Halloween in all its Glory!

Keeping Sylvia happy during the day was tricky - she was going to die before evening came. We did several crafts throughout the day. One project was to put together this adorable witch, and pose it on the wall.

We have gone trick-or-treating every year with our neighbors, two houses up. Here is a shot of the mixed families, before the pre-trick-or-treating party got rolling.

Sylvia adores our neighbor's baby, Teome.

The McMullins had a pair of medieval archers, and a pink butterfly-princess-angel ready to take the streets by storm.

Noel had a friend, Dorie, come over to help her pass out candy. For some reason, high school girls think they are too cool to trick-or-treat. Or, maybe they just have the right idea. Instead of walking around for 2 hours, getting one candy at a time, they just sit on the porch with a full bowl of candy between them, and laugh at everybody else.

Maritza even took time to paint my face as a clown. I think she is a very talented face paint artist. She may be an addict though. For days after Halloween, Sylvia and Evan would get their faces painted every time they played together.



We had some fun Halloween fare, like grilled cheese sandwiches with Jack-o-Lantern faces cut into the bread. The boys enjoyed hanging out together feeling mature since they got to eat in the living room, while the younger crowd had to eat in the dining room.

Orange punch, deviled eggs that looked like eyeballs, and a vegi plate rounded out the meal.

Evan had a rough time stopping laughing long enough to bob for apples.

Sylvia finally got one, although I think there was some cheating going on.

A favorite game for years has been to tie mini-donuts onto a strings, and race to see who eats their donut first. (Hands kept behind the backs.)

Asher had an amazingly huge mouth, and was able to devour it in one chomp. It was pretty shocking.

This is a fun game to watch, as well as to play. Noel had a good time being the donut stick holder with Dorie.

Everyone wanted to keep playing, but the town siren sounded, and the countdown had begun.
Stoughton is an unusual town, in that they have the town tornado siren sound at 6 pm to signal the start of door to door trick-or-treating. They sound it again at 8 pm. They don't allow kids to be banging on people's door outside those hours.

At first, I thought it was crazy... but I've gotten to appreciate it. You don't have knocks on your door late at night, and everybody in town is out on the sidewalks during those 2 hours. It is great to pass friends and neighbors traveling in huge packs along the sidewalks.

Sylvia and Evan had a great night trick or treating together. The older boys ran off together to cover as much ground as possible.

One of the best parts of Halloween is the "Great Trade" of the next day. In the McMullin house, it has become tradition for the each child to line up all their candies by type, and start a trading session that rivals Wall Street.




They spend hours behind a bedroom door, taking turns as they rotate around the circle. "I'll give you a Snickers Bar plus a bag of pretzels. for your Reese's Peanut Butter cup," is the sort of comment you will hear if you enter. It was a little sad to have only 3 of the 4 kids in trading, since Noel didn't go out. I guess I will have to get used to them growing up eventually.

Still, I love our neighborhood in the autumn, and the traditions our family has around this fun holiday. It was a great Halloween!