Halloween

Halloween was great fun this year.  Usually this holiday gets a little slighted since we have two birthdays in October and I don't even start thinking about it until those are out of the way.  But this year, it really came together.  Over MEA weekend, we carved pumpkins and celebrated our cat, Jackie's, birthday.  We adopted her in the summer a few years ago, but she was born in October and her first family officially named her Jack-O-Lantern and called her Jackie for short.  Therefore, every year on the day we carve pumpkins, we also celebrate our wonderful kitty.  We love her and our family is always ready for a reason to celebrate.

Enjoying the sun

Happy Birthday Jackie!

We began this spooky holiday by carving pumpkins.  I must say that this was the best year yet for carving because both Jacob and Charlotte were able to carve their own without my help.  Mary and Laurel agreed to share a pumpkin this year, so Mary drew a face with markers on one side and I helped Laurel carve the other.  It was a fun, relaxing afternoon.

L to R: Jacob's, Laurel/Mary's; Charlotte's

It was then time to figure out Halloween costumes.  Charlotte had purchased a black cat costume for her AG doll at her birthday party, so on a whim, I said, "Let's see if we can replicate your doll's costume for you."  We whipped out some black fabric I had in the cupboard and it actually turned out quite cute.  Just a quick trip to the fabric store for a set of ears and tail and Charlotte matched Chrissa, her doll.  Laurel had already decided she wanted to be a witch and my friend lent me a great costume.  We found a broom and she was ready to go.  Jacob wanted to be Mario, so again, my awesome friend came through for me, and lent me some suspenders.  I purchased the hat and sewed the "M" onto it and he was set.  That left only Mary so we decided to simply buy her a Princess Peach costume to go with Mario.  I rarely coordinate my kids costumes, but it seemed like a fun idea this year.  That is until I went to three different stores and no one had a Princess Peach costume.  We finally decided to pull out a pink dress-up dress, created the blue 'jewel' and bought a crown.  I was thrilled that all four kids were ready for the big night at very little cost.

  

At this point, Laurel and Mary decided they needed costumes for their dolls since Charlotte's doll had a costume.  I spent an entire day making doll costumes and spent that whole time imagining the working mothers I know rolling their eyes.  It's decisions like this that only feed the "mommy war" fires, but in the end I decided that a days worth of my time was a small price to pay to create a memory that will last a lifetime.

L to R: Allie as Baby Peach; Emily as a ghost; Mia as a witch; Kaya as a wizard; Chrissa as a black cat; and Kirstin as a kit kat bar

In the end the actual holiday proved to be whirlwind as seen by the hurriedly snapped pictures above.  Numbers 2 & 3 wore their costumes at school on Friday for the school parade while #1 was a quarter (his teacher was the wallet - the students were money).  I missed the parade this year because it conflicted with Mary's Halloween party.  That night, all four wore the costumes we made to trunk-or-treat at our church and then again to hand out candy on Sunday, the actual holiday.  To make up for the loot they missed collecting by keeping the Sabbath Day holy, I purchased each of them a bag of candy of their own.  Of course, Mary's already cleaned out hers; Laurel has a few remaining pieces; and Jacob and Charlotte have all of theirs left which will remain with us for the next year.

And the smoke had barely wafted away from our pumpkins when the kids pulled out pieces of paper and started making their Christmas lists.  It's not very hard to understand why the Fall is my favorite time of year with so many fun things going on!