Inky, Pinky, Blinky & Clyde. And Lederhosen.

This is one of THOSE posts.

You know, where the author does some name-dropping

to impress her readers.

Tonight, we went trick-or-treating with

Inky, Pinky, Blinky & Clyde.

Yep. In the FLESH with the Pac-Man Ghosts.

Or the Ms. Pac-Man ghosts, if you will.

Here's proof:

9 children. 2 moms. 2 hours. 1 pair of lederhosen.

22 pounds (of candy. Or pounds gained. Take your pick.)

Lorelai was the PRINCESS of the night, decked out in lederhosen and a stylish trachten jacket, riding in her royal stroller while Inky, Pinky, Blinky, & Clyde took turns getting her candy for her at the door. So sweet, those Pac-Man ghosts. Love them! Lorelai probably ended up with the most candy because her Pac-Man helpers enabled her to get a double dip at several houses.

Jane, however, was the QUEEN of the night, because she chose to forego the royal stroller and be carried by her "servant in arms" (me) for 1 1/2 hours (it was that or incessant screaming). Ms. Pac-Man (my friend Carla) was gracious enough to push the stroller as the other children took turns riding in the second seat vacated by Jane.

We all had a great time. Sadly, the Pac-Man family is moving away in 1 month. Mr. Pac-Man starts his new job tomorrow and the rest of the Pac-Mans/Ghosts will follow him soon. We are so, so sad. Ms. Pac-Man is one of the best friends I've ever had. I know, I know: with fame like hers, it was inevitable she would eventually need to move on. And of course the ghosts will follow her.

I'm happy we had a fun evening together. After the trick-or-treating, our sweet kids sat on Carla's front steps enjoying their candy as they sang their favorite Justin Bieber song, Bacon, Bacon, Bacon, ooohhh, Bacon, Bacon, Bacon (words altered according to school-age boys' humor. You can hear the real song here. And the Bacon-version of the song here. It's scary).

And Carla and I had a good laugh over the "near incident with the lederhosen" when Princess Lorelai needed to use the bathroom. Friends like the Pac-Mans don't come along every day. We love them!

Later, at our house, Azael, Ephraim, Silas, & Lorelai had a candy free-for-all. My new method this year is unlimited candy for 2 days, then it all gets thrown out on Tuesday.

Azael took me seriously when I said, "You may start to feel sick if you keep eating." He found a plate of sweet potatoes from our dinner earlier today and said, "I'll just keep eating a bite of sweet potato every time I have a piece of candy and I should be OK." If only it were so easy.

Notice all the candy wrappers...

they were going strong for over 30 minutes.

Ephraim stopped first, wrapped himself

up in a blanket, and rested on the couch.

Unlimited candy can be exhausting, afterall.

It was a great Halloween. One I'll never forget.

Happy Halloween!

Last night we enjoyed "Trunk-or-Treating" at our church. That's where everyone opens the trunks of their cars and kids walk around and get candy. As one kid put it, "It's an EASY way to get LOTS of candy FAST!" Some friends from our old neighborhood joined us and everyone had a fun time. Here are LtoR: Azael, George, Ephraim, Devin, Zaden.

Me, Azael, Silas (no costume), Ephraim
And Lorelai the Tiger ("NOT Tigger. Tiger!")

Jane spent 30 minutes crying after she saw Ephraim and me. Luckily later in the night she let me hold her and even put her head on my shoulder. Apparently I looked enough like her Mom that it was OK. lol. Mystery Man didn't dress up, but I have plans for him next year. Perhaps a certain pale Twilight character...

Random Photos

Mystery Man is older

Silas and Lorelai stamping

Ephraim being his cute self

Jane being her cute self

Lorelai experimenting (secretly) with Mommy's makeup. Nice.

Unique Scene

I looked outside the other day and saw a unique scene:

Santa in a Harley Davidson Jacket and a red-haired Ninja vampire. And Azael.

Manly

Mystery Man to Jen: "You probably shouldn't put that picture up. People might be intimidated by my manliness."

I guess there's something hot about a man and a machine...

Brick Smashers

Azael's Lego Team, the Brick Smashers, will have their tournament soon.

They'll be wearing Tshirts with this picture, designed by Azael:

Hee Hee

Don't laugh.

Spooky, Creepy, Scary...

Our family had a fun time carving Jack-o-Lanterns tonight. After we posed in this picture, we turned off the outdoor light and ran up the road in the dark so we could get the full effect of our jack-o-lanterns. We also had fun trying to scare each other out in the darkness. This will be a GREAT Halloween week, I think! Photos of our costumes will come later this week... OOOooooOOOhhhhHHHH!!!

Autumn Fun

We recently enjoyed a sunny, relaxing autumn morning at our favorite pumpkin patch.

Jane had enough of taking photos... But good to see her brothers are all so concerned.

On the wagon ride to the pumpkin patch

Mystery Man enjoying the warm sunshine

Contemplation.

Big Girl Jane

Neighborhood Cave

The week we moved in, Gene and Marge, our Norwegian neighbors who have lived in their home over 40 years, brought delicious cookies. On our doorstep, Gene casually mentioned, "You've heard about the cave, haven't you?"

"What cave?" we replied.

Gene said, "Oh, all you need to do is walk up the draw about a quarter to half a mile and you'll come right to it. Rumor has it that a dog went into the cave one day and came out 30 miles away to the west." Then he turned to our kids: "But you wouldn't want to go in there. I think there is a pack of coyotes in there."

About a week ago Azael went on a bikeride up the street and 30 minutes later he came back and shouted, "MOM! I found a path and road my bike on it and it went in a field and to a lake!"


Azael took Ephraim on the same bike ride a few days later. Ephraim came back saying many of the same things: "MOM! We went on a path through a field. The field was BEAUTIFUL! And then there was a circle. And a porta potty. And a picnic table."

Huh? A porta potty and picnic table?

I realized they had found the location of the neighborhood cave.



Yesterday our entire family hiked over to see the "field and lake" Azael and Ephraim had discovered. As we walked through an alfalfa field, Ephraim took my hand and excitedly said, "MOM! This is the beautiful field! Isn't it beautiful?!!" Ephraim apparently has taken my regular exclamations of "Isn't the world beautiful?" to heart. lol.



After passing through the alfalfa field, we walked down a wooded path, which ended at a pond with a dirt path across the middle. We walked across and Ephraim and Azael showed us the "cool porta-potty and tables." Then Mystery Man pointed out the large rock outcropping with a cave in it.

Azael and Ephraim : "What? We didn't see that cave before!!!" They sprinted down the hill toward it. The rest of us followed them down and into the cavern. It is approximately 20 feet wide, 30 feet deep and 15 feet high. There were 4 holes leading out of the first cavern, but it was clear getting through those holes would require crawling through mud on our bellies, so we opted out. But it was still a great adventure.

We walked back home and I found more info about the cave online. Apparently the other chambers are quite cramped and muddy. There is no stunning interior or vista inside, despite rumors to the contrary. But you can get lost in there, which several have done. So, for now, we'll remind our kids about the savage coyotes, wolves, raccoons, and bears that live in there. :)

Here's a collection of photos from our adventure: