Halloween was definitely a fun event this year. Last year, Ava sorta figured out the trick-or-treating thing...this year, she was all over it! She loved getting dressed up as Alice in Wonderland, loved hanging out with her cousins to beg for candy, and she's still loving all of the treats she managed to score. And I'm trying hard not to eat all of her candy. It's very, very hard to resist.
Leading up the big event, we were very, very busy...
We managed to carve 5 pumpkins within 1 hour, the night before Halloween. I used patterns, Scott free-formed his. Ava wouldn't even help scoop the seeds out, but she had a heck of a good time poking holes in the sides of all of the pumpkins. The next day, we had a pumpkin carving contest at my work - Scott's "BEER" pumpkin took 3rd place! He was quite proud of himself. His other one received a comment about looking stoned. Clearly, he's the artiste in this family!
At daycare, there is always a little party with treats for the kids, and this year, I thought I'd get creative. I don't know what I was thinking... My friend Jean had posted some really cute treat ideas on her blog (Typical Suburban Family - same place where I got the spooky spider cookie recipe.) I thought it would be fun to make the candy dipped pretzels in white/yellow/orange coating, covered with Halloween sprinkles. 330 pretzels, and 5 hours later, I was finally done. Not sure I would do this again - but my mom had a great idea...using the big pretzel rods and just dipping a part of those - that would have been MUCH faster.
But, they turned out cute, so it was worth it in the end. I've already started looking ahead to some new Christmas ideas...check these out!
The Saturday before Halloween, we headed down to Grand Meadow to spend the day/evening with the Winfield family. Tiff and I took the girls (Isabel 4, Ava 3, and Evie 9 mos) to the Hall of Fun in Rochester. The Rochester school district decorated a hall with different fun exhibits with activities appropriate for younger kids. The girls got all dressed up...and it was perfect because the first exhibit was to go down the rabbit hole! My little Alice loved the rabbit hole...she kept wanting to go through it, over and over, and over...!
Now that I think about it, that was a really busy weekend...I'm kinda looking forward to some downtime before the next round of holidays starts up!
Back to Halloween...that night, I rushed home from work, shoveled in some dinner, and we headed out to meet the family for the candy adventure. Overall, the kids (Calleigh, Tatiana, Jenna, Ava and Savante) did really well...most of the time, they listened to us, said please and thank you, and kept in good spirits. My very favorite part of the whole evening was one particular house on the route. They had a four season porch where all the kids went into to trick-or-treat...5 kids went in, and only 4 came out. I could see Ava's little Alice dress sticking out, so I went to check to see what was happening. As I walked up, I heard a woman say, "Off with her head!" Turns out the woman who was handing out candy was dressed up as the Queen of Hearts! My Alice found her Queen...perfection!
After that, we headed back to Great-grandma's house to celebrate her birthday...cake and more treats! Needless to say, the kids were hopped up on sugar! Ava finally got to bed that night, but when I went to check on her around 10pm, she looked at me funny, and in her sly, little way, asked me, "Do you smell something in my pull up?" She knew very well what was there...and it was stinky!
A few non-spooky pictures...
Time to eat some candy! :)
Leading up the big event, we were very, very busy...
We managed to carve 5 pumpkins within 1 hour, the night before Halloween. I used patterns, Scott free-formed his. Ava wouldn't even help scoop the seeds out, but she had a heck of a good time poking holes in the sides of all of the pumpkins. The next day, we had a pumpkin carving contest at my work - Scott's "BEER" pumpkin took 3rd place! He was quite proud of himself. His other one received a comment about looking stoned. Clearly, he's the artiste in this family!
At daycare, there is always a little party with treats for the kids, and this year, I thought I'd get creative. I don't know what I was thinking... My friend Jean had posted some really cute treat ideas on her blog (Typical Suburban Family - same place where I got the spooky spider cookie recipe.) I thought it would be fun to make the candy dipped pretzels in white/yellow/orange coating, covered with Halloween sprinkles. 330 pretzels, and 5 hours later, I was finally done. Not sure I would do this again - but my mom had a great idea...using the big pretzel rods and just dipping a part of those - that would have been MUCH faster.
But, they turned out cute, so it was worth it in the end. I've already started looking ahead to some new Christmas ideas...check these out!
The Saturday before Halloween, we headed down to Grand Meadow to spend the day/evening with the Winfield family. Tiff and I took the girls (Isabel 4, Ava 3, and Evie 9 mos) to the Hall of Fun in Rochester. The Rochester school district decorated a hall with different fun exhibits with activities appropriate for younger kids. The girls got all dressed up...and it was perfect because the first exhibit was to go down the rabbit hole! My little Alice loved the rabbit hole...she kept wanting to go through it, over and over, and over...!
Now that I think about it, that was a really busy weekend...I'm kinda looking forward to some downtime before the next round of holidays starts up!
Back to Halloween...that night, I rushed home from work, shoveled in some dinner, and we headed out to meet the family for the candy adventure. Overall, the kids (Calleigh, Tatiana, Jenna, Ava and Savante) did really well...most of the time, they listened to us, said please and thank you, and kept in good spirits. My very favorite part of the whole evening was one particular house on the route. They had a four season porch where all the kids went into to trick-or-treat...5 kids went in, and only 4 came out. I could see Ava's little Alice dress sticking out, so I went to check to see what was happening. As I walked up, I heard a woman say, "Off with her head!" Turns out the woman who was handing out candy was dressed up as the Queen of Hearts! My Alice found her Queen...perfection!
After that, we headed back to Great-grandma's house to celebrate her birthday...cake and more treats! Needless to say, the kids were hopped up on sugar! Ava finally got to bed that night, but when I went to check on her around 10pm, she looked at me funny, and in her sly, little way, asked me, "Do you smell something in my pull up?" She knew very well what was there...and it was stinky!
Ava and Jenna
Calleigh and Tatiana
Alice and her Queen!
The squirrels have been enjoying the pumpkins...
A few non-spooky pictures...
Happy to see Daddy!
Reading her American Girl catalog...oh dear...
Time to eat some candy! :)
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