Halloween

Our Halloween festivities started at our church's trunk-or-treat, which was outside the whole time. We made sure to dress warmly, since it was in the mid-thirties that night! I converted Lydia's snuggle suit into a pig, since that's what Nora insisted that she needed to be. Not sure why she was so adamant about it, but Lydia sure made a cute pig in a blanket.

There is a Halloween store that opens seasonally, right around the corner from us- two minutes if we walk.  We made lots and lots of trips over there "just to see," much to my great excitement. ;) I encouraged them to make cool costumes (I think they're higher quality and way more fun), but they decided they wanted to pay for part of them so they could buy new ones. I went along with it, mainly because I know they'll see a lot of use, and it was easy. Nora wanted to be a pink Power Ranger, which was perfect because she never can find a suitable ninja costume in our costume box when the mood strikes (as it often does).

We wanted to have a little more fun with the front door this year, and this is what we came up with. That's Benjamin's bat he made hanging from the yarn, if you can't tell.

Monday night pumpkin carving. Each of the kids designed their own, and we helped carve. I let Benjamin use a knife to carve his own for the first time, which I think made him feel very big.

For Nora, I made Cinderella's coach. She added Merida and a few tiny horses for company.

Along with our traditional witches brew (beef stew), we had mummies, spiders, witches brooms and pumpkins. The kids really got into it.

 It was raining off and on all day Halloween, but that didn't stop the annual elementary school parade and school-wide "Thriller" dance from happening. We caught them mid-parade, and waved at our little green ninja. When it was time to trick-or-treat, it was raining again, so the kids headed out with umbrellas. Spiderman, Pink Power Ranger, and Green Ninja were among three or four groups of kids to make their rounds through our neighborhood. Lydia was in bed, so I stayed home to pass out candy to the six other of trick-or-treaters.

 I still think Halloween is a weird holiday, but it does make for some fun traditions.