Halloween Week

It's hard to believe that Halloween 2015 has already come and gone!  What a busy week it was.  Part of me was really dreading trick-or-treating this year since our kids are so clingy and shy, but they both did it like champs.  It ended up being so much fun!

I had every intention of letting Katie Wynn paint a pumpkin this year (didn't think she was quite ready for carving yet) but we never got around to it.  We did, though, decorate a pumpkin with some nail head polka dots.  (Idea from Katie Bower.) She loved every minute of it and was actually really good at hammering the nails.  And I, of course, loved that it didn't make a mess!

The week leading up to Halloween was dress up week at daycare.  Each day was a different theme.  The week started off with hat day on Monday.

Tuesday was crazy mismatched clothes.  It's the hardest day for me because you know I like things that match.

Wednesday was pajama day which is sometimes frustrating to me since I spend every other day of the year saying, "No, you can't wear your pajamas to school!" 

Thursday was Breast Cancer Awareness day and they were supposed to wear pink.  No pictures before school because I was so frustrated that I couldn't find a pink shirt for Thomas to wear.  So he didn't participate.  Maybe next year.

Friday was Halloween party day and costume day.  Katie Wynn helped me make little "Bugs and Kisses" bags for their classmates.  

Can you tell which Crayon was more cooperative for pictures that morning?  Also, how appropriate is that rug they're standing on?

Guess who was not super excited to be included in the dressing up this year...

That's right, this year's Halloween theme was a family affair.  Good thing Matt is always such a good sport.  :)

With rainy weather all morning, we really didn't know if we'd be able to trick or treat or not but I talked it up with Katie Wynn anyway.  We practiced saying "Trick or Treat!" and I told her that she wouldn't get candy if she didn't say it to whoever answered the door.  She looked at me and said, "I will do it!"  I told that story to both my mom and nephew, Jett, and asked if they thought she'd actually do it.  Without hesitation, they both said "NO!" 

Well guess what, she actually did it!  Our first stop was Mimi and Poppy's house and she marched right up like she knew exactly what to do.  T-Man was hot on her heels.

When Mimi and Poppy FINALLY answered the door, she yelled "TRICK OR TREAT!" as loud as she could.  :)  And Thomas was so excited that they both got candy!  (We originally didn't even have him a bucket but quickly realized he'd need his own when he saw her get candy and pushed his way in for some.)

From there we went over to the Schwartz's house for chili and hot dogs and to wait for it to get a little bit darker.  Our neighborhood has LOTS of houses but the lots are big so it's too spread out for the kids to just walk door to door.  We were fortunate to be invited to tag along with some friends who had a trailer to pull between houses.  The kids loved the "hayride" and climbing off and on it.

Glow sticks for safety!

I think this was the best way to do it - KW seemed to have confidence with her buddies with her.  Hopefully we'll get to do it again this way next year!

On our trailer we had a gangster, Tinkerbell, a UPS man, a pink crayon (and a blue one not pictured) and Coach Ditka.  And two adult crayon boxes.  :)

The only catastrophe of the night was that the pink crayon hat went missing for a while, but it was eventually recovered after some retracing of our steps!  

Our kids both crashed HARD when we got home.  I was hopeful that they'd forget about the piles of candy they got, but Katie Wynn's first words that morning were, "I want some candy for bwek-fess."  Maybe next year we'll tell them we ate their candy for Jimmy Kimmel.