Halloween

I can't believe it's STILL Halloween. We skipped a bunch of parties thanks to a nasty bug that's going around, but Halloween within the American community is big. One more party and trunk-or-treating tonight, and then it'll be over. On Friday the kids had a parade and party at their school. I took lots of photos, but I try not to put other people's children on here without consent, so here are a couple of shots from before school.

In their first ever "couples" Halloween costume, the girls went as Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter.  Mitch even made Fimo radish earrings for Grace, because it turns out he's super crafty at making jewelry.  He's also super crafty at surprising his wife with an espresso machine for her birthday next month.  Shhh. It's supposed to be a secret from me.  After the school party, there was trick-or-treating and a party at the embassy. As you can see, Henry began to feel a little of the bug that kept Grace home most of last week (don't worry, Nana, the doctor assures us that bleeding from your eyes and nose is perfectly normal in Brazil):

The kids had a blast tearing through the embassy and riding on the Spooky Shuttle:

Most sections in the embassy decorated their doors, but some pooled their cubicles and turned them into full-on haunted houses.  I had a little snafu when I was decorating Mitch's office door. My theme was 'The Ghoulggenheim Museum' and I photoshopped a bunch of famous paintings to look like zombies and whatnot. I had only gotten one photo up and it was this one:

Note: I respect my president. I picked this one because it's an iconic painting, not as a social commentary.

I turned around and there was the Ambassador.  Um. Whoops.  The picture was mysteriously gone when Mitch got to the office later.  Did you know in the olden days they used to base foreign service officers' evaluations not only on their performance, but on their spouses' performances as well?  All I can say is, thank Gah those days are over.  Here is a lame glare-y photo of the door after I was done (post Obamazombie removal):

Anyhoodle, today I found out who won the door decorating contest, and believe it or not, it was yours truly, although I'm pretty sure we only won because we gave out Reese's Peanutbutter Cups, and you can't find those in Brasilia.