Halloween 2013

We've had a trying week -- not going to lie, it's been one of the hardest weeks I've experienced in a long time. On top of moving and getting our old house ready for inspection by the rental company, we had some burst pipes at the new house (which meant raw sewage all over our freshly sanded floors). Worst of all, our sweet little tabby cat managed to slip out during the moving process and is now unaccounted for (if you're a local reader, please pass this along to help us find him! Especially if you are in Norfolk.)

The good news is that we are officially settled into our new house and got to spend our first Halloween enjoying our neighborhood and getting to know our neighbors. Our new neighborhood really DOES Halloween: a trip down our street led us past three haunted houses, a punk-rock garage concert, and a tent where they were giving away antique books! (A friend of mine got a complete 1950s set of the Anne of Green Gables series -- I dithered between Lives of the Saints and a 1915 copy of Robert's Rules of Order and finally went for the latter). Nearly every house was decked out with lights and cobwebs and very ambitiously carved pumpkins and the kids were running to and fro like madcaps. It was a far cry from our old neighborhood in Northern Virginia, where we were lucky if we got one trick-or-treater all night. In short, I think we're going to like it here.

So without further ado, here are some photos from around the house and from last night's Halloween spree! Happy weekend -- here's to a wonderful week to come for all of us. x

^^ Pinata for our playgroup party & our newly refinished (and cleaned) floors ^^

^^ So much bigger than last year! (and sulky because Mama won't let her eat all the candy) ^^

^^ Everybody who went by -- adults and kids both -- had to try our neighbors' hopscotch ^^

^^ Reminds me of being stuck in traffic on I-95 ^^

^^ Dada on candy duty ^^