The Ninja, the Witch, and the '80s Girl.

And before we knew it, it was Halloween.

This year we had a GI Joe Ninja (which is an unfortunate choice when you have speech issues and can't clearly say the "g/j" sound... I had to translate the answer to the What are you going to be for Halloween? question quite a few times), a witch, and an '80s Valley girl in our house on October 31st.

(When I told Michaela that girls I went to school with regularly dressed like this in Middle School- not as a costume- she kind of rolled her eyes at me.  But then again, half of what I say to her causes her to kind of rolls her eyes at me.)

In my opinion, any year I can keep Michaela from wanting to be a "sexy nurse" or "sexy vampire" or "sexy anything" is a rousing victory.

Another fun thing we did this year (and last year- a tradition is born!) was go to the house of an older couple in our church who set up an absolutely amazing Dept. 56-themed display all over their living room and dining room.  You can stand there for hours taking it all in.  Both girls brought friends this year to show it off.  Amazing.

Pumpkin carving time!  As the girls get older, they want to be in charge of more and more, and I have to admit it's kind of nice.  I drew the design on the pumpkin and I was still in charge of the knife, but they cleaned it all out and did some touch up carving with close supervision.  Overall, there was much carrying on about the guts of the pumpkin by all three kids.

Sometimes I think that Jenna is my own personal American Girl Doll and I get to dress her up for holidays and show her off.  Michaela does not let me do this anymore. Sniff.  And I can't believe that Alec will really ever let me put Halloween-themed curly hairties in his hair.

Halloween was also great this year because Dan took the two little kids out trick or treating and Jenna's best friend went with them and I got to stay home with her mom and gab the whole time.  Treat for Mommy, as well!!  They stayed out for about an hour (the weather was a bit cold and sleety) but got enough candy to declare the evening a success.  Michaela went with her usual trick or treating crowd and was successful but did not beat her record-setting haul of last year.

There's always next year, my love.