Wild Things Part 2

This week I went decorating and baking crazy, preparing for our Wild Rumpus. First order of business, add some wild things to the house. Here's an illustration from the book for inspiration:
And here are three of the wild things. The redhead looks a bit like a muppet to me, but Ben recognized them all and was pretty excited. It was nice to have a Halloween monster that was also a familiar literary reference, and not too scary for the kids (although I've seen Spike Jonze's movie, and those wild things scared me!).
I carved our pumpkin and Ben lay down next to it, had a conversation with it, and gave it a kiss.

I baked pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (decorated like wild things) and mint julep brownies (these are the best brownies I've ever eaten). These two recipes had so much butter in them that I'd rather not think about it, but it was great fun to abandon all health concerns and make massive amounts of decadent sweets for a crowd. I also made Nutter Butter ghosts because I thought Ben would love them, which he did.

And I made some slimy mozzerella eyeballs (in balsamic and olive oil), which were yummy and wonderfully funny to look at!
And, yes, I see that misspelling now. Ga! How embarrassing! Even editors need editors.

In spite of the 5-10 inches of snow forecast for last night and a mild cold going around that everyone seems to have acquired this week, we had a good crowd and a lot of fun.
Here's Ben after a few hours in a house filled with people:
Oh, and I wore my mom's German dirdl and went as Snow White (or rather, an aging Snow White with freckles). I put a felt crown on Chris and informed him he was Prince Charming, although I threatened to put scary makeup on him and make him the evil queen if he didn't behave. Here, Mom, I thought you'd like a photo:
Doesn't this dress just make you think of Christmas? Don't I look like someone who resides in a Gingerbread House? Well, in a few weeks I'll be jumping into advent with gusto, and maybe I'll have to pull the dirndl out while we're applying gumdrop buttons to gingys. So many things to do! I love holidays.

Wild Things Part 1

Ben and I are both big fans of Maurice Sendak's classic Where the Wild Things Are. In fact, the copy I read to Ben is the copy I had as a child. He has memorized all of Max's lines to call out when we're reading it: "I eat you up!" "Let the wild rumpus start!" "Now stop!" When I asked him if he'd like a wolf costume like Max for Halloween, he said yes.

Just for a visual reference, check this out:
Oh, Max. You naughty boy.

Now here's Ben's version of Max. I just attached ears, buttons, whiskers, and a tail to a white sweatsuit. He was pretty comfortable in it.
Our first event was our town's Halloween on Main Street. Every Friday night before Halloween the town cuts off traffic on Main Street, and you can trick or treat at all the businesses and library, etc. Thousands of people show up in really excellent costumes. My favorite this year was a boy dressed as a headless man, carrying his own head.

Ben trick-or-treated several places, greeted with plenty of "aawww, how cute!" from those doling out candy.
Then he got tired of walking and Chris carried him home.
The next post will contain photos from our party!