Halloween...

We had a fun Halloween.  On the Saturday before, our squadron had a Trunk or Treat.  Miss R dressed as a turtle.  The turtle hat, however was too much.

So she gave it to K, who spent the day with us.

We decorated K's jeep.  I had purchased floods of candy, most of which came back home with us.  I think I could have given candy to the whole island and had some left over...  I'm now trying to figure out what to do with it!  (Besides eat it myself...)  My friend KY and her family won the decoration contest with an awesome crime scene set-up involving a witch broom crash, with she and her husband wearing CSI uniforms.  It was fantastic!  I wish I had taken a picture...

KK is several months pregnant, but still looks fabulous in her son's last year costume.  After the trunk or treat, we moved into the gym for a huge party.

Miss R loved wandering around...

And taking or begging for other people's food. 

She ate a lot.  We all did...  It was a very well stocked party!

I thought the cutest costume was this little sumo wrestler...

Miss R finally ran out of steam, and collapsed on the floor.

It was a fun party!

On Halloween day, we went to our friend A's house for some supper before heading up to Rota Street for trick-or-treating.  We thought it best to cram some nourishing food into our children before turning them loose with unlimited candy...

Miss H.

Miss A and her Favorite Friend Master D.  Very inseparable...

Miss A wanted to be a cowgirl, so I saved one pair of jeans when I was cutting off all pants in our house to make them into shorts (long pants are extremely unnecessary here in Guam...).  They only had boys' long sleeved shirts in any stores, so I got one of those, then sewed some fancy fringe on it.  She was wary of it at first, since it was a boys' shirt, but ended up being willing to wear it.  I used my old belt from when I worked as a wrangler, with my grandpa's belt buckle.  And she had begged and begged for some real, high heeled, cowgirl boots.  So she was all decked out.

Master D, very scary.

Miss R couldn't wear her turtle costume, since it is made for a more "normal" Halloween, meaning one with temperatures lower than 90 with extreme humidity and no breeze.  Fleece costumes just don't cut it here!  So she went as a fairy.  I made her a new tutu, and got some new wings from a thrift store.  They didn't have straps, so I just tied a loop out of some elastic that I had cut from an old torn sheet and looped it around her arms.  It stayed on well.

She looked very cute, so I took lots of pictures...

Miss H the butterfly.

Miss K the Jessie.

She is a professional poser.

Miss L.

Miss M, in her peacock costume (with an extra crown...).  For a long time, Miss M said she wanted to be a napkin.  I don't know how or why she came up with that?  But I kind of nudged her into being a peacock instead...  We got this peacock costume a couple years ago from gymboree.  At the time I couldn't believe I was paying forty bucks for a costume, but man, has it more than payed for itself...  It has been worn almost every day, washed, peed in, washed some more, ridden bikes and scooters, and played and played.  The tail wing things that came with it long since gave up, but the dress is still going strong.  I was supposed to make her a new tail, and a feathery mask, but I just didn't get around to it, and I couldn't find any feathers...  I did extra eye make up to compensate...

Miss P the gypsy.

Miss R ran for the street, and when I pulled her back onto the grass we were treated to a full Utter Baby Meltdown.  It always makes me laugh...

Miss A the Elder.

And another Miss A.  She has been pestering her mother for years to make this costume.  We called her The Grim Carrot.  She was very cute.

Her brother Master C.

He all headed in a pack up to a street here on base called Rota.  It's where the higher ranking people usually live, and they are allowed to live there only with the understanding that they must make a huge, over the top, fully decorated deal out of Halloween and Christmas.  The whole long street was closed off, and there were soldiers with German shepherds and guns walking around making sure everything was safe.  Every house was decorated, some with haunted patios or bowling set up, and there was tons of candy.  It was a huge party.  Every few steps we ran into people we know, and it was fun to chat and laugh with our friends. 

I found these masks at the bx, and they worked great to help me identify my girls in the throng.

We met up with our friend Miss J.

Miss R slept through the whole thing, which was just fine.

The Cookies...

I use the same basic recipe for most of the cookies I make.  My Mom called it:

COWBOY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1 3/4 c sugar
1 3/4 c brown sugar
2 c shortening
4 eggs
1 t vanilla
4 1/2 c flour
1 t baking powder
2 t salt
2 t baking soda
2 c quick oats
1 bag chocolate chips
1 bag butterscotch chips
-Mix it up!  Drop onto cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 for 7 to 10 minutes.  Makes about 100 cookies.

-When I make this version, I use a cup and a half of shortening, and about a half cup of vanilla or plain yogurt.  And I don't use the full two cups of quick oats, only about three handfuls.

Here are my variations:

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
-use 1 c shortening and 1 c peanut butter
-use peanut butter chips instead of butterscotch
-sometimes I add Reese's Pieces as well

"HEALTHY" COOKIES
-use 1 c shortening and 4-6 ounces vanilla yogurt
-use wheat flour instead of white
-add about a half cup almond meal
-use chocolate and white chocolate chips
-add dried cherries and dried cranberries

APPLE COOKIES
-use 1 c shortening and 1/2 c applesauce and one small container (4 oz) plain Greek yogurt
-omit all chocolate chips, instead dice up about 4 apples and put in
-add 2 t cinnamon and 1 t cardamom to dry ingredients

The Enemy...

I have expressed before my life-long hatred of non-native invasive species.  (Here.)  When I was in college I learned in my wildlife ecology classes very clearly the devastating impact brown tree snakes have had on the ecology of Guam.  My classes also showed videos of the snakes climbing through windows into baby bedrooms, and hanging out of trees like spaghetti.  You know, normal invasive creature stuff.  I therefore vowed, when I married B, that although he was joining the Navy, and although there was a military presence on the island of Guam, I was not, under any circumstances, ever going to go there.  Hmmm...  How he got me to acquiesce is a long story, but it involved him telling me there were no longer any snakes here.

Sooo.  We went on a walk between the runway and the cliffs overlooking Tarague Beach.  The fence surrounding the airfield has snake traps every so often.  We checked them out.

They're quite interesting.  Each one has a fat, furry little mouse inside.  Some were white, some brown, some black and white spotted.  The mice live in a little cage within the cage, with food and a potato for water.  They looked pretty content.

 And what did we find inside one of the traps?

Ha ha!  One of the evil tree snakes, in the flesh!  I was so excited.  He was quite tiny, but still... creepy.  Can you see his yellow beady eyes in there?  And the mouse was just hanging out safe behind him, having a good time.  I loved it.  

 I read in the paper that the USDA captures 10,000 brown tree snakes a year on Guam, and 4,000 of those are right here on Andersen Air Force Base.  I may need to tone down the anti-snake rhetoric though...  Miss M (3) has been telling people in the grocery store that she's going to take a machete and chop some snakes' heads off.

New Friends...

One of the great things about being in the military is that there is always the opportunity of making great new friends, since new families are constantly moving in.  Of course, the bad thing about being in the military is that great friends are always moving away, too...  Anyway, we have been blessed with wonderful friends here in Guam.  Our new friends got here the first part of September.  We showed off the base beach to them.

 The big kids had so much fun jumping in the waves.

 Miss R loves the sand...

 And eating coral...

And walking, sort of...

Miss A and Miss K were mermaids.

 This is Miss H.

 Utter joy!

Fall Pinterest Attempts...

I saw this on Pinterest:

It's cute!  The site it links to is all in Italian or something?  But pretty self explanatory...  So I had my girls and their friend try it out.  Ours were not so... cute.  Not pinstrosity level by any means.  (Haven't heard of pinstrosity?  It's fantastic.  Here.  You're welcome!)

 Here is Miss A's, and Miss J's, and my little one in the middle.

And here is Miss M's.