Halloween highlights

Halloween is long gone. We've celebrated two birthdays since then! Halloween highlights:

• Jay dressed up as "Weapon Man." He originally wanted to be Odysseus or a Minotaur since mythology is his jam right now, but while we were costume shopping at Goodwill, I nonchalantly said "you should just get a bunch of weapons and dress up as Weapon Man. Jay took the bait and I was off the hook from figuring out how to concoct ancient Greek armor or a buffalo head for him to wear. 
• Rose dressed up as Aphrodite, inspired by the many mythological tales Jay has spun for her. On a school project, she filled in these blanks: For Halloween I will dress up as a: GODDESS. I will feel: HAPPY. And she was.
• Amber didn't understand about choosing her own costume, so I chose for her. I scored a fancy quality Rapunzel dress from Goodwill, and she wore Rose's old fleece Rapunzel braid. I got her one of those tiny one-egg frying pans to carry like Rapunzel's iron frying pan weapon, but she ended up forgetting to bring it trick or treating. She loves her "Rapunzel weapon" though...a little too much sometimes (hello, time-out for hitting everything).
• Using my red hair to its full potential, I dressed up as Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus cartoon. I stuck foam solar system stickers to my old navy blue dress, and wore purple planet foam stickers on my ears as earrings, and stuck foam rocket ship stickers to my shoes in the classic Ms. Frizzle fashion. 
• We drove to Grandview to trick or treat at Grama and Grampa's house and the cousins' house. 
• We finished up at our ward's sleek efficient trunk or treat: the cars lined up close together in one column, and the kids walked around and around the circuit until all of the candy had been handed out. 
• Jeff dressed up as Bill Nye the Science Guy. We were a dynamic duo. I love the idea of Ms. Frizzle marrying Bill Nye. They are soulmates for sure.
• We forgot to bring our candy to pass out at the trunk-or-treat, but we did have most of the 500-pack of foam space stickers that I used for my costume, so we handed those out instead of candy.
• We were in and out of the trunk or treat in less than 45 minutes.
• No trick or treaters came to our house in the dark countryside: an introvert's Halloween dreams come true--we were finally able to retreat from the crowds once we were done! 
• Rose and Amber wanted pretty makeup to go with their costumes, and I received my yearly reminder of how inexperienced I am with all varieties of makeup. 
• It was not a night for great photography.
• We carved our pumpkins three nights before Halloween, but never lit candles in them once! 

 "Weapon Man"

 The fair Aphrodite, goddess of love, in the yellow setting sunlight.

And Rapunzel, wearing red boots under her dress. 

Ms. Frizzle: I did not have the energy to create that solar system headdress. On Halloween I was falling fast to the symptoms of a serious sinus infection, so my enthusiasm was clouded.

Ms. Frizzle and Bill Nye, with their three kids: Aphrodite, Rapunzel, and "Weapon Man." 

 Trick or treating on good ole Westridge Drive in Grandview. We tried to go to our old house (confusing Amber greatly), but they were not accepting trick or treaters. 

Halloween comes but once a year.