Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Can you believe it? They're amazing.

Pumpkin Muffin

Out and about with my friend Noel yesterday. We stopped by Breadsmith and I picked up a pumpkin muffin for myself and a pumpkin scone for her. I just can't get enough of all things pumpkin.

Halloween 2013 - design: jdl

Graphics by: design: jdl

Halloween 2013 - So Long Pumpkin

Got rid of this year's Jack-O-Lantern last night. It was trying to go back to the earth and I didn't feel it could do that very well on the dining room table.

Halloween 2013 - Sam's Family

Sam and Becky's boys (not shown here) had some fun costumes. Calvin was The Hulk, Cashel was Thor, and Cairic was Luke Skywalker.

Halloween 2013 - Pete and Steph

Pete and Steph went with a Day of the Dead theme.

Halloween 2013 - Pete's Family

Steph and the kids dressed up as Minions from Despicable Me. 

Halloween 2013 - Pumpkin to Jack-O-Lantern

Athena looks on.

Halloween 2013 - Neighbors Gettin' In the Spirit

Halloween 2013 - Neighbors Gettin' In the Spirit

Halloween 2013 - Neighbors Gettin' In the Spirit

Halloween 2013 - Neighbors Gettin' In the Spirit

Our neighbor Toni is the self-proclaimed Queen of Halloween. She always does a big over the top display in her yard every year. Athena went nuts as we walked by the dog in the center of the picture. It lit up and the head moved as it made a growling sound. Tony actually made an appearance and said, "I don't think she likes my hound of hell." I said, "No she doesn't, but I do. Happy Halloween!" She told me to be sure to stop back later when her whole crew would be out.  I few years ago our neighbor Linnea said that she brought her little boy Ben to trick or treat at Toni's house and that her Halloween ensemble players scared the bujeebuzz out of the both of them. 

Halloween 2013 - Playlist

Added a few new songs to the Halloween playlist on my iPod:

10.  I Put a Spell On You - Joe Cocker
11.  The Monster Hop - Jimmy Dee
12.  Mad Scientwist - Los Straightjackets
13.  The Monster Hop - Bert Convy
14.  It's a Hip Hop Halloween Night - The Halloween Freaks
15.  Zombie Jamboree - The Kingston Trio
16.  Haunted House - Sam the Sham and the Pharaoh's

Photos clockwise from top left: 1) Joe Cocker  2) The Straightjackets  3) Jimmy Dee  4) Sam the Sham and the Pharaoh's  5) The Halloween Freaks 6) The Kingston Trio  7) Bert Convy

Halloween 2013

Graphic by design: jdl

Halloween 2013 - Spooky Wax Lips

I found these wax lips, like the kind I remember buying as a kid, at Kowalski's a few days ago.

Halloween 2013 - Joe's "Costume"

Stud

From Dale's blog:

"55 trick or treaters last night. So much fun! We also had our neighbor, Warren, over for drinks and dinner. And a surprisde drop-in from our neighbor, Mary. Watched 'Matilda.' It was wonderful! How did I not know about this movie?"

I agree. The movie was a lot of fun. We also ordered Chinese after we shut down the house from trick-or-treating. We had 6 bags of candy with a total of about 250 pieces. I believe we went through about 200. This is the first year during the last few that we actually had more candy than we needed. 

I made the above and following "costumes" with an iPad app I have since none of us dressed up. Fun night.

Halloween 2013 - Dale's "Costume"

Macho Man

Halloween 2013 - Warren's "Costume"

Muscle Man

Halloween 2013 - Tchotchke Display

I guess I got a thing for black cats...

Halloween 2013 - Jack-O-Lantern

Set the jack-o-lantern out shortly after 5:00.

Halloween 2013 - Candy

Set out the candy shortly after making my first cocktail. Estimate is that we've got about 250 pieces to pass out.

Halloween 2013 - Cocktail Time

Made my Halloween martini around 5:00 pm. Don't have class tomorrow so I'm not feeling bad about imbibing.

Halloween 2013 - The Big Day

We'll see how the kids do at school today. Yesterday they had that glazed-over pre-Halloween look in their eyes for most of the day.

Halloween Season 2013 - Pumpkin Carving 5

The finished product. Not bad even if I do say so myself.

Halloween Season 2013 - Pumpkin Carving 4

Before. Never got to carving the smaller pumpkin. The big one turned out to be a LOT of work!

Halloween Season 2013 - Pumpkin Carving 3

This year I actually separated the seeds. Hopefully we'll actually roast them.

Halloween Season 2013 - Pumpkin Carving 2

Athena looks upon the scene with a great deal of interest.

Halloween Season 2013 - Pumpkin Carving 1

I love the smell of a pumpkin when it's opened up. It brings me right back to my childhood at the house on Stevens.

Halloween Season 2013 - Candy

Walked up to Walgreen's after work to purchase the candy stash for tomorrow. Bought 6 bags (one not pictured). I'm estimating there to be about 250 pieces.

Halloween Season 2013 - Pumpkin Carving Kit

This year was the first year I bought a pumpkin carving kit. In the end, it turned out to be pretty useless except for the scooper.

Halloween Season 2013 - This Year's Pumpkins

I insisted on getting two pumpkins this year but when we paid for them at Lund's I told the cashier that it was Dale who had to have them. When Dale tried to defend himself the cashier kept jumping in with comments about how big the pumpkins were and how much fun we were going to have carving them. Dale expressed his displeasure over the whole thing as we walked back to the car. When I told him how impressed she seemed with the pumpkins and our whole undertaking to carve them he seemed to feel a bit better about it.

Halloween Season 2013 - Alter Ego

My Facebook Halloween alter ego for 2013.

Halloween Season 2013 - Yep, Just One Day...

Graphic by design: jdl

Halloween Season 2013 - Pickin' (Out) Pumpkins

Dale and I stopped by Lund's tonight to pick up a couple of pumpkins. We'll carve 'em tomorrow...

Halloween Season 2013 - Pumpkin Pie

We had pumpkin pie last night for dessert for the first time this season. We usually have it with whipped cream but this time we ate it with vanilla ice cream.

Halloween Season 2013 - New Tchotchke

Just came today in the mail from Traditions.

Halloween Season 2013 - It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Tonight Dale and I watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. I always get a kick out of the little dance Charlie Brown does when he gets an invitation to the Halloween party. It looks like he's doing an Irish jig.

Halloweeen Season 2013 - The Nightmare Before Christmas

Last night I watched Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. Dale and I saw this back in 1993 and he didn't like it as much as I did. I didn't realize until last night that Catherine O'Hara was the voice of Sally. Love her.

Halloween Season 2013 - Pumpkin Waffles

Dale and I returned to the Longfellow Grill yesterday to relive the joys of the pumpkin pancakes we found there last weekend. Sadly, they were not on the menu. Happily, they were offering pumpkin waffles instead! They were amazing. They were actually a bit lighter than the pancakes and just as delicious. Dale said he'd like to make chocolate chip cookies using his Mom's recipe but add pumpkin to the mix. Sounds good to me. Now, if I could just find the time to make some of my pumpkin bread that I haven't baked in a few years...

Halloween Season 2013 - Pumpkin Plant

Sadly, the pumpkin plant I wrote about a in August died a few weeks ago. Not sure what happened. I was watering it. Anyway, RIP. Maybe I'll plant one this fall and try again next year.

Halloween Season 2013 - Mickey's Ghoul Friend

Found this recently on a random google search for I-don't-remember-what. The copyright is 2013, although it is very evocative of Disney shorts from the 1930s. The update is clever and quite chuckle-worthy.

Halloween Season 2013 - Linus and Marcie

Found this on Snoopy's Facebook page yesterday. Pretty funny.

Halloween Season 2013: Full Moon - Friday October 18, 2013

Time for the Full Hunter's Moon.

Halloween Season 2013 - Pumpkin Pancakes

Dale and I ate at the Longfellow Grill the other day and were pleased to discover pumpkins pancakes as one of the specials. Wow. All I can say is, wow. They were that delicious.

Halloween Season 2013 - New Tchotchke

Picked this Nicole Sayre piece up over at Gypsy Moon in St. Paul.