We've successfully completed another Halloween season! We survived school carnivals, parties, and parades; corn mazes; Harvest parties; pumpkin carving and finally trick-or-treating. Little did I know that the pumpkins from last year...
would predict their costumes for this year...
Hadley was pretty agreeable when I suggested that we look through the costumes we already had for her. The pirate costume was a great purchase! I think the first official event for costumes was the school carnival. Masks were not allowed at school, so Dad tried his hand at face paint with much success.
We rode our bikes to avoid the parking issue, and Owen was very amused about being a skeleton riding a bike!
They had games, food, and candy, and the kids had a great time, although we definitely need to work on their carny skills. Both even braved a 'spook alley' library, escorted by their dad who said they were both petrified! I was waiting at the exit, and some older kids came out near tears, so I was definitely concerned about my two, but they made it out with nothing but wide-eyes. No nightmares yet, so I guess we're okay!
A few days later, we reverse-trick-or-treated with a moms' group by taking some treats to a rehabilitation facility in town to spread some cheer, because who doesn't love little kids in costume! Even possibly inappropriate skeletons...
Instead of our usual Boo at the Zoo excursion, I opted to take the kids to a Harvest Party at a friend's small church one night. It was perfect - not too crowded, well-organized with a few games, just a little candy, and the kids got to decorate their own cookies.
Although a thief absconded with our plumpest pumpkin from our front porch one night, we still had two fine specimens to carve according to each kid's whims. Owen wanted very scary, and Hadley said 'yes' to whatever question I asked about her pumpkin's face, so I went with a traditional grin.
Owen said he'd take care of scooping out all the seeds and goop, but his 3 seeds per scoop method took forever. He gladly shared that job when he got tired!
While the boys were getting messy, Hadley and I decorated two smaller pumpkins with some stickers leftover from last year into a bat and a cat. (Next year's costumes?) The cat was our homegrown pumpkin! Our pumpkin vine only produced one real fruit, but that was a fun addition to the garden.
One of the final products. I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of the porch with all of the pumpkins together, along with some ghostly milk jug luminarias, a big spider web, and creepy glowing eyes. Oh well. You'll just have to imagine...
Finally to the main event: trick-or-treating! We went to a neighbor's house to meet up with a group of trick-or-treaters. It was a little chilly, but a good time was had by all. I think we walked around the neighborhood for about an hour.
You can see why the school doesn't allow masks! Yikes! Owen was an old pro, but Hadley was really enjoying the experience this year. After every house, she'd head back to me, proudly display her growing cache and shout "Mom! I got ANOTHER treat!!!" I don't know if she was expecting more tricks, but she was seriously delighted about every trinket. Too funny!
After an hour or so, Hadley declared that she was finally tired and ready to head home. Owen was not, so he and Dad went for another 45 minutes on their own and amassed quite a spread. He was obviously over the moon with his new treasure and went to bed a happy boy, dreaming of sugar.
