Halloweenie

So, it's October, and you know what THAT means! Yes, Christmas stuff is already in stores!

Ha, but that is ridiculous. We, like other normal people, are just breaking out the Halloween swag, which truth be told is rather minimal, and mostly recently purchased (but in September, before Christmas arrived).

I'm really not one to decorate for holidays, I didn't seem to inherit that gene. But I've got kids. Three of them. And they really dig Halloween. Plus, our neighborhood is the most spirited Halloween 'hood you ever have seen. I had no idea when we moved in. When people said, it's crazy on October 31 around your house, I didn't really get it.

But it's true. It's a crazy, spooky, crowded scene on October 31. As in, all the houses run out of candy even though they dropped $50 - $100 on the poison, and the cops will likely show up sometime after 9:30 or so to oversee the hundreds of high school kids who end up congregating in the nearby open park.

There's a giant-screen loop of Michael Jackson's Thriller playing at one house, scary-as-shit haunted houses at others, and all sorts of adult parties (which I've got to figure out how to get invited to) everywhere you look (some with catering trucks!), as well as, of course, as hundreds of kids dressed in all manner of costume. It's fun, and creepy, and electric, and I feel as though we are obliged warranted to get our scary on.

I have my youngest solo two Sunday nights a month, and she was all about getting the party started last night.

I told her no pumpkin carving yet, as they'd be rotten by next week (or tomorrow if the heat doesn't break), but that didn't deter her -- break out the Sharpies.

So here you go, the start to our Halloweenie:

Imagine this turned around, please. Quite possibly the coolest doormat ever, right?

My skeleton

My girl's skeleton. And don't ask, I have no earthly idea why they are pirate skeletons.

Ooh, more skeletons, and spiders....

My girl wrote that with her 5-year-old hand!

And drew that scawy mini 'kin

But this one? This one is all me! :o

Weird space-agy skull to greet our guests

Even more pumpkins and spiders...

And the creepiest (non)decoration of all. Baby face-down under bed. Don't ask. ('Cause I have no idea.)