Halloween Time!

Autumn has officially hit the Bench home.
Well, sort of.


Living in warm South Orange County, California,
autumn, among all the other seasons, tends to be the one who fights the toughest battle when it comes to showing itself.
The summer months, although they sometimes have a hard time fighting the June Gloom near the ocean,
they sometimes still seem to have staying power that pushes through to even November.


I think that's what's going on this year.
Outside of about three cool rainy days we had last week, the weather forecasts predict warm weather up until the high 80's and even the mid 90's.


Needless to say, with Halloween coming up in such a family oriented, generally kid-centric neighborhood, we are fighting on Autumn's side in little ways that we can.
For example, despite not really being a big fan of Halloween, 
I actually agreed to decorating this year.
Normally, my decorating consists of allowing J to carve a pumpkin, maybe two, on the day of,
but this year is a different story.
J was thrilled to be able to put up all sorts of decorations {including black lights! yes, black lights!} outside and we are actually looking forward to being a part of the festivities outside of just handing out candy next to our dimly lit pumpkins.
This year, we have spirit, we sure do!

Our front door:

The patio pillars:

 It's like celebrating two holidays in one! We may put up the creepy netting, but we were not going to give up having our flag there!

Lanterns on the steps

I love our little cemetery

And the piéce de resistance: 

J's ghoul in a cage!

 This guy is pretty creepy! His eyes light up and he screams!

We have a few more items to add to our festive decor,

and my feeling is that they will have to wait until next weekend. 

{As I'm typing this, my husband is sitting in front of the TV, playing his PS3 games... Battlefield or War or whatever it's called -- it could be HOURS before he realizes it's almost nighttime.}

Until the next!