Halloween inspired pictures

During flag football and at other occasions, Raina was fascinated by a whistle. She really loved to blow it and make ridiculously loud sounds; it didn't take us very long to picture Raina as a referee for Halloween. We bought some black duct tape, got her a whistle, made a red card, and tried to prep her in appropriate officiating behavior. She'd raise her hands and say touchdown, but was intermittent in throwing the red card and saying "you're outta here!" Here is Raina watching for other people dressed like her.

We thought Raina's costume was adorable and perfect. We practiced it on the Sunday before Halloween and she refused to take it off. We had to bribe her with another costume to get the ref costume off. Unfortunately, come Halloween, Raina refused to put her ref costume back on, and so she went out in the same costume she wore last Halloween. We have the pictures to immortalize that we're not complete slackers. It's just unfortunate that, at age 2, she's already recycled her Halloween costume.

Here she is, all decked out in her "purple" costume. Eric brought this outfit back from Thailand last year. It fits perfectly now.

Each day we come home, we load up in the stroller and take Roxanne out for a walk. Raina knows she should wear a hat when outside; lately, she has switched to her winter hat and mittens. I believe it was 70 degrees outside on this day, but Raina wanted winter wear. She's pretty cute in it.

The little miss is all geared up for trick-or-treating. Raina was very eager to go, and got rather impatient with her parents at the end. The camera's batteries died and mommy had to put her costume back on. But, finally, we set out.

Raina's response to the command, "Say cheese!"

Weeks ago, the Whomptons celebrated autumn's approach by picking pumpkins. A few weeks later, Krystal panicked because we hadn't carved the pumpkins yet and we had to get it done before Halloween. We had a lovely afternoon carving pumpkins. Then the poor jack-o-lantern sat outside for WEEKS because Krystal was totally mistaken about how much time actually remained until Halloween. Anyway, Raina originally designed this pumpkin to be "happy" but, after multiple weeks of decay and then mold and insect growth, the pumpkin became quite desiccated and, in Raina's words, "scary." She became quite terrified of the pumpkin, and all through Halloween, she kept saying, "I don't like the scary pumpkin." Even now, when looking at the picture, she says "scary!" and turns away for a protective cuddle hug.

It totally mushed when we put it in the trash. A fun and disgusting experience all around.

Raina went to multiple houses for trick-or-treating. Each time, we prepped her on the whole procedure but she never responded to the people with "trick or treat" or even a smile. Instead, she retreated to a parent's arms and only emerged when the candy bowl came out. Raina was confused with the first person: she tried to give back the candy she had in her bag. Maybe she thought it was a candy exchange? After that initial encounter, though, she was quite an expert and she knew that she could get more and more candy by looking cute. Also, we asked her at the end of each house, "are we done, or do you want to go to one more house?" She always said another house, but then became trepadacious when approaching the house. However, as soon as she saw the candy bowl, she was all smiles.

postnote: Raina didn't eat the candy she collected. We came home and told her to empty her candy into the candy bowl. She happily did, and then we gave out all her candy to the other trick-or-treaters. She had a lot more fun playing with her Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF coins.

The latest Whompton family photo. If I remember to do it, I'll scan and post last year's version of this picture. You'll note that Raina and Krystal are happily in costume, and Eric is just wearing a polo and khakis. Eventually we'll get him in costume.

This woman recently moved on the street and her house was completely decked out. She carved her pumpkins: one had a cat and the other had two rats. Very cool! She was also the only other adult dressed up in costume.

After finishing trick-or-treating, we retreated home to answer the door, distribute candy, hear atrocious jokes, and paint pumpkins.

Raina was partial to the greens, blues, and purples when painting.

I just think she's cute in her ponytail.