TRICK or treats

 These are the treats...

and these are the TRICKS!!

 that was Maddie (so unlike her??) and this is Nick:

 me and my monsters...

 our front entrance with our new orange lights...we'll get a few more this week on sale hopefully--

Dinner centerpiece: we had a special ghoulish dinner with the following menu provided by Nick:

 Cat's Lair was broccoli (Nick said cats like to hang out in trees...
is that true, cat-owners?)

Ghost Droppings was mashed potatoes

Bat wings and gravy was pork chops and gravy

Toasted tombstone was wheat garlic toast

and we had this delicious red juice "Ghouls' Blood" and our desserts were made by Nick (granola/pretzel/chocolate) and pie and peanut butter/krispie/chocolate bars. We enjoyed baking all afternoon after church and sitting outside greeting our neighbors etc. The weather was divine! (Yea, Texas!) and we ate our gourmet goodies while passing out treats. Our code word, to get Nick to jump out of his box (which I don't have a photo of) was "treat" and we did that for all kids above age 6 or 7.

Maddie looked so gruesome! She s l o w l y moved her skeleton hand up and down and people thought she was mechanical or a robot. I told them to poke her or tickle her...and some did. She had grown-up people yelling in surprise and she got up a few times (black robed) and at her small stature, didn't scare the older ones, but she did walk in a trance after some younger kids. When she made one girl cry, I sent her back without the ugly lady mask and told her to hug the girl and show her  how cute and little she is...

anyway, we all agreed that being together on Halloween, seeing friends and handing out candy was our best Halloween. We usually split up, one of us goes with kids, they go with friends, and one stays home to get the door. Since it was Sunday, we all decided to stay home, have a family holiday-themed dinner and stay together that night.