It's that Halloween time of year

And so begins the crazy holiday rush...with Halloween...possibly the most difficult day I've had to deal with to this point. For those of you who don't know...Halloween was a big deal around our house...in fact it was by far Christy's favorite holiday. When we still lived in Michigan, we would do up to front yard big...dress up and have a party and hand out candy. Christy started planning the front yard around Labor Day. Couple that with the fact that this was Cavan's first Halloween...and it wasn't an easy day for me...

Just to give you an idea of what Halloween means to this family...here are a few pictures from Halloween 2005...our last Halloween in Michigan.









And now on to this year...our first contestant...attending her fourth (fourth...can you believe it????) Halloween...Eilish Danielle!!!

Getting our hair done


Test run with the crown


What's That!!!


Daddy...it's beautiful!!


Ready to go


Dancing Princess


Now...for those of you that do not know...this choice of costume, carried a certain level of irony to it. Not only is Belle one of Eilish's favorite Disney Princesses, but, when Christy and I got married...someone decided it would be amusing if the "Just Married" sign carried a theme. Beauty (Christy) and the Beast (me)...see the irony here? I tried to find a good picture of the sign...but the best I could come up with was the picture below...I hope it looks ok.



Now...for our second contestant...checking out his first Halloween...shortly before his first birthday...Cavan Gabriel!!!

Cavy the Mouse


Even well dressed mice need a drink once and a while.


Do I really have to wear this silly suit?


We had a great time...went to one of the local malls (shockingly...it was raining here...yes...rain...Seattle, I know...what a concept!) and walked around for a while. Eilish made a haul...aided and abetted by her completly indifferent brother...who had no clue what was going on other than the fact that his ears (Mickey ears) kept flopping down into his face...so Eily stole all his candy too.

Getting ready for trick or treat


Here we go!!


Happy girl after a long time of trick or treating


Tired boy after a long time of trick or treating


Thirsty boy after we got back...note he is wearing his first shoes!!! We took advantage of the fact that we were already at the mall!


Note I have lots more to tell you...I'm trying to organize the pictures for the first bit. I think we're going to call it "The Great Cream Incident of 2008"...more on that when I get it ready to go...I think I'm also going to do a retrospective of the insanity that has been the last year of my life. As many of you likely remember...we are rapidly approaching a year since Christy passed away and I think it's time that Dad sat back and went over the highs and lows of the year. Of course...there is Cavy's first birthday in there too. So provided Dad gets off his duff and actually does something, I should have a few more posts for you in the next few weeks.