Halloween Round-up

I already told you how I feel about Halloween so I won't say it again.  I will say this, Halloween is a lot of work and seems to extend for weeks before the actual trick or treating happens.  Okay, so I had fun this year.  Halloween in Kindergarten is fun, whatever, this too shall pass....

Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch
The pumpkin patch was a lot of fun.  Patrick loved the hayride and riding the bus with his buddies.

Best Buddies

Dimitri, Patrick and David

Patrick's class.  I love these kids.  I get to spend time with them on Fridays and they are really fun.

 

When you are Keith, any excuse to dress up will do.  

We love pumpkins!  Keith is kissing his pumpkin.

The completed products.  Patrick's has ears.  Keith's has three eyes.  Kevin's is the little one.  We had fun.   The boys proudly designed their own faces. 

The Halloween Crew (in part).  I love this picture because Keith is either  trying to pull off Jack's mask or he's just harassing his cousin.  Either way.  Funny 

Keith was a spider because that's what Patrick was when he was two (he declared that next year he will either be Harry Potter or a Spider).  In the chaos of getting four kids ready to go and Keith being Keith, his hat with his sparkly spider eyes got left behind.  He did however manage to make sure he had gloves (because Jack's Batman costume had gloves), Patrick's baseball gloves.  He happily told anyone who would listen about his gloves, "I got goves, Pat-pat beisbol goves."  Patrick was a ninja with a small arsenal.  He was very into it, look at his face.  Hilarious.

And finally, the little ones.  Keith, Ava and Ryder with their lollipops (aka Popsicles).  Keith told me that he had fun hiding under the table with Ryder eating candy.  "I hide from you."

If you are looking for Keith, he is probably hiding in the corner trying to squirrel away his candy stash.

As for me, I am glad that it isn't October anymore.  And unlike last year I am totally skipping the Thanksgiving holiday for Christmas decorating.   The cards are ordered and the fun can begin the minute we get 23 boxes of Christmas joy out of storage.  Merry Christmas!

It's gonna be a long month

"Mom, it smells like Halloween!"
This was Patrick's declaration after we dragged the Halloween bins out of storage last weekend. And with that scent of potpourri (which has been in my Fall rotation for YEARS but hasn't made it out of the Ziploc since we lived in Sacramento but penetrates everything Fall nonetheless) firmly under his nose, Halloween was on in our house. I didn't actually unload the treasures until this weekend. Owning this much Fall stuff is a tad overwhelming, I have to work up to it. And then there is the problem of TOO MUCH HELP.
Pumpkin Snatcher (I was taking a break from decorating to practice with my camera and the only subject that will stay still, until said subject was kidnapped)



Fall Vomits in My Dining Room

and Leaves it There Until the Next Day or two.

I Love Fall. And it looks like we might finally be getting a taste of Fall weather this week! Feeling optimistic, I put the duvet back on our bed and ordered the boys new sweatshirts (and sweaters and fake Uggs).

Patrick had a special prayer tonight: "Thank you Jesus for the gift of Halloween, Amen."

And the fake spider trick never gets old. And we have Martha back in rotation. We love Fall!

A Spooky Confession

Don't tell anyone.... I am not Halloween's Number One Fan. (or number two). I have a kind of take it or leave it attitude about Halloween. I stopped enjoying Halloween when I experienced my first apple bobbing contest. Dry Creek circa 1984. Lots of saliva in the water, Halloween never was the same.

Halloween is really one of those things that the idea is better than the execution. The apple bobbing of course. Eating lots of candy sounds good until you are puking Skittles. The clown costume is a good idea until you are dripping white makeup at recess. Transforming your house to a haunted mansion is great until you realize that you take it down as soon as you put it up. Keeping your porch light on sounds good until the teenagers in jeans and t-shirts come by. Scary music and such is great until the four year-olds come by your house. Oh and don't get me started on the price of candy and the moldy pumpkins.....

Then came Patrick. Really 98% of our Halloween accoutrements were Patrick selections over the last 3 Halloweens. I was of the attitude that a pumpkin always trumps a jack-o-lantern because a pumpkin can stay out through Thanksgiving. So we have been doing some Halloween decorating. It is hard to say no when your kid has passion and imagination. It is kind of contagious. I'm still not one of those parents who dresses up to take their kids trick-or-treating but I did throw a pretty fun Halloween party.

We watched The Sword in the Stone a few months ago and Patrick decided that he was going to be a knight. Then he decided that he would be a Dragon Slayer Knight and Keith would be a Dragon. Cool.



Here are the big boys. Ian, Patrick and Chase


Here are the babies (not really anymore) Ryder, Keith and Ava (our lone girl). How cute are they?!!? This is the best part of Halloween! Keith barked at Ryder the whole time we were trick or treating.



Keith has a serious silky problem. He was convinced that Ryder's costume was a silky. He also thought that since Ryder had his clothes off well....


I bought a lot of candy (three or four hundred pieces of the good stuff). The boys were in charge of the door (Plain White T's) and it was all gone by the time we left to trick or treat. They were generous and there were TONS of kids.


The little kids caught on quickly. Keith tried to run into our neighbors' house (first stop) but after that he got it. He then proceeded to chat with everyone along the way.



By the end of the trek Patrick had divided all of his excess weight among the 5 adults. He was walking up to the door and putting his hands out. We all needed a break before the final stretch.


And that is when we met up with Chewbacca. I guess I always imagined Chewbacca as a Heineken kind of a Wookiee. Turns out he goes for the Nati Light. This is the kind of culture you can only get on Halloween (see why I love it so much?).


We had a really great time. I love that Halloween is over and we can relish the idea of next year. Woohoo! I wonder what Patrick will come up with next year.....