being cereal: halloween '08

when i was a kid, halloween was one night. a couple days before, my dad carved a pumpkin but that was it. on halloween night, we trick-or-treated all over the neighborhood and then it was done. nowadays it's become more like a "season" than a day. i've even heard folks talk about getting into the "halloween spirit." no thank you. however, it is fun with all the activities around town your family can attend. (of course, all of these said activities could have been happening when i was a kid and i just didn't know it. very possible.)

i do think halloween is tricky. it's not a holiday i'm interested in "swallowing whole." there's a lot of bizarre stuff that hides behind the mask of this "fun and harmless holiday." (oh, i just noticed i said halloween is "tricky." wow. i am hilarious.) stuff i'm not interested in inviting into my home or my kids' heads. like vampires, for example. i will not invite a vampire into my home. that's just basic 101, right? (ok, i'll stop. i really am being serious, but then i have jokes so what am i supposed to do?)

here's what i'm saying - i love pumpkin-carving, cute little decorations, and handing out candy in the neighborhood. we always have at least 400 kids and hanging out with our neighbors is always fun. there's a lot of fun stuff that goes with halloween. but there's also stuff that happens to get a lot of attention around the halloween season that isn't good, isn't harmless and shouldn't be entertained. if there's interest, i could talk more about this in another post, but i don't want to get too off track here. i'll cap this with saying halloween is certainly a time that requires some discernment and good judgement in how one participates.

ok, on to the fun!

hall-zoo-ween happens every weekend in october at the cincinnati zoo. we went when it was 85 degrees. so the boys went as surfers and were quite comfortable. those dressed like Chewbacca were not so happy.

next on our list was carving the pumpkins we brought home from huber's. auntie joined us for this event as well.

this year, the chief pumpkin carver broke out the power tools.

apprentice pumpkin carvers had their first taste of power tools.

mac started slow and went full-throttle. UP YERS, PUMPKIN!!

seed separators.

seed-separating shenanigans.

i was in charge of baking and eating the pumpkin seeds.

next in halloween events was creating mac's costume for his school's vocabulary parade. they don't have costume parties at his school. instead the students receive a homework assignment in which they must choose from a list of compound words and make a costume that reflects their choice. then they all put on their costumes and parade around the school, hence "vocabulary parade."

mac chose "jellyfish." (of course.)

finally, halloween night. are we the only ones that find the time slot 4-6 pm to be a chaotic comedy of errors. the city decrees trick-or-treating begins at 6 pm. it seems like as soon as 4 pm hits, we all loose our marbles and just run around yelling "get the candy, get the costumes, get the aaahh!!!" and the doorbell rings at 6 pm on the dot. we're all screaming "we're not ready!!" it's crazy. anyway, here's the costume photo taken probably around 6:15 pm while the doorbell was ringing.

behold, Indiana Jones and Luke Skywalker Jedi (as in "Return of the Jedi," the film in which Luke Skywalker has earned the title "Jedi." this is a big deal in our house and yes, there's a difference.)

while we participated in the halloween festivities, the pumpkins worked hard at their new roles: family jack o' lanterns. we find it works best if we all put in a request to the chief and then he carves.