Halloween fun & traditions

I'm back!! With lots to share, too.

First up...some Halloween fun! As like most of you, I'm sure your Halloween week was jam-packed with some fun, Fall festivities. Ours was no different. Although it was a busy last month in preparing for our MOPS Holiday Bazaar (post about that coming soon!), I tried hard to keep up with the traditions of the season. My kids definitely deserved this, so I did the best I could to squeeze it all in!

Fall Festival
October 28, 2009
The Wednesday evening before Halloween, we rushed out of the house on a last minute decision to take the kids to the Fall Festival that was happening at a local church in Newberg. The kids had a great time playing the different games and of course, getting candy was a hit! We won some baked goods in the cake walk and Mikayla had her first (small) taste of cotton candy, which we hid from Austin. Dressing up in costumes was encouraged, but we opted for putting the kids in something festive, but quick and easy...an orange shirt for the little guy and a candy corn shirt for big sister.

Pumpkin Decorating
October 30, 2009
This year we decided to simplify our pumpkin decorating and instead of carving the pumpkins like last year (which is always a lot of work AND mess), we let the kids make silly faces instead using stickers we had found at a local pumpkin patch. Mikayla enjoyed making the faces on each of the pumpkins and we made a Boos pumpkin family of four. I must admit I think we'll be going this pumpkin decorating route for another couple of years!

Mikayla & Austin got a Halloween card and pumpkin stickers in the mail from Grammy & Papa. Apparently, this is what Austin likes to do with his stickers...

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
October 30, 2009
Last year, we started a tradition by making a goodie to eat, and then enjoy that goodie while we watched the movie "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". Last year we made chocolate chip pumpkin bread. This year, we were pretty much maxed out with our indulgences over that bread already, so we opted for caramel corn. Mikayla "helped" me make it as best she could, but taking pictures was difficult since making the caramel corn required me to have watchful eyes because it involved the stove top.

Here are the kiddos "zoned out" with the movie and munching on their treat!

I ended up making another batch when the kids went down for the night and made little "caramel corn pumpkins" for our annual holiday treats for our neighbors. The kids and I have been doing this for every holiday for the last few years. It's just so much fun for me to put a smile on someone's face! Last year we made cookies. Most of our neighbors are a little older and do not have young children, so they always get a kick out of seeing the kiddos show up on their door step with a goody in hand. And Mikayla is beginning to really love it. When we were finished, she wanted to go make more so we could find other neighbors to give it to. That's what I want to instill in my daughter..a heart for giving!

The Pumpkin Fairy
October 31, 2009
Another tradition I started last year was for the pumpkin fairy to show up on our door step sometime on Halloween. He (or she) leaves a little bucket of goodies for the kids. I purposefully made the buckets small, so that it wouldn't get overwhelming for me (I mean the pumpkin fairy) to have to fill it up with a lot. Just a couple of fun Halloween things that make the kids go oooh! The pumpkin fairy rings the doorbell and runs (or flies) away!

Who could it be?
The pumpkin fairy!

This year the pumpkin fairy came 15 minutes before we headed out the door for an evening of Halloween festivities. He (or she) barely made it! Last year, he (or she) came in the morning.
Halloween Night
October 31, 2009
Mikayla, the cheerleader
& Austin as Lightning McQueen
(Let's just say I was happy to get out the door with Austin wearing something other than his own "regular 2-year old boy clothes". This year his Cars jammies (which I had bought the morning of), Cars shoes, and a Cars hat fit the bill!)

I was so happy that Halloween was on a Saturday this year because that meant we could get the day started early because Ryan didn't have to work. First stop was to go visit the great-grandparents. They both live in a retirement community in the neighboring town, so we headed over there to show off the costumes. We try to do this every year. After that, we grabbed a bite to eat at our favorite sandwich shop and then headed on over to my own college stomping grounds where they were having some activities. The kids had a blast and I loved how low key it ended up being. We drove home and hit up the neighborhood to do some trick or treating. It was such a gorgeous evening and I have never seen so many people out and about all at once in our own neighborhood. It was pretty cool. We came home a little bit before bed time and let the kiddos hand out candy to the straggling trick or treaters. This was Mikayla's favorite part of the evening. Then it was off to bed...only past bed time by 15 minutes. Not bad for a full evening of fun!
Although I know it's been a good week since this is all happened, I just say...
better late than never!

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MONTHLY CRAFT CHALLENGE

FYI: I still plan on having you all link up THIS Thursday for the Monthly Craft Challenge. I postponed it by a week because everything was just too overwhelming and I had to take a break from something. It's been 2 weeks since I have blogged, but now I'm ready to re-join this little world. Trust me, I realize how busy this time of year is, so if you haven't made something for the Photo Project yet, just dig through past projects you have posted before or even projects you see around the house that would work for this theme. I want to pool together lots of photo projects that would be great for Christmas presents for loved ones! Leave a comment if you have a question, but check it out HERE if you'd like a little more detail for this month's challenge.