Happy Halloween!

What a fun day it's been!  We started at church, where G had his religion class and then we attended mass.  After getting ourselves centered for the week ahead, we were ready to party!

Our Frankencake from Publix that we had for dessert after the fajita lunch my mom made us all.

Boba Fett made an appearance after lunch...

...and then he was joined by a monkey with a banana...

...who turned out to be Jackson!

Christopher and his daddy made G his very own communicator device.

Fett looks just as intimidating without his helmet.

Zam Wesell and Boba Fett ready to trick-or-treat.

Halloween 2010 family portrait.

Waiting for the sun to go down.

Our spooky house.  The left part of the yard is a cemetery, there are ghosts and spider webs everywhere, and you can see the chandelier with actual candles in the first window to the right of the door.

Chip's jack-o-lantern.  He designed it, and I cut it.  When I asked him why he drew two noses, he explained that the one on the bottom is boogers.  I cut it with my interpretation, and he approved.

He really wanted Bun to take him trick-or-treating first.

We ran into Ian along the way.

Tommy made a cute little vampire, and Sean looked better than usual.

At the other end of our street, we visited a house that gave us a sweet surprise.  They have held on to a Halloween photo of G for three years.  Each year, they take photos of all of the kids and adults, and the following year, they post them all on their front door so we can all take home the photos and remember what the kids looked like last year.  Since we have only visited their house once, when Chip was three, they still had a photo of him as a "debil", and it was so fun to see it after all this time.  This year, we all had our pictures taken, and we can't wait to see the results next year.

This year was the most excited G has been for Halloween, so we have tried to make it really special for him.  As a result, it was special for us, too.  Happy Halloween, everyone!

Pre-Halloween Halloween Festivities

We have been really excited about G's costume this year and have been working really hard on it.  We are finally ready to unveil it to the world, and we have been taking part in all of the Halloween events we can find. 

Yesterday, we visited Chip's school for Pumpkin Centers, which are pumpkin-themed (we don't want to offend anyone with pagan Halloween references!) activities.  The room moms did such a great job organizing the events, and we had a lot of fun helping.

They made pumpkin pie in a cup.  Delish!

He had a checklist on his nametag to be sure he visited all of the centers.

Matt ran the "guess how many candy corn are in the jar" contest and let the kids get a snack of trail mix.

Our name tags say "Scary Matt Angle" and "Batty Angle"

For dinner, we went to Jim 'N Nick's with the Brociouses so G and Christopher could get together in their costumes.

Jango Fett and Boba Fett.

Father and son in action.

The bounty hunters show off their jet packs.

After dinner, we went to the Trunk Or Treat, which means trick-or-treating out of car trunks, at West Ridge Church.  It isn't our church, but we do know a few parishioners there and have been there for various things over the years, including our flood cleanup with Samaritan's Purse.  It's a really great place, and we always feel welcome there.  The Conners had a Hawaiian-themed tent there, so we grabbed Drew and took him trunk-or-treating with us, too.

Boba Fett in action.

Boba Fett meets Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Boba Fett and Obi-Wan show off their technique.

Putt-putt Fett.

G woke us up this morning by saying, "Happy Day-Before-Halloween!"  He is so very excited.  He's been getting so many compliments from kids and adults alike, and we think he really believes he becomes Boba Fett every time he puts on his costume.  He is more excited for Halloween this year than he ever has been, so it's been a really fun week so far.

Since PSR (Parish School of Religion) began, we haven't had time on Sunday morning for our traditional big breakfast.  We didn't want to give it up altogether, so we moved it to Saturday morning, before soccer.  This morning's fare was chocolate chip pancakes for M and G and plain with extra syrup for me.

He ate the eyes and nose of his happy face pancake, leaving a perfect chocolate chip smile.

After soccer, we went down to Atlantic Station for their Howl-O-Ween festivities, including a costume contest.

This guy really wanted Chip to take off his helmet, but we thought that was pretty strange, so we let him keep it on.

Of course, we ate lunch at Moe's!

We took a train ride around Atlantic Station.

While Chip and I were on the train, we spotted this good-looking guy standing against a tree.

Last minute preparations for the costume contest, while other kids mob him.  By the way, is that kid supposed to be Manny from Modern Family?  I asked him and he didn't know.

Fett relaxes and takes in the scenery.

Here he is on stage.

Fett on the catwalk.

Relaxing after a delicious chocolate- and peanut-covered Nutter Butter at Kilwin's.

We have had a great day today, and we will look forward to sharing tomorrow's festivities with you.  There is something special about the sense of humor and mischievousness that just isn't present in other holidays, and I think that's why it fits well with our little family.  We hope that you have great fun tomorrow, too!

Galactic Adventures And Warm Feet

With Halloween quickly approaching, Chip has been practicing his combat skills in every form.  As Boba Fett, he wants to be prepared to capture any bounty, whether Jedi or Rancor.  

My mom and I have been working very hard on G's costume, and now I have gotten Matthew in on the act, too.  We are in charge of textiles, and he is in charge of armor.  Things are coming along well, and we should be more or less finished by tomorrow evening.  We will post photos.

In other news, I have a couple of Big Deal projects on my knitting needles, so I felt as though I needed some instant gratification with a smaller project.  I chose to complete my first ever pair of socks (although not the first pair I have begun, as socks constitute one of my Big Deal projects).  They are made from chunky tweed and feature cables.  They are insanely comfy, and I am so pleased to present to you my bed socks:

Playing Around In The Square

It was another beautiful day here today, and G had early release from school.   While we were at Winnwood for our knitting group, he worked very hard to finish his homework for the day, and we had a long break before dance class.  We decided to visit Cool Beans cafe and the playground at Marietta Square for some quality play time.

At first, Chip was disappointed because he didn't find any playmates close to his age, but at the cafe I realized it was an hour earlier than I had thought, so we went back to the park.  This time, he found a couple of girls near his own age and had a great time jumping off this train with them.

Yum Yum

Dinner time!

Pumpkin Patch

We went with a bunch of friends over to a local pumpkin patch.  The kids ran around in the sunlight, and we snapped a bunch of photos.  Please to enjoy.