"This is Halloween, everybody make a scene."

Hey there, hi there, ho there! Once again Halloween has come and gone and I had a lovely time. I celebrated with Paula and the rest of the wonderful Whitmers (Brian, Becca, Katie, and Christopher, that is) during the weekend prior and then in my own small way commemorated the appointed day by dressing up and of course the traditional hot chocolate and doughnuts Monday night. We had done this together on Saturday night with the recipe for hot cocoa that Grandma used but it was still fun to do a little do-over on the night of Halloween. After all, it's "trad-i-TION!"/"It's tradition!" (Wow, same words but two separate references! Did you catch them both? If so, props and kudos...remember Kudos bars? Whatever happened to those?)

As we were...the weekend was fun-filled and so enjoyable for me. I sure love that family and treasure the time I get to spend in their company. We had chili and cornbread, carved pumpkins; we even watched a British zombie movie. How 'bout them apples? "It was freakin' hilArious."

Picture time!

Sorry it's a little blurry. We all got a kick out of how he looked in this onsie. He's definitely a growing boy! :)

Again sorry for Katie's blurry hands. She had been singing a very cute (and festive) song. In fact, if you want to see it for yourself, Paula posted such a great video of Katie singing it here. SO cute!

I don't think Becca was in a picture mood (I don't blame her, we all have those moments). But she sure got happy fast right after this when Christopher started to get fussy. I love how Becca is so amused by Katie and Christopher's tantrums. :)

I think Katie appreciates our Grandma's doughnut tradition. (Indulge me, it wasn't until recently I discovered that practically everyone and their mom has doughnuts on/around Halloween. I've always associated it with my dear sweet Grandma Hansen and will continue to do so.)

And now the moment you've all been waiting for. Since literally none of you got to see me dressed up in my clever costume, I went to great lengths to make sure I got pictures. But first, a little background. At first glance, you may think, "Well she went as a Braves fan." And that would be a true, albeit incomplete assessment. Just in case any of you didn't know: the Braves suffered one of the WORST collapses in MLB history this year. In other words, they really should have made it to the playoffs but didn't on account of their EIGHTEEN losses in September. Sigh. It still hurts. Anyway, the psychologist in me thought it would be an appropriate time to dress up as the first stage in the grieving process - denial:

Now before any of you critics (I don't suppose I have any of those in my audience, but for the sake of argument we'll pretend you exist) point out that you're supposed to dress up as something you're not for Halloween, let me assure you: I'm way past the shock and denial phase. I clearly also did the pain, anger, and depression stages leading up to and through the World Series (it's largely why I checked out of the Series entirely this year, which is too bad because apparently it was a doozy!) I'd say the very act of using Halloween so therapeutically is a definite sign that I'm all the way to reconstruction and working through, wouldn't you?

Happy belated-Halloween, everyone. Hope you celebrated and enjoyed. I was the only one in my program that dressed up. What an under-appreciated and dare I say misunderstood holiday. I guess Christmas already had its way with Thanksgiving; it was only a matter of time before it knocked off Halloween too. (I totally saw/heard Christmas commercials before Halloween this year. Really?)

Oh and happy end of daylight savings time. Sleep so sweet in your extra hour, if the kiddies will allow it...which I suppose is unlikely. Enjoy the extra hour to get ready for church in a more leisurely fashion? :)