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We're back! We went to visit my dad and step mom last Wednesday, and got home Saturday afternoon. We also took my sister, Roz, who will be living up there for a while to help out and save some money.

We had a good visit; I was glad to be able to go help out. Dad and LuAnn have been back and forth between doctor visits, so Roz and I cooked them some non-casserole meals and helped them catch up on cleaning. Drew and Owen "helped" by getting into everything. Samantha was actually really well behaved and just sat on the couch and chatted while Roz and I worked.

We also got to go trick-or-treating while we were there, in the little town near my dad's farm. I was skeptical, thinking the town is so small (like, 300 people), but I was pleasantly surprised (there might actually be 400 people there, and many of them were out on Halloween). The boys had so much fun knocking on doors and saying, "Churk-o-Chreet!" They were really polite and said "thank you" almost every time without much reminding. Drew even did a trick for an elderly lady who, as she handed him some candy, said, "Here's your treat, where's the trick?" I told him to make a Corvette sound, which he did. The lady looked all startled, then laughed.

Owen dressed as a cowboy (not really considered "dressing up" in a farm town, but whatever). I never finished the mummy costume so I thought one of the boys could be a scarecrow. But Owen ended up with the overalls and cowboy hat, and didn't want to keep the straw in his sleeves and collar (not that I blame him).

After much screaming, cajoling, wailing and gnashing of teeth, Drew dressed as Dracula. He threw a fit when I tried to put the cape on him. We told him if he was going to act like that, he could stay home. He sorta stopped crying and said, "Okay, I'll go." So I tried once again to put the cape on him. Once again he threw a fit. After repeating the scenario five times, he finally came running out the door after us with the loathed cape in hand. We put it on him in the car on the way to town.

Drew getting ready to suck the blood of a Teddy Graham.

Drew freaking out about wearing a cape, Owen sinking his teeth into some sugar.

Samantha was dressed as a pumpkin. I was really pleased with how the costume turned out, but couldn't get her to cooperate for a decent photo. Oh well. She had a great time trick-or-treating. We didn't take a bag for her, because she really didn't need a ton of candy (not like Drew and Owen did either), but a few people gave her candy anyway--she was so cute in her little pumpkin outfit, her chubby fists holding onto a Snickers bar for dear life.

My little Pumpkin Lumpkin.