Cinnamon Spice Makes EVERYTHING Nice

It's FINALLY really coming together. The cabinets were hung with care on Saturday by Jason, Kenny (aka Dadoo), Jen's brother Matthew and our dear friend Mark. They look incredible. Jennifer & Amy assisted by being bossy and rather uncharacteristically laid back (truth be told they worked on wedding plans most of the day for the upcoming Jackson-Zientarski nuptials). But who, you ask, is the adorable (albeit short) red-headed fellow peeking out from the sink cabinet depths? It's Daniel, our nephew (Matt's 18 month old son), who made sure to test the durability of our cabinets (and his own as well - we need kid-sized hard hats in this house). Check our photos from the weekend below! They look amazing, I can't believe how happy I am!



Over 1,000 pieces of candy ....

and we only hand out one piece to each trick or treater. Yeah, a lot of kids from Chicago come to Oak Park. But one thousand?

WOW.

But I gotta say, it's our own fault. Coz we got the best house in the neighborhood! Our neighbors got the brilliant idea to have our second block party on October 31st, so the kids could go up and down and across the street without any worries.

And we had the best cast of characters. This year's list included:
(Clockwise from bottom left)
Combo priest/Jason.........................................Scott
Demonhead........................................................Amy
Trina the Child-Eating Witch..........................Jen
Malcolm, pet zombie at large..........................Mark
Death..................................................................Jerry
The Grim Reaper..............................................Jay
Corpse Bride......................................................Julie
Classy Corpse Man...........................................Fake Dummy

The best quote I heard I think was "You all should be TV actors! You're damn scary!"
What was your favorite? Speak up ....

Boo.

We like Halloween. Did you know that? We do. A LOT. When Jason went to the block coffee meetup this past summer, neighbors identified him to each other as the owner of the Halloween House (here's a scary postscript: most thought our house was vacant). But yes, it's becoming a tradition - deck out the house, get friends to come over, and spend the evening terrifying kids (AND their parents). In a good way.



This year, Mark and Amy, or rather, Malcolm the Zombie Boy and Countess Amelia Who Vants to Suck Your Blood, joined Jason's Grim Reaper and my own stupid (yet scary) invention, Evil Zombie Chef-Servant, in giving the kiddies nightmares. We made some children run so far from their parents that the foulest language was shouted in the street, and one kid even chucked his candy bag into our "cemetary" in his hurry to get away - and then wouldn't come back for it. The best, though, is a tie between the shattered flower pot and the litter of costume parts left on our lawn.

Ahhhh, Halloween.


TOP 10 THINGS HEARD AT HUMPHREY HOUSE THIS HALLOWEEN
1. "Now, Malcolm, don't get excited ... that's it, take him back to the cage!"
2. "Please don't scare my baby!"
3. "Oh HELL no!"
4. "That thing is your PET?"
5. "Oh SNAP!"
6. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
7. "No, my god, you people ain't right."
8. "I ain't afraid of you. You don't scare me. You're not -AAAAAAAAAGH!"
9. "It's okay honey, really, see, you can take the candy, c'mon honey, it's okay ..."


AND THE SWEETEST COMMENT HEARD THIS YEAR ...
10. "I ain't never coming to you scary people's house ever again!"

Thanks guys, we really couldn't have done it without you.