In Keeping With the Theme ...

Yes. We are a tad cheesy. Here are more cheesy, goofy, fun pictures from Halloween, Happy Harvest, Reformation Day.

We went up the street to a Reformation Day, Halloween, Happy Harvest Festival, where the kids (Samuel) jumped around in some inflatable houses with his friends.

Then we came back to our house for chili and trick-or-treating visited some homes in my neighborhood where we dressed up and asked for candy.

Whew.

I get so confused.

Anyhoo. We had a wonderful night together with friends. If you cannot easily find the ever-so-clever theme for our family, we were nerds twins.

Kelly and her boys. Joshua was so cute!

Ellerie finds this whole charade a bit beneath her.

Emmie as Princess Leia making a fashion statement sans the buns.

Time for candy!

This one house had an apparent love for all things trick-or-treat and had like a dozen buckets of different candies. They had invited all of their older friends (read: grandma's & grandpa's with feather boa's) and actually took pictures of the kids.

It was kind of funny.

And kind of weird.

But no matter. It was candy. Our kids were willing to pose for a couple of pictures in order to collect from this large bounty of goods!

Then, they turned on the smoke machine, which provided more than ample coverage for our little beggars to dig in for more loot.

Brian & Calvin

The Crew (in part)

A Motley Crew

Don't ask how the girls came up with their costumes. I am not sure how more polar opposite two people could be, than that of a geisha and Napoleon Dynamite. Too bad we weren't in Texas with the Jolly's because unbeknownst to us, Jeffrey had gone as Pedro.

Coincidence? I think not.

Rather, I think that our oldest two children love to make people laugh and are quite good at doing so.

Samuel managed to keep Mr. Incredible in one piece for the actual trick-or-treating event but after a wearing the costume as a ditch-digging uniform, I had my concerns.

I think Emma made a beautiful geisha, but she kept insisting on this serious frown in all the pictures, so we discussed the difference between the geisha and the sumo wrestler.....which she was not. I managed to coax a smile....

We went to Dusty's house for chili and rotel cheese dip. I avoided both like the plague and ate cornbread and Butterfingers all night, which agreed with my stomach much better.


Napoleon spent a great deal of time agonizing over chapstick.

The neighborhood was relatively quiet, but the kids managed to gather a fair amount of loot. I have used my pregnancy to play each one of them like a fiddle, in order to acquire chocolate by the pound.

According to the scale....several pounds.

I posted a picture of Dusty's youngest as a pirate with a pacifier because he was way cuter than a pirate was supposed to be.

What a fun night!

Christians & Halloween...

I have read this article before and I have found it to be the best reflection of our thinking in regard to Halloween.

Grace to You says:

Evil spirits are no more active and sinister on Halloween than they are on any other day of the year; in fact, any day is a good day for Satan to prowl about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). But "greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). God has forever "disarmed principalities and powers" through the cross Christ and "made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them through [Christ]" (Colossians 2:15).

There's another option open to Christians: limited, non-compromising participation in Halloween. There's nothing inherently evil about candy, costumes, or trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. In fact, all of that can provide a unique gospel opportunity with neighbors. Even handing out candy to neighborhood children--provided you're not stingy--can improve your reputation among the kids. As long as the costumes are innocent and the behavior does not dishonor Christ, trick-or-treating can be used to further gospel interests.

Ultimately, Christian participation in Halloween is a matter of conscience before God. Whatever level of Halloween participation you choose, you must honor God by keeping yourself separate from the world and by showing mercy to those who are perishing. Halloween provides the Christian with the opportunity to accomplish both of those things in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a message that is holy, set apart from the world; it's a message that is the very mercy of a forgiving God. What better time of the year is there to share such a message than Halloween?

You can read the entire article here.

Dress-up fun from the past....