Mandatory Halloween Post

We had a good time with Halloween this year, particularly because it was the first time Matthew really understood what was going on. Unfortunately, he was fighting an ear infection and didn't feel too great, but he pushed through it due to the associated candy and getting to wear his cowboy hat a few more times.

We started out thinking we'd spend some quality time at a pumpkin patch, and we found one on the internet that looked pretty good. Turns out, no one was there, and it wasn't too exciting. Matthew kept himself entertained by arranging the pumpkins, but we only lasted about 5 minutes. He did pick one out, and we carved it up a few days later for FHE (I'm assuming you are LDS; if not, Google FHE, and if you don't know what LDS is, Google that first, and then Google FHE). He helped a bit (pushed the eyes/nose/mouth out) and then just wanted to stand outside all night looking at it.

A few days before Halloween, our Disneyland candy was starting to wane, but fortunately my office has a trick-or-treat thing for families every year, and it's hard to beat the amount of candy you can get in about 30 minutes going from cubicle to cubicle.

The Hammond Halloween Party has become an annual tradition (along with soup in pumpkin bread bowls and now doughnuts homemade by Karin). Ray and EmmaLee have a good neighborhood for trick-or-treating, so Matthew did pretty well there too (he compensated for his somewhat weakened physical state by asking "one more please" at some of the houses). Karin dressed as an oven ("bun in the oven"), and although I probably should have been a baker, I was already too committed to dressing as myself (if I never mentally left high school) to change directions at that point. Karin thinks I make my costumes too complicated to understand, and she's probably right - you'd have to have known me in my glasses/letterman's jacket/Cure shirt/mustache days to appreciate it I guess (the mustache only lasted about six hours - Karin was not a fan).