Pumpkins scream in the dead of night

This is Halloween, this is Halloween.

Pretty much the cutest Santa in the history of the world. Or since Cowen wore that costume when he was a baby.

Tigger.

Can you believe that my Mom bought that costume for Cowen (because he ALWAYS BOUNCED EVERYWHERE) when this little Tigger was only a month old??? Crazy how time flies.

I have sometimes been accused of not putting enough effort into Halloween as I don't have much respect for holidays other than Christmas and . . . Christmas (though July 4th is my second favorite, despite the heat). That cannot be said of me this year. Cowen wanted desperately to be a grizzly bear so I actually bought a costume. Off ebay. For pretty cheap.

Did I mention that Cowen wanted to be a grizzly bear? And why might a four-year-old boy want to be a grizzly bear after studying how ferocious they are and how they mauled mountain men with their ginormous claws? Right--because grizzly bears are ferocious and maul people.

You might have noticed Cowen's bear costume is, in fact, Bear in the Big Blue House. Pretty much the opposite of ferocious. Wouldn't maul anyone. Sings to people, in fact. Timothy told me that Cowen was going to be disappointed about the clawlessness of his costume, but it was Bear or a mascot grizzly in the thousand dollar range. I opted for cheap and cute instead of expensive and clawed. I maintained with great earnestness that Cowen would be so excited about all the fur and paws that he wouldn't even care about the claws and fangs.

When the costume came in the mail, Cowen looked it over in a frenzy of enthusiasm, then said, "Where are the claws?"

Next year, I'm sticking to what I'm good at--Christmas.

Timothy took Miriam to DI and Savers on a daddy-daughter outing to pick her costume. She's a wizardy witch.

I love the chaos of trying to pose all the kids for a picture.

Eli bothered people, Emeline refused to be in the pictures at all, Cowen kept sliding down the back of the couch and knocking Miriam and Lynnaea over.

And then there was Myles with a light saber. That's an eyeball just waiting to be poked out.

Happy Halloween 2009!