Halloween!

Halloween was the big event this week. Here's the evidence. We attended our ward Halloween Carnival at which families laid claim to various classroom doors and the kids trick-or-treated throughout the three floors of the building. Before hand there was a cupcake walk, doughnut on a string contest, fright bingo, pumpkin toss, and lots of yummy breads and veggies. This last picture is of Cindarella played by Julia and Sleeping Beauty played by Mayah Sevy. The whole gamut of Disney Princesses were represented, but this is the only group shot we could get.

Our text editor, unfortunately, cannot retell the week's happenings because--thanks in large measure to that illustrious publication The Yale Law Journal--he was absent for most of them.

Our photo editor, fortunately, will not burden her readers with an account because having spent the better portion of the last 148 hours tending two young tasmanian devils alone, the account could only wrench her audience's hearts out. For the sake of family history, here's an encapsulated week-in-review:

• Lia was asked to substitute for the early-morning seminary class this week; she eagerly agreed, ending the week with a measly one student on Thursday morning, whom she had to go pick up herself and drop off at school afterward.
• Tuesday was the shower for which the quilt was made. Good thing, because the baby in question arrived three weeks early two days later.
• Wednesday, see above.
• Thursday, Justin taught Institute. The girls ran amok in the basement while Lia watched on in a failed attempt to do a service to another married couple in the ward.
• Friday, Lia and Justin attended the Yale Opera. Our baby-sitter reports that Julia went absolutely berserk for the first thirty minutes, at one point ripping off all her clothes and screaming bloody murder as she tried to exit the building. The neighbors happened out in the middle of this, no doubt thinking this looked very suspicious, hence our babysitter explaining the confusion.
• Saturday, Justin took Julia on a daddy-daughter date to the mall where they read books at Borders, visited the pet store, and shared gelato.
• Sunday, the family returned far past bedtime from a wonderful dinner and evening with the Bayly family. Julia and Eli played beautifully with Madeline and Savannah and their mountains of toys (the Baylys are one of the few families in the ward who are established people with a house!), and the adults had an equally blissful time, due in no small part to the unnecessity of refereeing the children's play.