Mischief of one kind and another

Happy Halloween! We actually got to have a dry run early this year, as friends Z and A had a Halloween party at their house on Saturday night. I was all adventurous and brought the boys solo (Meh had a choir concert) -- they were a bit overwhelmed to arrive and discover not only an awesomely decorated house (laser lights, music, giant spiders with webs, and Halloween-themed everything [including hand towels in the bathroom!]) but also that they were the only boys in a sea of like ten little girls. We walked into the play room where they were doing arts and crafts jack-o-lanterns, and O was mystified that there were no cars in sight. But the boys had a good time overall, snacking on fun Halloween-themed foods (deviled eggs with spiders made of olives on top, cookies that looked like fingers, etc.) and watching a motion-activated skeleton on the piano start singing a song every time they walked past. O got to realize his months-long-ambition to be Buzz Lightyear, while Z reprised his Max (of Where the Wild Things Are) costume from last year. O thought that was it for the Buzz outfit, and was already requesting to dress up like a Power Ranger for "real" Halloween -- even though we're fairly convinced he still doesn't have much idea of what Power Rangers actually look like. (He and some of his friends "play" Power Rangers at school, which from his descriptions sounds mostly like something between tag and cops & robbers.) Thankfully I talked him into a second showing of Buzz.

Today was Halloween proper, and we fully celebrated the occasion. Of course, the day had to start with awesome mommy-created Halloween-themed lunches for the boys. I wore my costume to work (one of the few - c'mon, coworkers!) and had to resist the urge to constantly reenact the condescending Wonka internet meme. Mommy and O came to visit me at work, where there was trick or treating around our central cafeteria area as well as one of those little trains making a circle around campus -- alas, there weren't many train cars and the line was moving painfully slowly. O persisted for quite a while but eventually did grow bored, so we moved on to candy collection and snacks. In the meantime, Z marched in the school parade in full Max attire.

In the evening, everyone got back into their costumes and it was time for some trick-or-treating! Meh and I were the unlikely pair of Willy Wonka and Violet Beauregard. Mima and papa (Indiana Jones) joined up with us as well for the first half of the loop around our neighborhood:

The prize for coolest Halloween costume in the neighborhood went to a little two-year-old Ghostbuster (complete with custom made outfit and proton pack), whose mom had somehow modded an actual Ecto-1 vehicle out of a motorized kids cart for him to ride between houses. It was pumping out the Ray Charles Ghostbusters theme and was a hit with all of the parents (though most of the kids I'm guessing had no idea what it was about).

Of course the evening had to wrap up with a recounting of the candy, as well as choosing two choice pieces to eat this evening. O appeared to take the slightly larger haul, though both of them will likely have Halloween candy to last through the new year. Z was particularly careful in evaluating each piece of candy before choosing a bat-shaped lollipop. Happy Halloween once again -- far more pictures here.