Boo!

Halloween is over! Not that I have anything against Halloween, but there was just waaaay too much going on this year. I agreed to help plan the Halloween block party a while back, which turned out to be a lot more work that I had orginally bargained for. 172 people, a DJ, a chili cook off, and copious arguments over port-a-johns, to wear or not to wear kids' costumes, chili cook off voting rules and prizes, a scavenger hunt to plan, hide and orchestrate only graze the surface in the category of Unnecessary Drama around this 'hood. The proudest party moment was definitely the cops showing up at 7:40pm with a noise violation. I feel like that means I did a good job.

Then I had to make a costume for Pigpen because he decided he wanted to be a Clemson basketball player, something that doesn't really exist in a 2T. Okay, an 18-24 month. This poor child will never wear proper clothing. Piglet declared himself a tiger a long time ago, thus making my life easy for a change, especially after I found him a $60 costume on sale on Amazon for $12.99 with free shipping. Yes, please! Here's the gratuitous cuteness:

What entertains me the most about this picture isn't the make you gag adorable-ness of the kids (clearly.) or the Head Wound Harry look that Pigpen's sweatband gave him, it's the expression on the boys' friend Peanut's face. She stood there, angelic and smiling - and STILL! - for, oh....359 pictures or so. My kids? Look different in every picture, and not in a good posing, America's Next Top Model kind of way. More in an ADHD crackpot, spastic boy kind of way. In the above shot, they were supposed to be standing in a tidy row, smiling. Like this: 

Of course, that one only took 300 shots to capture my two standing vaguely where they are supposed to, but note Angelic Girl Child still in appropriate formation, as requested. Then, of course, Pigpen has to turn on the charm and chat up his Peanut. This is a classic How YOU doin' kind of shot.



Please be sure to note the homemade basketball collection bag that I sewed up for Pigpen just hours before take off, post-Halloween party planning so that he would have something in the basketball family upon his costume that I wouldn't have to chase down the street when he dropped it. Clever, right?

Also clever, the coordination of costumes. For those not regionally aware....Clemson and Auburn are both tigers, so Piglet was the tie of the trio. Dig it?? Okay, enough about the costumes.

I forgot to mention that my in-laws came for a visit amid all this chaos. So, I baked my father in law a chocolate mousse birthday cake in addition to the food I cooked for the party. Think: massive bowl of chopped onions, pot of chili (I got second place, yes, I did!), platter of ham/cheese gooey delicious sandwiches, vat of Rotel/cream cheese/cheddar/sausage heart attack dip, and assorted other random items. The kitchen was a disaster, but the food was deliciousness. Oh, and of course the carving of the pumpkin and the roasting of the seeds. Then I stopped cooking and went trick or treating.

Hence, my general fatigue. On that note, I crash. Also? There's no school today or tomorrow, just to mess with my head a litte. AWESOME.