Halloween

Halloween kicked off early this year with the youchien Halloween Party.  The kids got to wear costumes to school and parents of the Tamago and Usagi classes were invited to come and watch.  The big room upstairs was all decked out.  My favorite decorations were the bats that said "I'LL BITE YOUR NECK IF YOU'LL BITE MINE" on the wings.  What does it mean??  

 The English teacher (a woman from base) is in charge of planning the Halloween party every year.  She taught the kids some songs to perform at the party and they've been practicing them all month.  Vivien really likes the songs, but every time she sings them I can hardly choke back the laughter because she's been listening to her Japanese senseis and classmates sing the English words.  "A funny rittr rady with a pointing hat . . ."

Andelynn enjoyed the party.  She made fast friends with the little girl sitting next to us.  I still can't believe how white she is.  Although, considering Drew is her Daddy . . . (Drew and I have a long standing debate on which of us is more tan than the other, like there's even a doubt that it's me :)

The next excitement of Halloween this year was Drew's long planned for Darth Maul costume.  He did it all himself (except the face painting at the very end).  It began with the molding of the horns out of clay purchased from the Daiso.

 Then the horns were hand painted/textured with eye shadow (the one on the left was an experiment with a different type of clay).

 And then there were many hours devoted to trying to dye the old jiu jitsu uniform black.  We didn't have a pot big enough to hold the whole thing on the stove, so Drew tried stewing it in a large Tupperware in our shower.  After many attempts and chemistry experiments, it was finally given up as a lost cause.

 Luckily, Drew had a plan B, which involved black shirts from the Daiso and a UW graduation gown.  I knew that degree was going to come in handy sometime!

 On Friday they let everyone at the clinic dress up for work, so Drew got up early to stick on his horns.

 Then we started the face painting.  Drew had ordered some really awesome face paint with a foundation and a setting powder on Amazon, but it all arrived on Saturday--one day too late!  The Daiso pulled through for us again, though.  This was the easiest stuff to apply I have ever worked with, and it came off pretty well too.

 I think it took about an hour, and I would not say so myself, but my friends tell me it looked pretty darn good.

 We took some posed pictures.

 Then spent the rest of the day laughing at Darth Maul doing every day things.  Eating breakfast with his kids . . .

 . . . flirting at car windows with beautiful women (me, in case you were worried) . . .

 . . . doing administrative work . . .

This whole Sith Lord thing would be a lot more fun if the paperwork after all these dark missions wasn't so tedious!

 . . . and trying to make non-threatening faces at the baby and totally failing.  "Everything I do looks scary!"

 The horns stayed on really well all day (glued on with fake eyelash glue, again from the Daiso).  They left funny patches when they did finally come off at the end of the day though.

On Halloween night we went to a party with the friends we had over for the 4th of July.  They had wanted to reserve a community room to hang out in all evening, but when they went to make the reservation, the only room left was Officers-only.  So my friend asked if I'd be willing to reserve it for her and invited us to tag along for the merry making.  She said she didn't feel bad about using Drew for his rank.  We didn't either.  I was, however, a little worried about surviving a Halloween party without cheating on the InsanityMax:30 nutrition plan we've been diligently following for the last couple weeks.

Rafe and Vivi are my cheerleaders in the morning when I do my workouts.  They're just excited they get to watch TV!

We have been eating lots of healthy things.  Like this rainbow dinner:

Spaghetti squash, Okinawan sweet potatoes, tilapia, grapes, and broccoli.

And this honeydew I pureed with agave nectar and stuck in an ice cream maker for family night treat:

So, I volunteered to bring side dishes for the party and spent all Friday night and Saturday morning making healthy Halloween food exciting enough to tempt us away from consuming vast quantities of chocolate.  There were Orange Jack-o-Lanterns stuffed with baby greens, orange chunks, and cinnamon roasted pumpkin seeds.  The orange vinaigrette dressing for them was really good; I would make it again!

And there was a Skeleton Cat veggie tray with black bean dip.

Also these Monster Apple Bites.

And finally, Frozen Banana Ghost Pops that were supposed to be dipped in white chocolate but that I dipped in the yogurt I make instead.  I think Vivi ate seven of them.

My feverish food preparation meant that I pretty much ignored everyone all day, so by the time we were ready to go to the party, Rafe was a nap-skipping mess.  And he still needs a haircut.

He cheered up a bit when the party began with a piñata.  

It took many rounds through the kids and a dad breaking the plastic bat swinging at it before the piñata disgorged its contents on the playground outside the community room. 

 Then we went trick-or-treating in the row homes nearby.  We had a hard time getting from door to door, because all the Japanese people who had been invited on base for the Halloween festivities kept stopping Drew to take pictures with him.  

The Japanese policemen had very lightsaberish lights for directing traffic.  

Also, he had to do battle with every Jedi we crossed.

After trick-or-treating, we feasted.  Rafe was not to be distracted from the novelty of a bag full of candy by my healthy foods.  He ate every single last one of those Nerds, and lots more besides.  

After dinner we thanked our friends for a fun evening and went home.  I think all had a good day!  Here they are posing with the pumpkins they carved (well, the kids designed and Drew carved).   

Happy Halloween!