Breakfast's Ready!

I believe that for the foreseeable future, my breakfasts will be caramel apples rolled in chopped almonds. I'm having one now, and it's very satisfactory. For those of you all scandalized about the sugar content, I have one word for you: Starbucks.

The family is slow to get started this morning. Rex, of course, wore himself out completely with vigilance last night. Halloween is second only to July 4 in stress-rankings for dogs. At 6:45, he still hadn't asked to go outside!

Rose headed for bed last night after a HUGE day. She did trick-or-treat, but frankly, she enjoys handing out candy much more than she enjoys walking up to strangers and asking for it. At 9:00, we blew out the pumpkins, turned out the porch light and called it quits. Heavy tooth-brushing followed.

Andy was at the skate park ALL DAY yesterday, then hit a college-campus trick-or-treat and a high-candy neighborhood with his buddy. He lost his phone in the candy neighborhood, borrowed his buddy's mom's and called home, and P. jumped on the computer and used the service provider's GPS PHONE LOCATOR to find the phone. It was impressive, to say the least. Andy tottered in about 10:00 and hasn't been heard from since.

In other news, we attended a kids' Halloween party a couple of houses down. Rose was invited, and proved to be the only girl. The rest were boys, ages 4 and 5. I greeted the hostess thusly, "What were you thinking?" But it was a GREAT party.

If you aren't a local, you may be unaware that our city is enjoying 80 degree weather. So the kids loped around in the yard, playing soccer and stomping leaves. Caramel apple dipping, cupcake frosting, a scary basement walk (rewarded with goodie bags), pizza, six varieties of fresh fruit, and a bubbling cauldron of purple punch with dry ice. Thoughtfully provided were beers for the moms and dads, and the initial sight of all those sugared-up preschoolers caused me to partake. I have a big old sinus headache today because of it, but at the time, it seemed like a good idea.

In the hours leading up to the big night, Rose and I carved pumpkins. She's very good at it, and never inclined to over-plan. She did carve a big lightning scar on the forehead of one of her jacks, naming him Harry Potter. I made a spider-jack, resting the pumpkin on its side.

We also popped a pan of sugar cookies in the oven. (Are you kidding? Pillsbury, people, and pre-cut at that.) She was proud to bring a plate of cookies down to her buddy's party.

Before that, I'll be darned if we didn't go ahead with Einstein to the tour of the candy factory! Rose was a perfect companion, although kind of blue and sticky around the mouth there at the end. It was very interesting, low-key, historical (business has been in operation since 1920) and suh-weet!

With the weekend before us, we think we can pack more novelty in hour by hour. Stay tuned.