Halloween was starting to get on my nerves. David changed him mind about his costume every two minutes. We took a scouting trip to the costume store, and he was sure he wanted to be a clown. We drove back the next week through ugly traffic. He tried on the costume, and the clown was out. And then I got hungry and tired and had to force him out of the store for dinner. He decided he was going to be a robber with an axe, axe as seen at Fred Meyer. So, I got him that and he decided he also needed a mask called "black face." I could not handle buying anything called "black face" and once again had to drag him out of the store. At which point I said anymore costume shopping would be done with Daddy.

Rose, in the meantime, refused to go on a scouting trip but didn't know what to be. She made miserable grumpy sounds whenever the issue was raised. Really, I was not having fun. I mentioned to my sister that Rose wanted to be a pun at which point Julia suggested "cereal killer" as in knife through a cereal box. Excellent, except Rose was embarrassed that she hadn't thought of the idea herself. She kept thinking she would have to wear a big sign: my aunt gave me the idea. Oy.

And did I mention David's rotten pumpkin? I managed to arrange a pumpkin buying trip to the store. All my friends still make it to the pumpkin patch, and I'm having trouble going three blocks. We got our pumpkins in time for the next door neighbor's pumpkin carving party last week-end at which point David realized his pumpkin was totally rotten, just not carving material, and he was just not happy about it. Rose didn't even go to this party because she was at the opera.

But, things have turned around. David and I made a quick trip to a different store and got a cute little pumpkin. The kids carved together with nary a hand from me. No goop did I have to touch. John supervised David on the drill, his new pumpkin attacking toy. Rose carved without needing company or assistance, and her pumpkin is fantastic: scary and elegant.

David and John went shopping Saturday morning for the Saturday afternoon neighborhood business trick or treating. David got an amazingly cool mask--silver not black--and morphed from Nasgool to Death Eater but managed to get out the door happy. Rose was a fabulous cereal killer and got compliments all up and down the street. The librarians took her photo. I got to see them off and then, for the first time ever, David went with his friends (and a Dad), Rose went with her friends, and I went back home.

We still have actual Halloween in the rain. And I have to decide what I'm going to wear to the Halloween dances this week.