Halloween 2010!

Another Halloween over. And a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mark!! Mark's birthday falls on Halloween but we celebrated on Saturday. I cooked grilled beef tenderloin with prosciutto-wrapped asparagus and baked potato...(a deviation from our relatively meat-free diet...but it was his birthday)!

It was a pretty good weekend apart from the fact that River started with a fever on Saturday night. It got to 40 degrees and he had it all through Sunday. Advil brought it down, but he was very lethargic and not his usual happy self (although even River with flu is a relatively happy boy).

We attended the school's Halloween Howl on Friday night. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we spent too much time running after a little elephant (River) to take many pictures.

Bronwyn and Gala...cute dog and cat!

Nicole working hard giving henna tattoos, which the kids loved!

Litte elephant...

The kids had a fantastic time playing games and running around. It's a really well organized and fun event. Although the rooms were very hot and crowded, the kids didn't seem to mind and it was great to see them so excited and having so much fun.  I think I may volunteer to help out next year...but let's not quote me on that. We got the rest of our pumpkins carved and they look great (we think).

Spooky pumpkins

Halloween is BIG around here and I suppose by "around here" I am referring to the North American continent. After 17 years, I have got used to the celebration and can, at times, even get enthusiastic about it (kind of).  Of course, selfless soul that I am...I do it for the children, but it was never really part of our childhood culture in England. Sometimes, our version of trick or treat was to go around to the neighbours houses and when they opened their doors shout, "Trick or Treat!"...and if the neighbour wanted an easy life then they would give us money (cash, not candy). If they didn't then we'd pull off their gates or commit some other act of petty vandalism. I suppose we were basically a group of kids with a Halloween extortion racket. I feel kind of bad about it now, of course, and I'm sure that's all changed. The kids probably dress up to look far more scary and intimidating these days. I also remember my sister and I, and our best friend, waiting for darkness so that we could go out into our front yard where we would be "witches" and invent dances and sing strange made-up chants; round and round...over and over...until we got dizzy. Yes, we were that weird.

But here it is about dressing up, playing and having fun...and surely we need more of that!

Nicky (Wolverine), Bronwyn (zombie dog), Amy (princess)

All the kids look great in their outfits (a few more parents could have dressed up...you know who you are). Bronwyn was a very cute zombie dog. She did her own face-paints (including chains on her wrists and blood coming out of her eye (?!) River wore Bronwyn's elephant costume from last year. I'm not sure how much he got out of it. I'm sure he wondered why everyone was calling him an elephant! Mark took Bronwyn trick-or-treating with her friends. She was incredibly excited and by all accounts they all (parents and kids) had a fantastic time. People in this neighbourhood really go the extra mile to decorate their places. Mind you, some of the house around here look haunted even before they're decorated for Halloween. And Bronwyn brought home the biggest load of candy I have ever seen. Good job she gets a new set of teeth in the next couple of years. Some macabre decorations...




Fate had a different plan in store for me. Oh yes...I was to spend the evening with a feverish River...endure a sleepless night taking care of him...and then get puked on at 4:00am, (good job he's cute). Karma, I suppose, for being so bad all those Halloweens ago...