Halloween Shindig. They run it the day BEFORE Halloween, because on the actual DAY, there are usually some small subset of employees who choose to wear "Not Appropriate For Family Viewing" costumes.

Unfortunately, the weather was being a real pain, and all the festivities happen outside. There was a little chaos there.

But here are some shots from between the cloudbursts.

We had to take shelter inside the offices, while the first of the rains hit.

Here's my little pilgrim. Kelly did a do-over with her Betsy Ross costume, and decided that it was close enough to be a 'settler' to go along with Nate's Indian. At the last minute, I cut her a square of grey flannel, folded in half diagonally, to be a 'shawl'. There just wasn't time to knit something, y'know?

We waited in the rain for the face painter. That wasn't particularly fun. Skip made sure to just stare at me with disgust, so I knew just how inconvenienced he was being. Yeah, suck it up, dude. (heh. His hat is melting)

But then it was his turn to get his face painted (after all the little 4 year old girls got butterflies on their faces. Heh. Did he look out of place, or what?), and he was all smiles.

And the finished product was pretty impressive, too. He just lacked a beard.

Nate, as you saw in the last entry, got a facial to go with his costume.

And Kelly, who had waited in line (in the pouring rain) over at the candy station, slid in to complete the Parker Trifecta.

The cardinal on her face matched those on her dress.

From Google, where the rain had now begun to POUND down, we scampered off to drop Daddy back at his office on campus, and then drove up to another city where I dropped Skip off at a Halloween Party that his youth group was involved in hosting at a homeless shelter. (ooh. aah. Don't we sound all Socially Active. Actually, Skip had a really good time, running one of the game booths for the little kids that came through. He REALLY does well with little ones. If only there was some future job that would meld his love of particle physics and his aptitude for soothing toddlers...)

Then I took Nate and Kelly out for supper.

Oh look! It's a Dairy Queen. Time for a healthy heart-clogging meal of deep fried chicken tenders and chips. Oh, and an extra serving of Texas Toast, too, please. Let's FRY that bread in butter. Boo yeah. Looks like my motto won't be "Thin Thighs for Thanksgiving", but "Thick Thighs for Thanksgiving" after all.

Here, Kelly has just discovered that I have enough money left over for ICE CREAM!

After that, it was off to church, for Band Rehearsal.

And look! I've been upgraded:

Usually my view is just the keyboard and the music. This time, there's the little added bonus of a MICROPHONE. Seems that our new worship pastor is a fan of a guy I went to college with, and was suitably impressed that I had sung on the guy's first album. This marks the first time in nearly 8 years in the band that I've been trusted with a microphone. (Way to milk my 10 seconds of fame, right, J-jumping?)

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Friday was another go-go-go day.

Skip's band was scheduled to play at Nate and Kelly's school, at their outdoor Halloween Parade, (and I was scheduled to chaperone the band) but the skies just opened (AGAIN!), and the parade got cancelled at the last minute. Kind of nice for me, as I was off the hook for chaperoning, but kind of sad, because Skip was REALLY looking forward to (as he says) " the one time in HISTORY that all three kids will be at the same school". Fortunately, it looks like the band will be rescheduled to give a concert/assembly next week.

I was pretty pumped for the extra time off, because it gave me the window to finish up the book bags for Miss Farthing's class, and I was able to drop those bags off at school while it was Still October.

Skip, Kelly and Nate did a reprieve of their Google costumes, and I did my best to recreate their fantastic face paint jobs. It was B-grade, but the kids still appreciated the effort.

Then after school, we got ready for Trick or Treating.

My friend came up with her kids, and took Skip and his buddy off to the church for a Youth Event All-Nighter.

(Skip's beard is one of those stretchy Halloween spider webs that people decorate their shrubberies with. It worked really VERY well as a beard, all things considered)

Here. Gandalf and Captain America.

And I took Kelly and her BFF and Nate off to trick or treat.

Ken dressed up "Like A Canadian" to give out candy...

(doesn't he look like one of the extras on the set of Beachcombers???) That sweater of his is from 1955.

My friend got back JUST as we were heading out the door to trick or treat, so the moms walked with the kids, and took turns holding the umbrella. It rained EVERY TIME we folded the umbrella up, so it seemed safer for the kids to just keep the darned thing open.

We probably walked 2.5 miles (on some VERY steep hills), and then got to Kelly's friend Alice's house, and called Ken to come get us in the car. Because we're tired and lazy.

And then there was the LOOT!

Gracious!

I'm still on a sugar high.