Princess and Frog's Halloween Day

To be honest, Halloween isn't one of my most favorite holidays.  But like with any holiday celebration, the one thing I do love is seeing the joy on my kids' faces.  Halloween was no exception. 

 

We began our usual traditions with carving pumpkins a few weeks ago.  Olivia and I surfed pinterest for some fun (but easy) ideas.  This kitty was a good fit!  Both kids enjoyed feeling the goo, although Henry's "helping" of gutting the pumpkin wasn't too much help.  :) 

Olivia's costume request this year was a princess.  Shocking.  While it's a predictable costume I didn't mind in the least.  It was so easy since she already owned all of the pieces, so there was no work or cost at all to putting it together.  She wanted Henry to be a prince, but I wasn't so sure how to dress him for that role, so I asked if a frog would be okay.  Again, thankful for the inexpensive cost of that one.  It was only a few bucks for the box of dye.  I took Olivia's old clothing that was too small for her, and colored with with green dye.  I sewed the hat from some of the colored fabric and slipped on some green gardening gloves for feet. 

On Friday night we went to a local school for an event sponsored by ECFE and the Girl Scouts.  We've gone every year since Olivia could walk, so it's a fun tradition to continue with Henry too.  We got their early and bounced around from game to game.  We sat in for story time and visited with some friends.

Um, yeah.  I think Pat is fist pumping here because Henry knocked the pumpkin down with a bean bag.

Halloween day came with a little extra treat for me... staying home with my kids!  (And none of us were sick!)  Our daycare unfortunately was, but she made a quick recovery, thankfully.  It was so nice to have that unexpected time with them!  It meant I could go to Olivia's preschool "Halloween parade".  The little ones parade through the halls, and go into classrooms to sing a few songs and perform finger plays.  So cute!

Part of Olivia's school day Henry and I went down to my classroom where my class party was well underway.  The parents did an outstanding job of organizing fun activities for the 5th graders.  They were all having so much fun, and were smitten with my little froggy.  :)

Chill'en in my room after the parties.

After school we went to my Grandma's place so she could see the kids dressed up, and I could drop off some pants she had me mend for her.  When walking into the assisted living facility, we noticed that the seniors were having a party of their own.  They spotted Princess Olivia right away and were googling over her, making such a big deal of how pretty she was.  Parading through there was a treat for her and them, I'm sure.  Grandma was napping in her room, per her usual.  :)  We woke her and she was so happy to see us.  Her hearing is so poor now, when we got to visit her we don't even "visit".  The kids play, she watches, and we exchange a few basic verbal words, loudly.  But she enjoys it so much just to see us. I only wish she could have heard Henry and his sweet words he's learning to say. 

After coming home and eating a homemade jack-o-lantern pizza for dinner, it was time for the grand event!  I have memories as a kid of piling into the van and driving to familys' houses for trick-or-treating.  Living out in the country, we would just go to Aunt's and Uncle's houses to get treats from them and stay for a little visit.  They were always so generous since we were some of their only trick-or-treaters, and it was fun to see family for a little while.  We never had the experience of door to door trick-or-treating like my friends did, but we still had so much fun. 

I'm hoping to continue to give our kids a little bit of both experiences.  First stop was Uncle Brent's house!

Then, Grandma and Grandpa Sticha's house, where we met up with Savannah too! 

Then we went to my Aunt and Uncle's house in town (who still gives us popcorn balls, just like she made when we were kids), and my cousin's house.  While at those two stops we went to neighboring homes for a few more treats and that door to door experience.  It was fun watching the two girls be so independent walking up to the door and doing the whole thing themselves.  (Well, maybe aside from a quick prompt to say "thank you".)  

Halloween my not be my favorite, but it sure was a fun one this year!