Halloween

And now for something less depressing...

Halloween! 

Elsie took a very rare but very helpful nap yesterday, which allowed her to stay up extra late and enjoy the full trick-or-treating experience without meltdown.  She did her own face paint (some of it, anyway), and tried to cave her own pumpkin, but it was too hard.  Instead, she dictated jack-o-lantern requests to me: a taniwha (tan-i-fah -- mythical Maori dragon-like creature) and a house. 

Our neighborhood was mostly spared in Storm Sandy, but Elsie's little friend Lucia (pronounced the Spanish way) had a bradford pear fall right on her house, which is not even noteworthy.  Those bradford pears!  They drop limbs in the heat, in the cold, in the ice, in the rain, and, of course, in the wind.  You just can't keep them together for anything.

Lucia and her little brother ended up in our front yard, which was not occupied by tree wreckage.  I gave them candy up front, then painted Lusica's witch face (blue with pink polka dots -- the complexion of all witches worth their stripey socks, according to Lucia).  They stayed and played with Elsie until well past her usual bedtime.  Finally, they took their leave, and Lucia, ever the charmer, gasped and said, "I can't believe it, I forgot to take my CANDY!"  Though I believe the mistake was an honest one, we all had a good laugh and teased Lucia for her wiles. 

Elsie was, as she has been bragging for months, A MONKEY!!!  I made the costume myself.  Ears and a tail.  The ears are felt on a headband.  The tail is wool needle-felted around sculptural wire.  I left a couple loops of wire on the base which I simply stuck into her pants.  A belt might have helped with stability, but for the relatively calm night of trick-or-treating we had, the stuck-in-the-pants-method worked just fine. I couldn't find the brown shirt I had set aside for the occasion, but no matter.  This monkey likes lavender. 

She came home with far too much candy.  I gave half of it away again when we ran out.  It was a bumper year for trick-or-treaters. 

Very fun night!