Halloween 2013

The kids had so much fun with Halloween this year.  Will started the day as a cowboy - it was Dress Up Day at his school, and we wanted to save his "real" costume for that night, but fortunately we had other options that morning.  He loves any chance he gets to wear his boots and hat - cutest cowboy I've ever seen!

We convinced them to wait until about 5 to put on their costumes - they were so excited!  Claire was a fairy princess, and Will had asked for a dragon costume.  I wasn't sure the dragon costume would make it to Halloween - he loved it and asked to try it several times before the actual day.  Grandmommy, Nana & Granddaddy were all able to come over and see them in their costumes and for some pre-trick or treating photos.

Taking a bow

We met up with our neighbors to trick or treat, and made our way up and down our cul de sac and a few other houses nearby.

Our neighbors' girls are each a year older than Claire and Will, and they have so much fun together.  The girls would take off from each house to the next, and Will would run as fast as his legs/costume would allow shouting "Wait for me!  Wait for Will!"

We wrapped up our trick or treating and headed home to help Daddy and Granddaddy pass out candy. 

Claire especially loves passing out candy to other trick or treaters - she would get so excited when she would see anyone coming up our street, and she would try to run out with the candy bowl shouting "Come over here!  We have CANDY!  FREE CANDY!"

Robert and I love that our kids enjoy the giving away part as much as they enjoy the receiving.  

Halloween 2013: Pumpkins!

For the first time, our family carved pumpkins for Halloween.  I'm not sure why we had never taken the time to make them before, but this year we had two kids who really wanted to make some Halloween decorations, so we made time.

While Robert was doing a couple of chores, the kids and I hung up some fake cobwebs, including covering our dead shrubs in the pots in front of our house (that way it looked intentional that we hadn't thrown them away yet, right?).


I worked on Claire's pumpkin - she wanted a traditional Jack O' Lantern.  Robert got fancy with Will's - he found a template online of one of the characters from Will's favorite show right now (Chase from PAW Patrol).  They were both infatuated with their carved pumpkins.




At night


The next day we painted some pumpkins to add to our decor - unfortunately the rain washed away the paint before Halloween (I thought I was being smart using the washable paints), but it was fun!

Halloween 2012

Halloween just gets more fun every year.

This year both kids had some input into their costumes.  For Will, I narrowed it down to a monkey or a lion, and he picked monkey - "I be monkey for Hal-ween!  Oooh oooh ahhh ahhh!!!"  Claire and I looked at costumes in a few different stores, and we agreed on a butterfly costume for Gymboree - except that she didn't want the wings.  We decided that she would be a "butterfly fairy", complete with wand and antenna headband.

The kids' school held their annual Halloween parade the morning of the 31st.  Although it wasn't on a day the kids normally attend school, we were able to bring them just for the parade so they could participate.  They started with the older kids first.  Claire was smiling her trademark big smile as she came out - she was so excited!


C with 3 of her buddies from her class.


Will wasn't as sure about all of these strange people watching him.


Will spotted me after his first circle around the parking lot and wasn't sure if he wanted to continue.  I asked him if he wanted to walk with Claire, and he decided that was okay.  Claire was so proud to lead him around - such a good big sister!




That afternoon Claire was too excited to take a nap, which was disappointing since I wanted her to be able to stay up a little later than usual.  We had an errand to run, and she promptly fell asleep in the car.  I put on a movie for Will and drove around for awhile so she could sleep - it was just what she needed to be ready for her big night!





After a few pictures, we took off in the wagon.  Our neighborhood does a pizza party in one of the cul de sac's before trick or treating starts, and we ran into our next door neighbors who have kids about a year older than ours.  We were able to trick or treat with them which made it even more fun - Claire loved running around with Ellie, and we enjoyed catching up with our neighbors.



We went to several houses, and they did such a good job politely accepting their candy.  We went back to our house when it started getting dark and let the kids enjoy a little of their haul.



Claire had just as much fun passing out candy as she did getting her own.  When the first group came, she showed us that she does listen to us sometimes when she told the kids "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!"  Robert and I nearly lost it - so funny!  We told her that she didn't have to share that advice with any other kids.  At one point, she thought our bowl was getting a little low and dumped some of the candy from her bag into the bowl.  We loved that she was so happy to give candy away.



Happy kids and happy parents - it was a successful night!

Halloween 2011: Part Three

Halloween Night - Claire was so excited about trick or treating that I had a hard time getting her to stand still for a photo.  Will was much more chill about the whole thing.

Note the almost ever present headband

After a few photos, we headed over to the neighborhood pizza party and visited with a few neighbors before hitting a few houses for trick or treating.  Claire was a little apprehensive at first, but she quickly got over her shyness (easier to do when candy is involved)!  She loved figuring out who was home and running to ring the doorbell while Will was happy guarding the wagon.

As it started getting dark, we took the puppy home to get ready for bed while Daddy and the cupcake passed out candy to the older kids.  We had a good number of kids come by and ran out of candy right around Claire's bedtime.  Before bath, she got to go through her loot and pick a couple of treats to savor before bath.  I may or may not have also found a couple of treats in there after her bedtime...

Halloween 2011: Part Two

The actual day of Halloween started off with a parade at the kids' school.  Claire dressed up as a cupcake, while Will was a puppy (or as I thought, Cutest Puppy Ever).





I think this was our last year to pick Claire's costume for her.  A month or so before, I asked Claire what she wanted to be, and I offered up a few suggestions - cupcake, ice cream cone, strawberry, etc. (easy to find costumes!).  She sat there a minute, and then said "I want to be juice."  "Juice?"  "Yes, a juice box!"  So creative!  While I would've loved to fulfill that request, we just didn't have time to make a costume.  Besides, at this age, I was afraid she would change her mind the day before.  Fortunately she was really excited about her cupcake costume - and of course, she looked adorable.  She really stood out in the sea of princesses at the parade.  :)

Halloween 2011: Part One

Halloween seems to get more fun each year as Claire gets older - her excitement spreads to the rest of us.  So many pictures this year that I'm going to spread them out in 3 posts!

The celebration started on Sunday at our church's fall festival.  Claire really had a blast playing some of the games this year and even wanted to get her face painted - something she never would've considered last year!







Will got in on the action, doing his best throwing some beanbags at the beanbag toss.  He is so into balls and throwing things - truly all boy!


Claire really wanted to go in the bounce house and just giggled and laughed the whole time we were in there.  Will got to participate, too (with a little help from Mommy)!