A Despicabley Lovely Halloween

When I was a child (the same age as Brooklyn, in fact), we moved Halloween weekend. We arrived in Chicago on Halloween, eager to trick-or-treat that evening. Well, unbeknownst to my parents, the community had celebrated on the 30th. As you can imagine, Callie and I were pretty traumatized when we realized that our sugar fest was cancelled.

And so, in planning our move from St. George, we originally hoped to leave after Halloween so that the kids could celebrate one last time with their friends. Our buyers, however, really wanted to move in by November 1st so we came up with plan B--Halloween in Hyde Park with Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles.

I confess that I had pretty high expectations for Halloween. With the worst of the move finally behind us, I was ready to party. For weeks I'd been constantly putting the kids aside so that I could pack. Now I was eager to give them my undivided attention and PLAY! Carved pumpkins, creepy treats, glowing drinks--I could envision it all.

Not surprisingly, things didn't quite work out according to plan. Talia was sick, so sick that we spent the morning with the pediatrician. Eli, also under the weather, ended up taking a four hour nap and missed most of the celebrations. Oh, and let's not forget the alternator going out on the mini-van while coming home from trick-or-treating at Lee's.

A broken down car? Quite a trick, don't you think. Actually, the more we came to think about it, the more we considered it a treat. Given the 1300 mile journey, it's pretty remarkable that the car broke down just a mile from Jason's house where he and his Dad were able to fix it. While the interruption on Halloween may have been a bit inconvenient, the timing was also a tender mercy. The van could have died while Jason was in New York, during the chaos of loading the truck, or heaven forbid, in the middle of Wyoming.

Even with all the disruptions, Halloween still included all the essentials: costumes, trick-or-treating, and of course, Grandma Susie's chili with cinnamon rolls.

Grandma Susie with three of her minions.

Eli minion wakes up from his nap.

All the minions, eager to go trick or treating.  Can you hear the shouts?  "Bapple!"  "Ba Na Na."

Brooklyn and Talia minions, plenty high even before all the sugar.  I edited the Despicable Bogey from Talia's nose.  You're welcome.

Here's Gru with his minions after a sugar-filled spin around the neighborhood.

As you can see, our littlest minion got all tuckered out.  But even though her eyelids drooped, that fantastic hair kept right on poking through.  Other costume ideas: Pebbles and Cindy Loo Hoo.

Thanks to everyone for making Halloween so special!