When Halloween is on a Saturday it spills over into the days that surround it, was this the case for you too?

On Friday morning:

Millie’s pre-school had a Halloween parade and carnival.

On Friday afternoon, due to balmy weather, we took our fun out of doors. Some people “take tea” we like to “take fun”.

For no particular reason I brought our parachute outside. One thing lead to another and before we knew it we had a “treat tree house”.  What do you do in a treat tree house? I hope that is obvious…YOU EAT TREATS – this is the kind of game I am REALLY good at.

(A “treat tree house”, invented by Millie, can be constructed in a number of ways. Don’t let the professionalism of our tree house put you off from making one of your own. We were just plain lucky that ours ended up looking like a lady with bushy hair wearing a beret…c’est magnifique!)

Millie singing a song about our tree house – wish I had a recording of this composed-on-the-spot-ditty. It was rockin’!

one for you…

…and one for me!

We were having such fun that Millie suggested we get Dad in on the mix. So she put in a call…

And look who showed up on our front porch!

BUT WAIT! THERE’S STILL MORE…

Later that same evening we headed to the ward for our annual “Trunk-or-Treat”.

Clara as strawberry and Lucy as ewok, respectively.

Remember these kids?

Sadly, the sugar high did not get us home.

By the time we got around to doing the actual trick-or-treating, on the 31st, we were OVER IT.

NO! Not really.

Not at all!

It was actually wonderful (and quick – due to the rain!)

Millie trick-or-treated with her two buds Jack and Drew and they were so stinkin’ cute.

(check out Drew’s expression – the Jedi to the right of Millie – that is the face of a happy man!)

They were polite, saying “Happy Halloween” and “Thank you” at every house. They waited for each other, looked out for each other and were just so excited.  It got me right in that soft spot of mine.

I also got nostalgic. Remembering last year when these three little munchkins were doing the same thing on the same street. I can’t get over how much they have changed from one year to the next!

Same night, a year ago, to the day, but totally different kids! YOWZA!

Must dash – Millie has prepared a Halloween/Thanksgiving party with decorations and games for all of us to enjoy. (I’m 100% serious!)

Let the good times roll… (she says wearily)

…that produces such excellent outfits?

Something in the air? The water? I don’t know for sure the reason. But one thing IS certain,

FRIDAY = LOOKING AWESOME!

Recall if you will the last time I posted about one of Millie’s outfits. She wore that on a Friday.

She always seems to look her very cutest on a Friday.

About three Fridays past she wore this number:

Close up of those socks:

The very socks she told me she did not want to wear, but somehow I convinced her they were the bees’ knees. Later that day as we were walking home we passed a few hip college aged girls who made special mention of  THE SOCKS! Millie beamed with pride. A little fashionista in the making, I tell ya.

Last Friday she sported this sweet “get-up”:

But I feel pretty convinced that this Friday’s outfit takes the cake:

She is not the first, nor will she be the last little girl who will parade through the darkening streets at Halloween , as Dorothy Gale, but she is MY Dorothy and so, as you can imagine, I am smitten.

Last night as I was gathering her costume together I thought about Adrian Adolph Greenburg, the designer responsible for this costume that has become iconic. It really is a great design. I wanted to thank him for his design and especially for those ruby slippers. (And I want to thank Target for mass producing them, and only charging $10 for them!)

Once we were in the grocery store and Millie was wearing her sparkly red Dorothy shoes (these are actually her second pair, she’s out-grown the first) the lady behind us in line said, “OH! THOSE SHOES! I always wanted a pair of those shoes!” I’d wanted them too. Target didn’t exist when she and I were little girls.

So wear them for yourself and all the other little girls who always wanted a pair!

Here’s lookin’ at you kid.

And here’s to a H A P P Y  H A L L O W E E N !!