A Friend (or a Dozen) For Life

Happy Halloween! (1996)

Here's the next chapter. I went ahead and decided that they would go trick-or-treating on the Sunday before Halloween because Halloween fell on a Wednesday in this year.

Costume credit goes to Emilie2601 over on ffnet.

Enjoy! :)

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*October 27th, 1996 – Hastings Household*

The next day, around 5:00 p.m. the moms, dads and little girls (plus Mike and Lucas) gather back at Spencer's house to dress up.

They've decided to hit the houses early since all the kids are under 10 and get tired very quickly, even Mel and the older kids.

"Mommy, Mommy!" Ella hears Mike squeal as he bounces down the staircase. She smiles at him all dressed up.

He's going as a puppy dog this year. Mike has on a brown one-piece puppy costume. It has a tail on the back and little glove that attach to the sleeves and cover his hands. They look like little "paws" when pulled over his tiny little hands.

"Mommy, look what Aunt 'Ronica did!" He points to his face, where Veronica has painted his nose black with some freckles across his cheeks and nose.

"And lookie!" He pulls up the hood of his costume. The little brown, floppy ears on top complete the costume.

"Wow! I wonder where my baby boy, Mike, went? All I see is this nice little puppy. What is your name, puppy dog?" She asks playfully.

"I'm not really a puppy, Mamma!" Mike grins. "It's me! Michael Vincent Montgom'ry!"

"Oh! That's right. Silly me! Why don't you come over here and you can show me how good you are at being a puppy?" She picks up her camera and takes some pictures before deciding to wait for Aria to get done, so she can get some of both of them

Aria bounds down the stairs next. Her costume is handmade. She is going as an artist this year. Ashley and Veronica surprised her with a blank, white apron and little artist hat earlier. They bought a bunch of fabric markers, glitter glue, and other art accessories.

Aria decorated her apron with the markers. The little artist drew a landscape that has flowers on it, a hill with a house atop it and her family and friends playing on the swing set, slides and monkey bars.

Across the top, her name is written in a pretty blue glitter glue. She asked Mel to write it for her because she is learning cursive in 3rd grade and is already pretty good at it.

The reason Aria stayed upstairs was so Veronica could help her paint her hands. She then had the little first-grader wipe the paint off onto the apron to make it look as if she realistically just got done painting.

She then dabbed the excess paint off with a towel, still leaving some on her hands. Next, Veronica got a toothbrush, dipped it in the paint, and ran her thumb across the bristles sending specks of paint onto Aria's face.

She also decided to let Aria wear her paint-stained sweatpants from earlier.

Now, Aria looks like a real artist.

"Mamma, look at me! What do'ya think?" She spins around, showing Ella her apron and little artist's hat.

"Oh, my." Ella says. "Aria, baby, you look beautiful. Byron, honey, look at our little artist." Byron smiles his daughter.

"You do look very pretty, babygirl. I think you chose a wonderful costume to dress up in." Aria beams at that. Spencer and Melissa come down next.

"Uncle Byron, Uncle Tom! Auntie Ash, Aunt Ella, look at us!" Mel exclaims excitedly. "We match!"