this is halloween!

um...who else has had that song stuck in their head since, like, october 1st? anyone? just me?

well, another halloween is officially in the books. this one marked a couple big transitions for our family festivities. first off, no handmade themed costumes (audible gasp!). i know, i know, but after last year's epic group costume send off  of our decade-long tradition, the kids were eager to pick out their own costumes (and in an effort to appear like i'm less controlling than people rightfully think i am, i let them).

caleb wanted to be a a tie fighter pilot. so, basically, no one knew who he was. his costume was confused a ton with darth vader--amateurs! but he got to carry around a sweet (unloaded) star wars nerf gun, so....he was pretty unfazed by any bouts of mistaken identity. next year he wants to go trick or treating by himself because the rest of us were taking the whole thing much too slowly for his liking. 

summer wanted to be a musketeer of the guard. honestly, i was kind of surprised she picked this one. remember, as a reward for being such good sports for the past ten halloweens, i literally handed the kiddos the costume catalog they had been drooling over every october for years and said they could pick *whatever they wanted.* go for it. sky's the limit. all that jazz. i feel like i know summer pretty well, and i just never would have predicted her selecting a musketeer costume. summer said she was enamored of the hat and the sword and the leg warmers. (side note: most musketeer costumes are missing....muskets for some reason.)

dallin's costume was also a surprise pick: a giant octopus! he was very pleased with this one for reasons yet unknown--he's never mentioned octopuses before *in his life,* and i really thought spider-man was a shoo-in here. but as it turns out, what do i know? as an added bonus, watching him waddle around with those extra bottom tentacles while trick or treating was an adorable sight christina and i are not soon to forget.

and finally, afton was quorra from tron. this is the heart of the reason why we did not do family costumes this year. afton is a really, really big fan of tron, especially quorra, and she has been wanting to do this costume for awhile. hers was the only one i made, and she was pleased as punch with how it turned out (although if you ask afton, she can pinpoint all the discrepancies between the one i made and the one quorra really wears). the identity disc i had shipped all the way from shanghai disney as that's the only place where they are still sold. my commitment to authenticity.

the second big change we made was not going downtown to trick or treat. it's just become a lot to fit in when the kids don't get home from school until almost 4pm and they also want to do night trick or treating (plus, dinner!).

i missed not going downtown more than i thought i would. it's so nice to take pictures and trick or treat and see all our friends and neighbors in the daylight hours. the above pics were taken at 6pm when it was already almost pitch black dark around these parts.

and just between you and me, i also really missed not doing family halloween costumes. again, i didn't think i would--they're a lot of work, we've done them for a long time, and the kids were really excited about their own costume selections--but the night of, i was legit sad they were missing.

so here's to growing up, girls and ghouls!

oh, and happy halloween!