Halloween!

This year, we decided to save our money and not buy new costumes.  We encouraged Owen to dress up in his baseball uniform, but he decided to wear the same costume that he wore last year.

And minutes before it was time to leave to go Trick or Treating, Chloe decided to be a soccer player.

Silly boy could not wait to get out and see his friends and trick or treat with them.  The Grandmas stayed at the house to answer the door and pass out candy while we walked the dogs and the kids from house to house.

This house had some spooky windows.

It was dark in less than 30 minutes from leaving the house and pitch dark by the time we walked back up our street to go home.

I think this is the first year we didn't have any kids after 8pm.  That was a shocker.  Chloe designed the pumpkin on the left and Todd carved it.  Way to go, honeys!

Owen designed the one on the right, which I carved.  It was really important to him to have a peace sign carved into it.

Happy Halloween!

Belts and Treats

Tonight was the kids' belt ceremony at karate.  With Halloween being right around the corner, they were encouraged to dress up, get their belts, play games, enjoy a potluck dinner and go Trunk or Treating in the parking lot.  Can't get much better in a kid's world for a perfect evening!

The kids kids chose their costumes.  Owen decided to wear his costume from last year and Chloe decided to be Winnie the Pooh.   His face is on the front of her hat.

 She was up and running fast after her name was called.

Chloe couldn't wait to ditch her decided camouflage belt and receive her recommended green belt.

Because now she will be a green belt, just like her brother.  :)

Owen was up and running fast, too.

He was just as excited to get his decided green belt....one step closer to attaining black belt status.

So many new green belts!

Owen had fun playing games and winning black rubber bracelets (think of the ones Madonna made popular in the 80s) while Chloe just ran around talking to her friends.  After most everyone had eaten from the most humongous potluck dinner ever AND the rain had let up considerably, we headed out to the parking lot for the Trunk or Treat.  There were fewer than a dozen cars with decorated trunks, but the kids loved getting to do this for the first time!

When we came back inside, it was time for a costume contest.  This is one of their instructors (Ms. Sykora) who was dressed up like a Tiny Tiger (3 and under kids).

This boy dressed as a sumo wrestler rocked it and won the contest.  He danced around jiggling that big stomach and had everyone in stitches.

Halloween 2010

The kids could not wait to get out and go Trick or Treating.  We had some tears beforehand when neighbors were spotted taking their kids on a hay ride down the street.  Apparently we weren't on the invite list, which was hard for the kids.  There were also last minute costume changes.

Owen didn't even get out of the front yard before he was taking the pumpkin head off because he couldn't see.

Chloe was supposed to be a ghost, but switched to her witch costume from last year because she said her arms couldn't come out from under the sheet to hold her pumpkin candy collector.

Panting Pony came along for the Halloween walk between houses and loved all the attention he got from all the kids AND the grown ups.

I loved watching the constant running.  Such determination and focus to get from one house to the next as quickly as possible.

Love the jeans and the light-up, sequined tennis shoes on my girl.  The shoes totally made the costume as her feet looked like running strobe lights after it got dark.

During the Trick or Treating process, the some of the parents rode in the hay ride trailer being pulled behind Shannon's tractor.

 

The Woodstock Police drove through the neighborhood and handed out candy to the kids.  Thought that was pretty cool.  They talked about safety as the kids walked up to the police car.

The kids acted sad when we told them it was time to head home, but I think they were okay with it.  They both got a TON of candy and had to look at all of it spread out on the table when we got home.

Haggling and negotiating and trading ensued.  As did the Parent Tax.  Hooray for the Parent Tax!

Pumpkin Carving

Papa Ford drove up earlier and went to Owen's soccer game with us.  Once we got back home, we pulled out the pumpkins and drew faces on them.  

Both kids helped scoop out the guts and seeds.

Chloe had to be on top of the kitchen table to help.

Owen was determined to not get slimed by the pumpkin guts and was more careful in his endeavors to clean out the innards.

Once the pumpkins were scooped out, the kids supervised as Papa and I carved the faces that they drew.

Halloween 2009

Jackolanterns carved the afternoon of Halloween. Nothing like the last minute to get things done.

These were the dozen plus snails removed from the pumpkins when they were brought inside for carving. Who knew pumpkins were snail magnets?

This was the Halloween party at our clubhouse on Friday night. Both Owen and his friend Nate were Darth Vader. This was also the first time Owen had been out of the house in three days since he had strep throat that week. He was happy to see his friends and play!

And Halloween night. Before it started raining. That is Preston playing Yoda.

Nate is in the middle and Owen is on the right.

The rain was supposed to be gone for the evening, but it started back (after one very long, rainy week) about five houses into Trick or Treating. So we headed back home and the kids hit maybe ten houses total before going inside to count their candy and ask why other kids were still out Trick or Treating. But with Chloe having finished her antibiotics for strep throat the day that Owen got strep throat, we weren't about to take any chances of getting sick(er) kids from the cold and rain.

They still got plenty of candy. The next day, we played Trick or Treat upstairs. Todd sat in Owen's bedroom with a bucket of candy while I sat in Chloe's room with another bucket. The kids took turns knocking on the doors so we could tell them "Happy Halloween" and put more candy in their bags. I think that was more fun for them than going door-to-door on Halloween.

Chloe's Halloween Parade

Chloe's class dressed up in their Halloween costumes today.

Pushing her way into her classroom this morning :)

They held a little Halloween parade at 9am and marched circles around the parking lot for us.

She makes a pretty cute little witch, no?

There are fiber-optic lights in the skirt, but hard to see them light up when she's not cloaked in darkness. A black broom with silver/tinsel sweepers is hanging in her closet, waiting for her to take trick or treating tomorrow night....if it's not raining too hard.

She got tired of wearing her hat and handed it over to me to hold because it kept falling off when she was running.

Have a Happy & Safe Halloween!