Halloween

Our Halloween celebrations started a few days early with Abby’s preschool party and trunk-or-treat on Thursday. I was in charge of a game, so I played Don’t Eat Pete with the kids. It was a big hit. All of the moms had planned fun activities. Abby had a great time and thought she was the queen of the world when she was the only one to win the ring toss game on her first try.





Cyd and Hil came for lunch on Friday. Cyd added to our Halloween fun by modeling her awesome Jabba the Hut costume for the kids. They loved it!


Friday night was our family party. We ate yummy soup and rolls and had Shane’s homemade root beer. We played the M&M’s/straw/dice game, did a candy walk, had a guess-how-many-candies-in-the-jar contest, and let the kids each take a couple of swings at the piñata (with Taylor striking the fatal blow). The highlight of the party was watching Jacob teach everyone the Thriller dance. It was hilarious. If the whole football plan doesn’t work out, that boy has a future as a choreographer.





We carved our pumpkins Sunday afternoon. Carving pumpkins is fun now that the kids can do most of the work themselves. Nate had to use toothpicks to make a couple of repairs, but they all turned out really well. Emily made hers double-sided with the Harry Potter logo on one side and Harry Potter’s face on the other. It was impossible to get a picture with both sides at once, but it looked pretty cool.


Monday morning we all headed over to the school for the costume parade. For the first time since we’ve had kids in school, we didn’t stay to help with class parties. Instead, Nate and I came home and trimmed and counted Box Tops all day. I learned my lesson to not have the collection drive end so close to the submission date and I was very grateful for my quality husband who didn’t complain about spending his day off helping me with PTA stuff.

We picked the kids up from school and headed down to Lee’s for their annual trick-or-treat event. Then it was home for a photo shoot. Our family decided to do a Harry Potter theme this year. I was lazy and bought the kids’ costumes instead of making them. Sometimes it is worth spending a little extra money to save some time (and sanity). I did make my robe and Nate’s hat. They were both pretty simple. Nate’s wig and beard were not so simple. We bought a Santa beard, but it was curly and bright white. I spent more time than I want to think about using the iron to straighten it out and then running a grey sharpie over it 4,000 times to give it a more weathered look. One of these days I will learn how to use my time wisely.

Here we are as Minerva McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger (again). I wish I had an audio recording of everyone's British accents. They've gotten really good at it.




Abby made the perfect Ginny Weasley (or as she says "Zinny Weasley"). Her hair is just right for the part. She knows a few spells and even learned how speak a bit of parseltongue since Ginny does at the end of The Chamber of Secrets.


Elise and Emily both wanted to be Hermione. We used the timers they got from the dentist to make Time-Turners so Hermione could be in two places at once. Hooray for simple solutions that make everyone happy.



Ben was very concerned with being authentic. He's been growing out his hair for the last couple of months so it would be long enough for Harry Potter. Shaggy brown hair wasn't good enough, so we dyed it black. He even begged his orthodontist to take his braces off since "Harry Potter doesn't have braces." Luckily his teeth were ready anyway, so he got his wish.


I took the kids trick-or-treating this year while Nate stayed home to pass out candy. He made the most of it, using his best Dumbledore voice to greet the trick-or-treaters and letting wizards and witches have the first pick of the candy. I had fun with the kids. They were troopers! We covered lots of ground and none of them (even Abby) complained a bit. We met up with the Eckardts and Murdocks for the last half of the night. The kids had fun being with their friends and I had fun talking to Claudy and Wendy. It was a great night.