Happy Halloween.

It's fun to finally celebrate Halloween. We didn't do anything for Halloween last year because we were in Poland, where the stores still offered lots of candy and decorations but I didn't see anyone buying (the candy or the imported holiday...). Before Poland, Anna wasn't really coherent for the first two Halloweens of her life. But this year, we knew she'd love it. Candy... costumes... squishy pumpkin innards... what's not to like?

We carved our pumpkin on Monday. Before I show you how it turned out, I have a little explaining to do. In the Scoresby family, we have a tradition of making Apple Uglies. Every October we take caramel apples and give them faces made out of candy. It's a delightful, delectable tradition. The best part is ODing on sugar and chatting it up with the fam.

It's not hard to make them ugly, but to set them apart you really need some flair. Like a giant set of starburst teeth on my apple from Girls Trip to NY October 2006.


(Thanks for the pirated pictures, Jen.) See, that's how dedicated to this tradition we are. We make it a point to do apple uglies even when we're on vacation. Here's Steph's beauty...


...and Jen's and Sean's, respectively. (Are those supposed to be arms, Jen? I can't remember, but I love them.)

Anyway, since Trevor is MIA these days, as he's at school for literally 16 hours a day, I couldn't rationalize making caramel apples for myself. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone and make a Pumpkin Ugly. I tried. I really did. I went for odd-shaped, googly eyes, an obligatory unibrow, a funky hairline and sideburns, a big nose, and buck teeth.

Sadly, it looks pretty run of the mill. He even looks angry. That's not what I was going for at all. But I guess that's what you get for doing it freehand and not having any artistic talent.


On Tuesday, we dressed Anna up in the only costume I could muster after having just moved, the adorable Polish folk dress you'll remember from this July post, and took her to our ward Halloween party on Tuesday. Many people called her a gypsy and one lady said she looked like a Swiss mountain girl — which isn't too far off, geographically — but strangely no one guessed Polish folk girl.


Here are a couple pictures of Trevor and Anna at the festivities. Trevor's face in the second will give you a good holiday scare.



I couldn't resist taking a picture of this adorable little gorilla girl. She toddled around the cultural hall all night and I just wanted to squeeze her... and also maybe see if she'd give me a grunt or two...


We ate chili and cornbread and then the kids trick-or-treated around to different rooms. Anna kept saying "tricky treat" (cute!) and calling her acquired candy her "trick-or-treats" (also cute!). I of course hid her bag of candy after she went to bed, like a good parent, and thought (hoped) she'd forget about it in the morning.

She didn't. One of the first things out of her mouth was, "Mom, where my trick-or-treats go?" I didn't answer for a while so I wouldn't have to lie, and then when she demanded an answer, I said, "That's an interesting question... Hey, do you want to play a game?" It totally worked.

So I've been eating her Halloween candy and giving her some here and there when I feel like it — like a good parent.

Isn't Halloween the best?