The Beaven Family: Halloween 2011

Thanks to WTI ending on Oct 30, Jeremy was home from work Halloween. He took Amelia flying to practice some take-offs and landings and when they came home, he helped them carve their pumpkins. They cleaned out the insides of the pumpkins themselves and all thought it was gross.

(Actually, poor Marshall's weak stomach kept him from completing his. He got queasy just looking at the inside of the pumpkin!)

Marshall, the incurable History buff designed a "Walk Like an Egyptian" pumpkin.

After seeing Jeremy go at it the old fashioned way (a kitchen knife), our neighbor Michelle brought over her bin of carving tools to share with the kids.

I found a family favorite at the Grocery Store... Auntie Anne's pretzel mix. Since there aren't any stores here, we were thrilled to be able to make some at home. Abby was enjoying her pretzel dog and researching potential pumpkin patterns.

"This IS my happy face!"

Ninja Marshall
"It's better to be dress-up Ninja than a real one. It would be pretty easy to get yourself killed if you were a real Ninja."

Southern Belle Amelia, inspired by the 2 newest American Girl dolls,
Marie Grace and Cecile.

Cleopatra Abby, complete with a handmade trick or treat purse that shows that she cares more about fashion than the quantity of candy her bag can hold.

Did you hear the one about the Ninja, the Egyptian Queen and the Southern Belle?

Abby's Wolf Pumpkin

Marshall's "Walk Like an Egyptian" pumpkin

Amelia's more traditional "Happy" Jack-o-lantern style pumpkin.

After trick or treating the loop around our house, we came home and let the kids hand out candy... And everything else that we happened to have that was individually wrapped!
It was like locusts descending! They picked us clean. Jeremy was embarrassed of the packets of hot chocolate that I let the kids give out, but I maintain that not only is it better than nothing, but if we were anywhere else in the country, the kids would be delighted to go home and warm up with a nice warm mug of hot chocolate!

I have to say though, that I think there was a little rip in the Universe when I saw Marshall and Amelia standing up to put candy in the bags of two very large, unashamed grown men who were enjoying themselves even though they had no kids with them! One was dressed as a banana, the other recognizing the genius of his friends plan, threw on a toga.