Aren't we cute? I was about four or five years old in this one. I was dressed as a gift and my sister a soda machine for this particular halloween. The costumes were homemade -- mostly by our mom, with a little help from us. She was (and is) a total believer in homemade costumes. I don't remember one single halloween where she allowed us to wear store-bought costumes. For those people living in New England, if you want extra candy on halloween, just show up at my folks' house with a nifty costume you've made yourself. As an aside, I think this is the only time I wore makeup (other than one dance recital) until my prom.

This is my second grade class picture. We all remember picture day in school, right? They give you a nice plastic comb in the hopes that you will put it to good use before the photo is taken (this does not include bending it back and snapping your classmates). All the "cool" kids would wear the comb in their back pocket until they lost it...usually about three hours later.