Halloween 2014

I love Halloween!  I mean, how can you not love it?!   When can you dress up however you want to and be someone completely different than you are!!??  And, the reason for the season . . . CANDY!  :)

Ryan tossed around going trick or treating this year.  He decided, kind of at the last minute, to go.  His friend, Kendall, came with us.  We had tons of fun!  I think they were worn out from all the walking when it was over.  Not sure why--I was fine and I am the old person!!

This year we were a trip to the movies.  Lydia decided very early on that she wanted to be a box of popcorn.  She designed her costume and Mike helped her put it together.  We kind of talked Emily into being a fountain drink.  What other drink than an orange Crush (just like her Crush softball team) would make sense for her to be.  Mike designed and put together Emily's costume too.  She did the letters and put on the front.  The compliments were like no other year!!  Soooo many people commented and remarked on how cute the costumes were!!  People would ask us how we designed them.  The girls would even get extra candy sometimes because they were so cute.  We told everyone that Ryan and Kendall were the actors in the horror movie we were seeing on our trip to the movies.  They did not seem to understand why they did not get the comments the girls did.  They thought their costumes were stellar.  I had to explain that scary is too ordinary at Halloween.  Original is the way to go.  :)  Definitely a winning costume year!!

Halloween

Halloween!  What a great holiday! How completely amazing to be able to pretend to be someone else for a day!?  Forget your worries and your troubles and just basque in the glory of your childhood.  Share stories with your children and laugh at your memories as you make new ones.  It is fantastic!!  I love Halloween!!

  

This Halloween was a busy one!  We had two fun-filled days of events which made us very tired and very full of candy!!  On Saturday morning we met up with our friends, Frances, Henry and Benjamin and participated in the free, downtown court square Halloween festival.  The children walked through down-town, trick-or-treating at the different stores and establishments.  It was great!!

 This is Ben.  He is a friend of Henry's and Benjamin's.  Ben's costume . . . he was "two tired."

 Here we are collecting candy from a business owner.  I thought he was going to scare one of the kids, but he was really funny.  He kept making funny sounds and the kids kept laughing.  Thank goodness.

 We stopped at the Smokin' Pig to trick-or-treat and Rabia and I split an order of fried pickles and the kids split a large order of french fries.  They were yummy and warm on the chilly morning.  Benjamin could not share in the french fries so he just ate his stroller straps.

 Henry's costume was very near and dear to my heart.  Ryan wore this very same costume at that age.  Soooo cute!!

 There were games to play, silly putty to make and a costume contest.  The kids were pretty wiped out.

 Saturday night the kids and I went to Glowfest.  Glowfest is a Halloween festival that is hosted by a local community church.  It was so neat!  They had bounce houses, games, food, puppet show, Guitar Hero on a huge screen with gospel music, candy, candy and more candy.  For the games you played, candy was the prize.  It was so fun!

 Lydia sliding down the huge slide in one of the three bounce houses.

 We played some games, ran into lots of people we knew, had some dinner and had a ton of fun and it was free to the community!  In this day and age and with the current economy, it was so nice to see this alternative to the traditional Halloween celebrations, for the kids, and about the kids.

 Before our Trick-or-Treating, the kids and I attended a Halloween/Birthday party and then met up with Adella and Penny (our cousins) for some down to business trick-or-treating.  Before meeting up with them, we stopped at Nannie and Pap's and then headed to Grammy and Paw Paw's house.  We have Wonder Woman, a Blue Fairy, a Leopard, The Cat in the Hat and Batman.

 We stopped at Ann and Bill's house and then darkened the doors of some other people in Grammy and Paw Paw's neighborhood.

 Completing our trip, we made our traditional last stop at Grammy's house where she always makes a big deal about "these cute kids!" even when my brother and I were little, and then proceeded to fill every one's pumpkins with even more candy.  Thank goodness everyone had a sugar high . . . we might not have made it though the weekend!  :)

Halloween 2009

Lydia and Emily decided they wanted to be princesses and Ryan wanted to be the Transformer, Bumblebee. Cousin "Doctor" Adella went trick-or-treating with us. Fun times! Tons of candy!!

Washington Pumpkin Carving Night

Lydia's creepy snacks

Since Ryan's first week of Kindergarten we have realized that snack time is a VERY important part of the day at McGaheysville Elementary School. Last year and this year we receive calendars each month with the names of the children on given days for them to bring snack in to share with the class. Each child gets one day per month. Snacks always need to be nutritious and yummy. Typically I send in goldfish crackers, granola bars, bananas, etc. For the month of October I have decided to celebrate my favorite holiday--Halloween!

Lydia's snack day is tomorrow and Emily's is next Wednesday. For Lydia, we decided to make creepy popcorn hands. I imagined them a lot cuter than they turned out, but the kids had a lot fun helping to make them!! Thought I would display our finished product. A special thanks to Sarah Kesner for getting us those gloves!

Ryan filling his hand with popcorn

Emily and Lydia filling their gloves with popcorn. They had some trouble putting the candy corns in the fingernails so Ryan and I did that part.

Halloween!

How great is Halloween!? A day that you can dress up and be anything you want to be! My children decided they wanted to be a football player and princesses. Ryan has actually wanted to be a football player since last Halloween. We borrowed a jersey, pants and a helmet from a neighbor. He has been so excited since we brought them home and has been wanting to wear the jersey everyday! He received quite a bit of fanfare tonight while seeing other football players and several people commenting on his great costume. Lydia and Emily have really gotten into the whole princess thing this year. As a result, my brother and his wife gave them princess dresses for their birthday. I had put them away to save for Halloween and they decided they wanted to be a princess several weeks ago. In addition to their dresses, they received crowns and fake jewelry for their birthday that they wore tonight. Over and over they would say "I am so pretty!" "We are so beautiful!" They received compliments at some houses on how pretty they looked--they beamed!

We stopped at a house where an older couple lived. They each came to the door and the wife knelt down to talk to the kids at their level. After taking her fistful of candy, Lydia asked the lady "What is your name?"

"Gail." said the lady

"What is your first name?" asked Lydia

"Gail." was her response again. "What is your name?" she asked Lydia.

"My name is Lydia." Lydia said as she turned to Emily and said "this is my friend, Emily." Turning to Ryan "and this is my friend, Ryan and my friend Mommy." pointing back to me. During this introduction, I said "Emily is your sister, Lydia." Gail realized the girls were twins and Ryan was their older brother and found Lydia's introduction quite funny. Lydia, our social butterfly!

The kids collected a TON of candy (which none of us need) and were pleased with their stash! It was a great night!

Pajama Day!

My class had their Halloween Party today since tomorrow (Halloween) is my day off. This afternoon, after circletime, lunch and naptime, we had our party. In addition to having our party of chips, cupcakes, fruit and veggies, all of the kids dressed up. Instead of wearing their trick-or-treat costumes that could potentially get torn or stained, we encourage the kids to wear their pajamas to "dress up." They LOVED it!!! Lydia and Emily's class dressed in their pj's as well and . . . yes . . . Ms. Stacey dressed up in her pj's today too. Any day that you can wear your pajamas to work is a good day!! We had a blast and everyone took a ton of candy home! The picture above is of "my" kids eating at their party and the picture below is everyone "laying down" in their pajamas. :)