nablopomo. am i really doing this? yes, yes i am.

Oh hi! It's been nearly a month since I last posted and here I am, committing to post every day for the next 30 days. HAHAHAHAHA. See, the thing is...my silence here hasn't been for lack of anything to say. It's not even because I've been too busy to post. I have plenty to say about All The Things, and while I am busy, I'm not so busy that I don't have fifteen minutes free to write a blog post. It's more that I'm just too lazy in the evenings to boot up the laptop, upload pictures if necessary, and take the time that is required to post something. I have been spending my evenings lounging on the couch, watching bad TV, playing on my phone, and drinking wine instead. For the next 30 days, I'm vowing to write every evening. I mean, I'll still be lounging on the couch and I'll still more often than not be drinking wine, don't get me wrong; but I'll be blogging too.

As has become customary for the first day of November (or, "You Remember," as Andrew calls this month), I thought I'd recap our Halloween. It began on Sunday, when we finally got around to carving our pumpkins.

Will wasn't quite sure what to make of the slimy stuff, but Andrew had no such compunctions.

Who stuffed a stack of ads in her grocery bags on her way out of the store solely for the purpose of pumpkin-carving? This girl!

During a recent class field trip to the pumpkin patch, Andrew got a small pumpkin of his very own, and he wanted to design the face himself. I drew a pumpkin on a sheet of paper and let him design the face, then Joe translated his design onto his pumpkin. Andrew was so proud of it.

Our other pumpkin was a little bit crooked, but Joe tried his best, bless his heart. Gone are the years when he had the time to carve Jack Skellington in intricate detail.

Andrew was feeling the spirit of Halloween so much that he drew, in his words, "a hunted house and a ghostie." I love his imagination.

My contribution to the jack o'lantern portion of our Halloween festivities was to paint my toenails orange and draw a face on one of my big toes with a black Sharpie. Because I like to keep it classy. You're welcome for this picture of my foot. (The boys love the jack-toe-lantern and talk to it regularly. I have to admit that this wasn't a development I was really prepared to deal with.)

On Monday evening, we roasted the pumpkin seeds and proceeded to eat nearly all of them that very night.

On Tuesday we watched the Halloween episode of Bubble Guppies approximately 73 times in preparation for trick-or-treating.

And on Wednesday, despite the cold, despite the rain, we went trick-or-treating.

Why didn't will dress up as Mario, you ask? Well, because that would have been too expected. The real reason , of course, is because they don't make Mario costumes in size 2T, ridiculously. Even though it would have been easy to do a homemade version, I opted instead to just use the firefighter costume Andrew wore two years ago. My poor, poor second child. (He really didn't care as long as he got to wear his "fireman booties." He loves those boots.)

We had a fantastic time trick-or-treating. Everyone was in a great mood despite the crummy weather, and so many of our neighbors dressed up or decorated their houses festively. We even came upon a police officer in his cruiser who turned on his lights and gave the boys candy, and a parked fire truck with firemen passing out goodies. Seeing grown-ups dressed like he was blew Will's mind a little bit, I think. At one of the houses, the boy passing out candy was dressed as Mario, which blew Andrew's mind.

The boys each got a ton of candy, although I'm pretty sure Will got more, because as it turns out he has a very aggressive trick-or-treating style and an eye for the good candy that I really appreciate.

This is what they looked like when they woke up this morning. Halloween hangover or candy coma? Call it whatever you want, but it hit them full-force.

WORTH IT.