Trick-or-Treat
Happy Halloween!!!
The girls have been counting down to this day for a couple of weeks now, and have been pretty good at keeping track of just how many days were left.
We've had our gigantic pumpkins for a couple of weeks. The trick was finding the right time to make them into jack-o-lanterns. We were quite busy 4 out of the 5 days leading up to Halloween and we didn't want to carve them too early. We were planning on doing it on our "free" night, the night before Halloween. But after a long and busy weekend and the added time change thrown in for good measure we just weren't up to it. Then we decided to do it the afternoon of Halloween, but that turned out to be a no go. The girls were doing great just going with the flow. By Tuesday afternoon all they were focused on was the trick-or-treating. By dinner time, they couldn't contain themselves. They managed to get some dinner in them, after protesting. After our doorbell rang with the first batch of trick-or-treaters, they decided that they'd better finish their dinner so they could go trick-or-treating.
Amongst answering the door, we all got ready to go ourselves. We were almost ready when their buddies B&B came by to trick-or-treat so we ended up heading out with them. We were very surprised when we got outside and noticed that the wind had stopped blowing. It was still chilly, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. It turned out to be an excellent night after all. All of the kids appeared to stay warm in their layers of clothes, coats, and costumes. The girls witch costumes weren't quite as cool looking with their winter coats on, but we needed to keep them warm. We managed to get a pair of warm jammies on Spencer underneath his full body Giraffe costume and the Giraffe hood kept his head nice and warm. The (hand-me-down) Giraffe costume that he barely fit in! We had gloves, but they didn't seem to need them.
We all strolled up and down our block, visiting familiar neighbors before calling it a night. It was nice visiting familiar houses, having those neighbors recognize the kids and get a kick out of it, and watching the kids have a great time. It was nice to keep it low key and to hear the girls suggest that the neighbor houses were enough for them. I remember Ellie saying "just one more house mom!" Spencer did a great job at keeping up with the bigger kids. He was really into it and his "trick-or-treat" was amazing! So good that other people understood him. While he accepted the candy and clutched it in his fists, he was very interested in investigating the animals that lived inside the homes. The cats and dogs really caught his attention. As did the moon and the stars in the brisk dark night.
When we got home we quickly peeled off the layers and gathered around the kitchen table. The girls were excited to see all the great stuff they had in their bags. Spencer was eager to get the wrapper off the one and only piece of candy he was interested in... a sucker. He knows all about suckers (dum dum's) while the rest were just shiny pieces of paper to him. Each girl picked out their choice piece of candy to enjoy and happily put the rest in baggies labeled with their names. I was happy to see that we didn't end up with a ton of candy. To me, it seemed like they each collected the perfect amount. It was also awesome that while they were extremely excited to see their collection, they had no desire to eat it all at once. We heard more than once that eating all that candy would make their tummies hurt. Maybe it also helped that we had other fun activities planned and they were ready to move on.
Today was "snack day" for Abby at preschool and Abby had chosen to make applesauce to share with her friends. After getting the table cleared we peeled and sliced apples until the big saucepan was full. Once the apples were cooking and that mess was cleaned up, it was time to finally carve our pumpkins.
I think this may become a new ritual at our house. Other than it getting a bit too late, we had a lot of fun. The girls didn't seem to care that the pumpkins weren't carved and out for Halloween night and it was a fun activity for us to do on Halloween. Spencer participated for a bit as well and then it was off to bed for him. Poor Carie was under the weather with some tooth pain from a root canal. So it was mostly the girls and I.
As we were preparing to start they were over the top gung ho about cleaning their own pumpkins. As I carved off the top and they were reminded what the insides of a pumpkin looked like, they were less eager. It was quite funny to watch and listen to them change their tune from one extreme to the next. Especially Ellie. After she saw the inside she didn't want to have anything to do with the icky/gooey innards of the pumpkin. She did end up scooping out seeds... seeds only and one by one. She was careful to not touch anything! Needless to say I sped up that process with my own spoon and hands.
I did end up convincing Abby to dig in with her hands. But of course, we had to do it together. This really meant that on the count of 3 I dug in with my hand while she watched. After I scooped out a couple of handfuls she was convinced to dig in on her own. She enjoyed showing Ellie the goopy pumpkin mess squishing between her fingers.
Once the pumpkins were cleaned out it was carving time. Each girl got to choose how they wanted their pumpkin carved. Starting with Ellie's pumpkin, she chose square eyes, a triangle nose, and a diamond mouth. She was thrilled with her end result! Moving onto Abby's pumpkin. Abby drew diagrams on a piece of paper so I knew exactly what she wanted. She starts with requesting circle eyes. I say something about that being challenging. She replies that SHE knows how to make circles. Well, yes dear, I know you know how to make a circle. So I made circle eyes! Then she chose a square nose (love those straight lines), and what I would call a frowny/sad mouth while Abby called it a scared mouth. But I followed her diagram and it worked perfectly for her! We then lit the pumpkins and they enjoyed them for a bit before heading straight to bed. Of course they negotiated to have a pumpkin in their room. I of course negotiated that if anyone got out of bed, the pumpkin was coming back downstairs.
The girls have been counting down to this day for a couple of weeks now, and have been pretty good at keeping track of just how many days were left.
We've had our gigantic pumpkins for a couple of weeks. The trick was finding the right time to make them into jack-o-lanterns. We were quite busy 4 out of the 5 days leading up to Halloween and we didn't want to carve them too early. We were planning on doing it on our "free" night, the night before Halloween. But after a long and busy weekend and the added time change thrown in for good measure we just weren't up to it. Then we decided to do it the afternoon of Halloween, but that turned out to be a no go. The girls were doing great just going with the flow. By Tuesday afternoon all they were focused on was the trick-or-treating. By dinner time, they couldn't contain themselves. They managed to get some dinner in them, after protesting. After our doorbell rang with the first batch of trick-or-treaters, they decided that they'd better finish their dinner so they could go trick-or-treating.
Amongst answering the door, we all got ready to go ourselves. We were almost ready when their buddies B&B came by to trick-or-treat so we ended up heading out with them. We were very surprised when we got outside and noticed that the wind had stopped blowing. It was still chilly, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. It turned out to be an excellent night after all. All of the kids appeared to stay warm in their layers of clothes, coats, and costumes. The girls witch costumes weren't quite as cool looking with their winter coats on, but we needed to keep them warm. We managed to get a pair of warm jammies on Spencer underneath his full body Giraffe costume and the Giraffe hood kept his head nice and warm. The (hand-me-down) Giraffe costume that he barely fit in! We had gloves, but they didn't seem to need them.
We all strolled up and down our block, visiting familiar neighbors before calling it a night. It was nice visiting familiar houses, having those neighbors recognize the kids and get a kick out of it, and watching the kids have a great time. It was nice to keep it low key and to hear the girls suggest that the neighbor houses were enough for them. I remember Ellie saying "just one more house mom!" Spencer did a great job at keeping up with the bigger kids. He was really into it and his "trick-or-treat" was amazing! So good that other people understood him. While he accepted the candy and clutched it in his fists, he was very interested in investigating the animals that lived inside the homes. The cats and dogs really caught his attention. As did the moon and the stars in the brisk dark night.When we got home we quickly peeled off the layers and gathered around the kitchen table. The girls were excited to see all the great stuff they had in their bags. Spencer was eager to get the wrapper off the one and only piece of candy he was interested in... a sucker. He knows all about suckers (dum dum's) while the rest were just shiny pieces of paper to him. Each girl picked out their choice piece of candy to enjoy and happily put the rest in baggies labeled with their names. I was happy to see that we didn't end up with a ton of candy. To me, it seemed like they each collected the perfect amount. It was also awesome that while they were extremely excited to see their collection, they had no desire to eat it all at once. We heard more than once that eating all that candy would make their tummies hurt. Maybe it also helped that we had other fun activities planned and they were ready to move on.
Today was "snack day" for Abby at preschool and Abby had chosen to make applesauce to share with her friends. After getting the table cleared we peeled and sliced apples until the big saucepan was full. Once the apples were cooking and that mess was cleaned up, it was time to finally carve our pumpkins.
I think this may become a new ritual at our house. Other than it getting a bit too late, we had a lot of fun. The girls didn't seem to care that the pumpkins weren't carved and out for Halloween night and it was a fun activity for us to do on Halloween. Spencer participated for a bit as well and then it was off to bed for him. Poor Carie was under the weather with some tooth pain from a root canal. So it was mostly the girls and I.
As we were preparing to start they were over the top gung ho about cleaning their own pumpkins. As I carved off the top and they were reminded what the insides of a pumpkin looked like, they were less eager. It was quite funny to watch and listen to them change their tune from one extreme to the next. Especially Ellie. After she saw the inside she didn't want to have anything to do with the icky/gooey innards of the pumpkin. She did end up scooping out seeds... seeds only and one by one. She was careful to not touch anything! Needless to say I sped up that process with my own spoon and hands. 
I did end up convincing Abby to dig in with her hands. But of course, we had to do it together. This really meant that on the count of 3 I dug in with my hand while she watched. After I scooped out a couple of handfuls she was convinced to dig in on her own. She enjoyed showing Ellie the goopy pumpkin mess squishing between her fingers. Once the pumpkins were cleaned out it was carving time. Each girl got to choose how they wanted their pumpkin carved. Starting with Ellie's pumpkin, she chose square eyes, a triangle nose, and a diamond mouth. She was thrilled with her end result! Moving onto Abby's pumpkin. Abby drew diagrams on a piece of paper so I knew exactly what she wanted. She starts with requesting circle eyes. I say something about that being challenging. She replies that SHE knows how to make circles. Well, yes dear, I know you know how to make a circle. So I made circle eyes! Then she chose a square nose (love those straight lines), and what I would call a frowny/sad mouth while Abby called it a scared mouth. But I followed her diagram and it worked perfectly for her! We then lit the pumpkins and they enjoyed them for a bit before heading straight to bed. Of course they negotiated to have a pumpkin in their room. I of course negotiated that if anyone got out of bed, the pumpkin was coming back downstairs.
Labels: Halloween
posted by Sonya at 11:59 PM
2 Comments:
The kids look so great in their costumes..too cute!! Are this Picture People photos?
Wow, Abbie and Ellie were really having a great time with those jack-o-lanterns. And I love the studio pics of the kids. Spencer really looks a lot like Ellie in his pic.
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