halloween 2024 and other happenings last week

last tuesday i went to a new (to me) restaurant in ballard with kay and rebekah for lunch called 'secret congee.' i had never had congee before, but i loved it. i got spicy shrimp. i already want to go back! 

in the evening azalea had soccer practice. and thatcher got home from vancouver. no more work travel for him til spring now :) 

wednesday morning i had coffee at 'petit pierre' in phinney ridge with my friend marlene who used to run the co-working space. i hadn't seen her in many years, so it was nice to catch up. 

thursday was halloween! azalea got to bring her costume to school for the middle school halloween party in the afternoon. ashford's school does not do halloween celebrations. after school, ashford went to his friend elijah's with a bunch of his buddies and they all wore their costumes. then he came home for dinner and to get ready for trick or treating. we were a bit frazzled trying to get out the door, but i made sure we got a picture. thatcher took it for us, because he does not dress up.

lemon meringue, an avocado, and a banana

and here are our pumpkins this year. i didn't get any pictures of them lit up in the dark. 

they were forecasting rain all week, so we held our breath and waited to see how wet it would be. they weren't forecasting a lot of rain, but it steadily rained on us all night. womp womp. we've been so lucky to have almost all dry halloweens since we moved here, so i guess we were due. we met up at kay's house with a bunch of ashford's friends and their parents. look at all those bananas! 

the boys went off on their own for the first 45 minutes while the parents huddled under a tent in the driveway and sipped mulled wine. then we joined them for another hour of trick or treating. we were all soaked by 8pm, candy included! 

 when we went to fritz's, azalea met up with her friends at sisi's and they went out on their own. sisi's dad sent me this picture of the strawberry shortcake group. they were missing two who had other plans. they looked so cute!! 

it felt so good to come home after and change into dry clothes, warm up, and count/sort candy.

friday my brain went straight to christmas mode! haha. i love the holiday too much to only celebrate it for (less than) a month. no decorating yet, but christmas movies and music are on tap for me this month. i'm also counting down the days until holiday coffee drinks are released. thatcher went to the property all day. ashford had sports club after school. after dinner, we all watched the new 'beetle juice' movie. i even left our halloween decorations up for one more night for it. 

saturday morning we all slept in and got stuff done around the house in the morning. in the afternoon we got our flu shots. thatcher left for a retirement party in south seattle, then ashford headed to arlo's for a sleepover with fritz and raleigh. so, azalea and i had a few hours to ourselves. we went to 'crackle mi' for dinner and then walked over to 'hot cakes' to get dessert. i have only been there once in 2016 when we had visitors. they have the most decadent desserts. she was a happy camper. 

the rest of the night she played video games and thatcher and i watched SNL because kamala harris was making an appearance. fun fact: SNL airs at 8:30pm here, which just seems funny, but perfect for early to bed people like me. 

sunday morning was daylight savings. thankfully my kids are older, and it doesn't affect them as much as it used to. we made biscuits, eggs, and bacon for breakfast and ashford got dropped off from his sleepover. thatcher took azalea to her soccer game in queen anne and they won 3-2! we relaxed at home for the afternoon/evening. ashford reminded us why parents don't love sleepovers ;) 

the election is tomorrow and i can't believe it's finally here. so many emotions!!