Halloween Haunts and Choosing "Yes!"
You may recall we had a sppooookkkyyy Halloween last year, but not for good reasons. We hoped to turn the tide this year.
We again were invited to trick-or-treat with cousins, but the children voted to stay home. It was a blustery, cold night, so the general consensus had been that we would hang out at home, have a candy scavenger hunt like we had last year, watch a movie, and call it a night.
The pumpkin carving spread throughout the day:
We all got a lot of enjoyment out of creating JibJab videos like the one I posted from Monkey on Halloween.
A couple pumpkins finally were completed:
Don’t remember Botox Tinkerbell? She gets a mention at the end of this post.
Yessa created a bat pumpkin:
And the whole crowd had a great deal of fun playing with knives and stabbing pumpkins.
This was the first year where the children took care of 85% of the planning, creating, scooping, and carving all on their own. The girls were especially proud of their independence.
Then Buds got home and the plans began to change.
I had been excited about Buds getting home so we could finish pumpkins, watch a movie, hide candy for the children together…make a fun Halloween at home.
Buds got home and he was exhausted.
I was feeling very cranky about this.
Then Buster said, “I really want to dress up and go out.”
I had a choice.
It was 7:10 p.m. Dark and cold. The other adult in the house was out:
I could easily have said I wasn’t going to do it, but that didn’t feel fair or fun or respectful, so I said, “Get dressed!”
The children scurried off, and they were back, ready for action in 10 minutes. Plus, they looked fantastic!
Monkey was a “non-stereotypical witch.”
Yessa was a “stereotypical witch.”
Buster was a “scout” from Team Fortress 2.
We weren’t sure what the “treating” would be like in our neighborhood. People have been very nice, but we haven’t seen many young children, so we headed out, looking for open front doors and lit porch lights.
It was the BEST trick-or-treating ever!
We went to 8-9 houses, and we were the only trick-or-treaters at all these houses. People were so glad to see us and so friendly to the children. Plus, since they are used to not having many trick-or-treaters, I recognized certain signs.
When you don’t expect many children on Halloween night, you purchase candy that you will like eating. The children got lots of “adult” candy:
Take a look at that picture above. Those jelly bellies, they are “cocktail flavored.” The ferrero rocher candy, those are Tania’s favorite, and not generally chosen by children. The gum is “Orbit,” a sugar-free mint gum. Not Hubba Bubba.
The Andes mints, those were my dad’s favorite candy. I got him a box of those for Christmas every year.
And finally, see that little black blob in the plastic wrap? That isn’t black licorice as I thought at first…it’s a prune.
I love our new neighborhood.
