I love Halloween and ever since having kids, I have come to love it even more. Dressing up is so much fun. Each year the kids are becoming more and more into Halloween. It was awesome to see Jimmy running from house to house to get more candy. I think that 3 is the magic age where things really start to make sense.
Some Halloween traditions are quickly being set and I look forward to them every time October 1st hits. The decorations come out of the loft and go up on the house. My neighbors are always making fun of me because I am the first one with my decor out. October 1st the Halloween stuff goes up and Thanksgiving day weekend the Christmas stuff goes up. Anyway, I am looking forward to getting some scarier decorations once the kids get bigger. Our stuff is more festive, fun and cute at this point.
At some point during the month of October, a trip to Target occurs to purchase their adorable $5.00 kid Halloween shirts. We try to wear those shirts as much as possible, but in my eyes I really just want them for the photo ops.
Next up, is our trip to the local pumpkin patch the weekend before Halloween. We have been going to the same one on Highway 1 because they have a jumpy house and their largest pumpkins are only $5.00!!! We get to the entrance and tell the kids to have at it. Pick whichever pumpkin they want. I always think this process is going to take a while, but it is usually over in about 15 minutes. This year we squeezed in the patch between rain storms and on our way to a birthday party. The jumpy house was soaking wet, so they were a little disappointed to have missed out, but they got over it quickly when I told them we were on our way to have birthday cake!
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| The pumpkin patch photo op. Complete with the Halloween shirts! |
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| The final selection. |
Our Halloween weekend started off with a parade at Paige's preschool on Friday. It was so cute to see her entire class of like 4o kids all dressed up in costumes and marching around the playground and around the neighborhood block. Daddy took the day off of work to participate and my mom even showed up for the festivities. Paige was delighted to see her, "Grandma! What are you doing here??!!" After the parade, all the kids changed out of their costumes and had some quiet time to watch a movie before moving outside to play some more. We stayed to have lunch with the kids and then went home.
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| Paige's class. Paige & Jimmy are on the far right in the first/second row. |
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| Grandma and Daddy participating in the parade. |
Later on Friday night, we decided to let the kids carve their pumpkins. At this stage, that means we let them draw the face they want and then we carve it out. Alyssa's pumpkin was very small so I just drew a face on it!
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| The final product. Again...complete with the Halloween shirts! |
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Saturday night we got to dress up for a friends Halloween party. This was an adult party with kids, not the other way around. We had a great time, although a lot of the adults weren't dressed up.
Then came Sunday. The big day...or I should say, night. The excitement was building. Fortunately we had a our last session of swimming lessons that day, so it ate up a good portion of our morning. When we got home from swimming, Doug's sister and her two boys came over for a visit. Around 3:30 pm, we began getting ready. Doug and I fully dress up for trick or treating too. I love it!!
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| "The Mean Old Witch with a Hat" and her Pirate! |
Another tradition that is being set so far, is we have been trick or treating with our very good friends, Seamus and Lorraine across the street. Their daughter, Shayla is the same age as Paige and they have developed an amazing friendship.
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| Super Girl Shayla and Princess Paige (Belle) |
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| Belle, Super Girl, Spider Man and Bumble Bee |
We take turns hosting dinner at our house and then head out to trick or treat with the kids around 6:30-6:45. We tend to go as long as they want. Which usually means up and down each side of our street and a couple of houses on the main street. We make sure to stop at all the neighbors houses so the kids can show off their costumes. It was so much fun. Even little Alyssa was a trooper, hangin out in the stroller for the entire duration.
It was a successful Halloween and I am already looking forward to next year!
It was a successful Halloween and I am already looking forward to next year!
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