Halloween

 At the beginning of October we went to see the witches at Gardner Village with the Pearson's.  It was more crowded than usual, but still fun to see them.  Sophie asked if she could bring some money to buy a Halloween stuffed animal.  So the other kids wanted to as well.  Unfortunately they couldn't find any Halloween stuffed animals, but they all had their money burning a hole in their pockets.  I tried to explain how they shouldn't just spend money because they have it and they should save it for what they really want.  But they all got a toy anyway.  Argh.

                                      

The we went to the Peterson's house for Canadian Thanksgiving with some of the other neighbors.  It was a lot of fun.  It always fun and good conversation to get together with friends.  And Danielle goes over-the-top with hosting to make sure everything is perfect!

                                     

Then we got COVID over fall break, so we had to quarantine for real Halloween.  I was really sad that my kids had to miss trick-or-treating and all their school parades and parties.  I also had to cancel my annual family Halloween party.  So I wanted to do something special to make it fun for them still.  And I spent a bunch of time making their costumes and didn't want them to go to waste.

                                              

                                    

So on Halloween the kids painted a little wooden craft.  Sophie made a vampire, Aspen a ghost, and Luke a Jack-o-lantern.  Then in the afternoon we all got our costumes and face paint on and went into the woods behind our house and took some pictures.

              

Sophie was a ghost.

                

Aspen was a black widow spider.

              

Luke was a werewolf.

                                                  

                                                 I was a witch with Hazel as my black cat.

                     

And Isaac was a vampire (complete with red contacts).

                                            

                                           

                                            

Then we came home and had dinner that our neighbor brought over.  The kids then changed out of their costumes and we carved pumpkins.  Unfortunately they froze outside a little so they were a little mushy.

Then the kids took showers and got in their pajamas.  We then played some games.  I bought each kid a little stuffed dog wearing a costume.  My kids love stuffed animals.  We have millions, but they always want more, and I know that any time they get one it makes everything seem that much more special and fun.  So I put little pieces of paper in some balloons and the kids had to pop them with their butts to get the paper out.  Then they paper was either a Halloween joke or said "prize" and they would get their dog.  It was absolutely hilarious to watch them try and pop the balloons.  Luke would jump as high as he could and land straight on his butt.  Half the time he would miss the balloon completely and land on the floor.  It looked really painful, but he didn't seem to mind.  Sophie was definitely the most cautious, but Aspen got the first "prize" and then they got really into it.

Then we did a cake walk while watching Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video.  That is weird.  I had some other games planned and wanted to let them trick-or-treat to the doors in our house, but it was getting late so we decided to just start our movie instead.

And finally we watched "Hotel Transylvania" and had popcorn and candy.  We had been watching lots of Halloween movies this month.  The kids always enjoy the "Curious George Boo-fest", "Room on the Broom", and "Hocus Pocus".  We also forced them to watch "Ernest Scared Stupid".  They fought us on it and thought it was scary, but were laughing by the end.  And they like "Casper".  And my friend recommended we watch "Haunted Mansion".  So we watched that the day before Halloween.  Sophie was terrified and kept hiding.  Aspen sits stone-faced like it doesn't phase her at all.  Luke was petrified but couldn't look away.  He was hilarious.  He kept pushing himself deeper into the couch until he was standing up on the cushions and started running in place.  Isaac and I were dying of laughter.  And then Sophie and Aspen had nightmares that night.  So that was a win.

So even though it was a different Halloween it was still a lot of fun.  The kids thanked me for their stuffed animals a ton of times.  And a bunch of our neighbors brought the kids some treat bags because they knew they couldn't go trick-or-treating.  And three neighbors brought us dinner which was super thoughtful.  I kept saying to Isaac that no one has ever brought me dinner for having a cold before because our COVID symptoms were so mild.  But it was still super kind.  Another neighbor brought us some fruit.  And another one brought over a big cookie decorating kit for the kids.  My mom brought us groceries and lunch from Arctic Circle one day.  So people really stepped up to help us have a good holiday as we were locked inside.  We really have such amazing neighbors and friends on our street.