Halloween 2008 Memories
(Warning...a LOT of pictures to follow!)

We had so much fun celebrating Halloween this year, starting back on Wednesday with our Trunk or Treat at church...and then following it with our "Creepy Cafe" dinner at home the next next... and then finishing up with trick-or-treating on Friday night.

I love Halloween because it is a fun time to let your "inner child" out. Gary and I always dress up (the funniest comment was made Wednesday night by a teenage friend of McKenna. She and her boyfriend were dressing alike--you'll see them, the caveman and cavewoman, in a picture below--and she said, "We're gonna be like Gary and Cheryl. Still dressing up years from now." It was sweet, and a compliment I think!). And who doesn't like a chance to act young and silly with your kids? and to rack up as much candy as possible? (If you don't, I'm officially calling you a party pooper! lol)

Before I get to our celebratory pictures, though, I gotta share a picture of my Halloween cupcake I created for our dinner Thursday night. I want to put it near the top of this post, since I'm submitting it for the Halloween Cupcake Contest being sponsored by I Heart Cuppycakes and How to Eat a Cupcake.

Didn't they turn out cute?


The cupcakes were marble cupcakes (from a box! I went easy!), but then I made cream cheese frosting to go on top. Easy frosting recipe (8 oz. pkg cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, tsp vanilla, and 1 1/2 cups whipping cream) that I then split and colored with orange food coloring to decorate half of the cupcakes. To make the witches hats, it couldn't be easier! A striped shortbread cookie turned upside down and then topped with a Hershey's kiss. I was really pleased how they turned out, AND they tasted yummy!

And now...
how about some pictures from our celebrations?

First are pictures from our Trunk or Treat this past Wednesday night. The whole crew...

McKenna as Little Red Riding Hood and a boy she sweet-talked into being the Big Bad Wolf...

Delaney as a hippie...

and Sydney, of course, as Sleeping Beauty...

Gary came as Batman (he flew home from Orlando Wednesday afternoon; I told him to wear all black and I had a cape and Batman logo waiting for him) and me as Catwoman...

And the with some our other friends, and the other cutie-patootie kids in costume (there was even a set of quadruplets)...








But...of course, I'm biased...but I think our girls were the cutest of them all...

On Thursday night, we had our traditional "Creepy Cafe" family dinner. The kids (usually Delaney more than anyone) helps me come up with a "ghoulish" menu, and this year we decided on: Gumbo, Witches Broomsticks (these were pretzel sticks wrapped with pieces of fruit-by-the-foot that had been "fringed"), Finger Sandwiches (rectangular sandwiches with an almond at the end for a "fingernail"), Bread Bones (biscuit dough shaped into a bone shape), Fruit Cups (hollowed out oranges made to resemble pumpkins, filled with fruit), Putrid Punch (a yummy lime and orange sherbet concoction, served in my favorite Gothtini glasses and served with gummy worms poking out), and the already-mentioned Witches Hat cupcakes.

Here are some pictures of the meal (and some of the little hands that helped me make it!)...












And then on Friday night, we headed out to do some traditional trick-or-treating in our friens Chris and Charles' neighborhood. We got decked out in costume again (except for McKenna, who had to attend the high school football game) and braved the cool night air all in hopes of scoring some good candy (chocolate for me, please!).

But first off, a recommendation to you. It's really quite simple: if you now have teenagers or your kids are out of the house, you need to rent a four-year-old to take trick-or-treating next year with you. There is nothing like watching and listening to a child that age enjoy the experience. Sydney would just traipse up to the door and loud as anything say, "Trick or treat!" She lived in the moment and had such joy in it, and the people handing out treats got such a kick out of her. Thank goodness for four-year-olds!




We even found this great backdrop for a picture. (Not sure what Gary's trying to do. Be scary, maybe?)


At then end of the night, you have to examine all your loot, give the Whoppers and the peanut butter kisses (you know? the candies in the black and orange wrappers that no one seems to like?) to your Daddy (who loves them!), make trades with your sisters, and then head to bed in a candy-induced stupor.

I don't know about you, but Halloween is one of my favorite celebrations. Sure, it's littered with ghosts and goblins and witchy stuff. And it's filled with dentist-unapproved treats. But it's just so danged fun! It's a perfect time to enjoy your friends, your family, and yourself--in a very innocent, sometimes silly, way (which, I think, we need of more in life). So, I say...Live it Up!