One of my favorite things about the start of fall isn't the cool weather (we don't have any so I'm not allowed to like that the best), but rather the fact that shortly after it starts, we hit full-on Halloween mode. This is definitely one of those holidays that is even better with kiddos around. It lasts almost a full month around here with all we have going on. Here is some of what we have been up to this Halloween season:
We started with a trip to Disney just before Will's birthday. While we didn't do Mickey's Not So Scary or anything, we did get to see all the fun Halloween/Fall decorations at Hollywood Studios. And we were able to meet up with some friends at the park so that made for a fun evening.
The Chick Fil A Kids' Club is in full swing for the school year and in the month of October they do a fun Halloween night. They let the kids "carve" styrofoam pumpkins and decorate them. They loved it. We let the kids dress up too since that is one of their favorite things about Halloween. Bonus that they were able to play on the playground after dinner.
As is tradition, we went to the local pumpkin patch before Halloween for some fun pictures. We don't actually usually buy a pumpkin there. We do let the kids each pick a mini one to decorate at home but we don't buy the big pumpkins there. It always makes for fun pictures though. We got them both mini pumpkins this year but never did have time to decorate them. It was just a crazy month or so and we ran out of time.
The Fall Festival at our church was a blast again this year. We made a beach themed trunk for the trunk or treat. Nana came into town to help us with the kids. She also really likes to attend the festival, too. This year we had a petting zoo and pony rides which both of the kids loved. They spent most of their time going up and down inflatable slides. They were so exhausted by the end that Will climbed up the obstacle course wall and just laid on the top for a minute. Nana had to encourage him to keep moving. The kids enjoyed the hay ride and trunk or treating. We carved a pumpkin for the contest. It turned out pretty great. We didn't win (there were some seriously awesome pumpkins) but it was fun. As usual, the entire event was a blast.
For the first time since the kids were born, I didn't make their costumes this year. I think I have hung up my costume making hat for good unless they specifically ask. They really enjoyed picking out their own costumes this year at the store and they were still super cute. The biggest surprise was that Kenzie went with something other than a princess. Crazy. She was super serious about being a super hero. She wanted Wonder Woman but we couldn't find it in her size so Super Girl was the next best thing. Will made an amazing Ninja Turtle.
We went to another fall festival put on in a park not too far from our house by a local church. The kids had a good time. It was later in the day though and I wasn't a fan of being out there in that environment in the dark with two small kiddos. They enjoyed seeing all the trunks and getting candy and our neighbors met us there so we had them and their little girl to hang out with. They did provide food and the kids and Steven had hot dogs while I had a pulled pork sandwich. The kids were able to jump in the bounce house for a few minutes but there was a time limit and after about 3 minutes, they were asked to get out so other kids could jump. Kenzie didn't want to do the obstacle course like she usually does. Will certainly did but unfortunately it was for 6 years and up (we were going to let Kenzie do it if she wanted to) and he was definitely too small to get away with that. After looking around some more, we decided we had seen everything they had and we headed out to get the kids home. It had been a long day anyway since it was on a Friday night and Kenzie had been in school all day. (Side note: I think it is about time to retire Kenzie's Rapunzel dress up. It is getting a bit short there...)
(Not Halloween related but I want to mention it since it won't get it's own post) The day after that Trunk or Treat we went out to UCF with the kids and Nana to take in a UCF Football game. So. Much. Fun. We parked across campus and the kids did remarkably well walking all the way across to get to the game and then again to get back in the dark. UCF won 73-33 which made a UCF record. Most points scored in a football game ever. They allowed far more points than I would have liked but a couple of those were really ridiculous things that happened and lead to touchdowns. Either way, it kept them undefeated for at least one more week. The kids really enjoyed the game. We had seats 7 rows from the field and were right next to the band and in front of the cheerleaders. Part way through the game, Kenzie and Will went down to the fence to watch the cheerleaders and game from there. It was really cute. Will really seemed to enjoy the band. On our way to the stadium we waited to see them practice and then play a short "show" in front of the Union before following them through the March to Victory and he was definitely enthused with them. Kenzie loved the cheerleaders and dancers. We made it a little more than halfway through the third quarter before deciding to head out. We knew we had a long walk back to the car and UCF was up by a whole lot. It was also starting to sprinkle so we just decided to call it. It worked out though and the serious rain didn't start until we were driving home. Both kids were OUT about 15 minutes from the school. They had a great time and we wore them out.
Will's school does not celebrate Halloween so he wore his jack-o-lantern shirt to school but that was about it. Kenzie's school doesn't actually celebrate Halloween either but they do hold a "Character Parade" at school where students can wear costumes as long as their character has a corresponding character in a book. So... we found and purchased a Supergirl book. The best part of the parade is that parents and siblings can come to see the parade. Steven was able to leave work early and we all headed over to the school to see the parade. It was really cute. Quick. But cute. Kenzie was so excited with the entire thing and looked so proud holding her book. The kids formed a long line (every kindergarten class participated) and they walked all through the first floor of the school. All the other classes came out of their rooms (and those on the second floor came down to the first) to watch the parade. Kenzie's teacher won Halloween too, I think. She was the hit of the parade with the other classes. She was dressed in one of those huge tyrannosaurus rex costumes. It was hilarious.
After the character parade we went home and let Kenzie do her homework. Then it was time to carve our family pumpkin. The kids weren't so sure about the guts on the inside. Kenzie kept making terrible faces as she pulled the junk out. Rather, as she pulled the seeds out. That is all she wanted to touch. Will was about the same but he was even less sure about putting his hand in it. Funny because last year he was okay with it. Haha. We ended up carving the face that we have used before. The kids really like that one and they were pretty excited with it. It wasn't too bad but we somehow ended up with the thickest pumpkin ever so it took a bit of extra work to get all the way through it. We made it work though.
Then we had dinner and it was time to get dressed in costumes to go out for Trick or Treating. We went out a bit early so I could take a few pictures of the kids. Kenzie was Supergirl again and Steven dressed up in a Superman t-shirt. Will wore his Ninja Turtle costume. Surprisingly, he left that turtle cap thing on all night. Even after we got home while we handed out candy. We met up with our neighbors and their little girl so we could all go trick or treating together. We went around the culdesac behind our house. Then we went down the street some and back. About a mile of walking all together. There were actually a good number of dark houses this year. But those that were giving out candy were very giving and were handing handfuls of candy to the kids. They were running ahead most of the time beating us house to house. Will was on a candy mission for a while. He was right up front knocking on doors. Eventually he got tired of walking and carrying candy though and asked me to hold it. Well, well, well. That just meant that I wasn't going to feel as bad about taking my candy tax from him. When we got back to our house, we asked the kids if they wanted to continue trick or treating or go back to the house to hand out candy. And they chose handing out candy. I think they like that more than getting candy of their own.
We usually try to keep track of the number of trick or treaters we have. Give or take. I lost track though. The neighbor and I discussed that we would put it close to 50 this year. Lighter than some of our prior years but not that low. We had to come up with a system for our kids for who opened the door and who handed out candy. Then we rotated back and forth. Before the system, there was a lot of screaming. I even answered the door to one mom with huge eyes and a questioning look on her face. I just told her that we were having our own Halloween sound effects made by the kids. Finally, we told the kids it was time to go to bed. We left the light on a while longer. Will went right to sleep despite doorbell ringing but Kenzie had some more trouble. Really, she just wanted to get up to hand out candy. We turned off the light about half and hour after putting them in bed and ended our Halloween for the year.
This season was busy but fun. We are looking forward to all things Thanksgiving now though. We are also going to start working on figuring out our advent activities for Christmas. I love this time of year.
We started with a trip to Disney just before Will's birthday. While we didn't do Mickey's Not So Scary or anything, we did get to see all the fun Halloween/Fall decorations at Hollywood Studios. And we were able to meet up with some friends at the park so that made for a fun evening.
The Chick Fil A Kids' Club is in full swing for the school year and in the month of October they do a fun Halloween night. They let the kids "carve" styrofoam pumpkins and decorate them. They loved it. We let the kids dress up too since that is one of their favorite things about Halloween. Bonus that they were able to play on the playground after dinner.
As is tradition, we went to the local pumpkin patch before Halloween for some fun pictures. We don't actually usually buy a pumpkin there. We do let the kids each pick a mini one to decorate at home but we don't buy the big pumpkins there. It always makes for fun pictures though. We got them both mini pumpkins this year but never did have time to decorate them. It was just a crazy month or so and we ran out of time.
The Fall Festival at our church was a blast again this year. We made a beach themed trunk for the trunk or treat. Nana came into town to help us with the kids. She also really likes to attend the festival, too. This year we had a petting zoo and pony rides which both of the kids loved. They spent most of their time going up and down inflatable slides. They were so exhausted by the end that Will climbed up the obstacle course wall and just laid on the top for a minute. Nana had to encourage him to keep moving. The kids enjoyed the hay ride and trunk or treating. We carved a pumpkin for the contest. It turned out pretty great. We didn't win (there were some seriously awesome pumpkins) but it was fun. As usual, the entire event was a blast.
For the first time since the kids were born, I didn't make their costumes this year. I think I have hung up my costume making hat for good unless they specifically ask. They really enjoyed picking out their own costumes this year at the store and they were still super cute. The biggest surprise was that Kenzie went with something other than a princess. Crazy. She was super serious about being a super hero. She wanted Wonder Woman but we couldn't find it in her size so Super Girl was the next best thing. Will made an amazing Ninja Turtle.
We went to another fall festival put on in a park not too far from our house by a local church. The kids had a good time. It was later in the day though and I wasn't a fan of being out there in that environment in the dark with two small kiddos. They enjoyed seeing all the trunks and getting candy and our neighbors met us there so we had them and their little girl to hang out with. They did provide food and the kids and Steven had hot dogs while I had a pulled pork sandwich. The kids were able to jump in the bounce house for a few minutes but there was a time limit and after about 3 minutes, they were asked to get out so other kids could jump. Kenzie didn't want to do the obstacle course like she usually does. Will certainly did but unfortunately it was for 6 years and up (we were going to let Kenzie do it if she wanted to) and he was definitely too small to get away with that. After looking around some more, we decided we had seen everything they had and we headed out to get the kids home. It had been a long day anyway since it was on a Friday night and Kenzie had been in school all day. (Side note: I think it is about time to retire Kenzie's Rapunzel dress up. It is getting a bit short there...)
(Not Halloween related but I want to mention it since it won't get it's own post) The day after that Trunk or Treat we went out to UCF with the kids and Nana to take in a UCF Football game. So. Much. Fun. We parked across campus and the kids did remarkably well walking all the way across to get to the game and then again to get back in the dark. UCF won 73-33 which made a UCF record. Most points scored in a football game ever. They allowed far more points than I would have liked but a couple of those were really ridiculous things that happened and lead to touchdowns. Either way, it kept them undefeated for at least one more week. The kids really enjoyed the game. We had seats 7 rows from the field and were right next to the band and in front of the cheerleaders. Part way through the game, Kenzie and Will went down to the fence to watch the cheerleaders and game from there. It was really cute. Will really seemed to enjoy the band. On our way to the stadium we waited to see them practice and then play a short "show" in front of the Union before following them through the March to Victory and he was definitely enthused with them. Kenzie loved the cheerleaders and dancers. We made it a little more than halfway through the third quarter before deciding to head out. We knew we had a long walk back to the car and UCF was up by a whole lot. It was also starting to sprinkle so we just decided to call it. It worked out though and the serious rain didn't start until we were driving home. Both kids were OUT about 15 minutes from the school. They had a great time and we wore them out.
Will's school does not celebrate Halloween so he wore his jack-o-lantern shirt to school but that was about it. Kenzie's school doesn't actually celebrate Halloween either but they do hold a "Character Parade" at school where students can wear costumes as long as their character has a corresponding character in a book. So... we found and purchased a Supergirl book. The best part of the parade is that parents and siblings can come to see the parade. Steven was able to leave work early and we all headed over to the school to see the parade. It was really cute. Quick. But cute. Kenzie was so excited with the entire thing and looked so proud holding her book. The kids formed a long line (every kindergarten class participated) and they walked all through the first floor of the school. All the other classes came out of their rooms (and those on the second floor came down to the first) to watch the parade. Kenzie's teacher won Halloween too, I think. She was the hit of the parade with the other classes. She was dressed in one of those huge tyrannosaurus rex costumes. It was hilarious.
After the character parade we went home and let Kenzie do her homework. Then it was time to carve our family pumpkin. The kids weren't so sure about the guts on the inside. Kenzie kept making terrible faces as she pulled the junk out. Rather, as she pulled the seeds out. That is all she wanted to touch. Will was about the same but he was even less sure about putting his hand in it. Funny because last year he was okay with it. Haha. We ended up carving the face that we have used before. The kids really like that one and they were pretty excited with it. It wasn't too bad but we somehow ended up with the thickest pumpkin ever so it took a bit of extra work to get all the way through it. We made it work though.
Then we had dinner and it was time to get dressed in costumes to go out for Trick or Treating. We went out a bit early so I could take a few pictures of the kids. Kenzie was Supergirl again and Steven dressed up in a Superman t-shirt. Will wore his Ninja Turtle costume. Surprisingly, he left that turtle cap thing on all night. Even after we got home while we handed out candy. We met up with our neighbors and their little girl so we could all go trick or treating together. We went around the culdesac behind our house. Then we went down the street some and back. About a mile of walking all together. There were actually a good number of dark houses this year. But those that were giving out candy were very giving and were handing handfuls of candy to the kids. They were running ahead most of the time beating us house to house. Will was on a candy mission for a while. He was right up front knocking on doors. Eventually he got tired of walking and carrying candy though and asked me to hold it. Well, well, well. That just meant that I wasn't going to feel as bad about taking my candy tax from him. When we got back to our house, we asked the kids if they wanted to continue trick or treating or go back to the house to hand out candy. And they chose handing out candy. I think they like that more than getting candy of their own.
We usually try to keep track of the number of trick or treaters we have. Give or take. I lost track though. The neighbor and I discussed that we would put it close to 50 this year. Lighter than some of our prior years but not that low. We had to come up with a system for our kids for who opened the door and who handed out candy. Then we rotated back and forth. Before the system, there was a lot of screaming. I even answered the door to one mom with huge eyes and a questioning look on her face. I just told her that we were having our own Halloween sound effects made by the kids. Finally, we told the kids it was time to go to bed. We left the light on a while longer. Will went right to sleep despite doorbell ringing but Kenzie had some more trouble. Really, she just wanted to get up to hand out candy. We turned off the light about half and hour after putting them in bed and ended our Halloween for the year.
This season was busy but fun. We are looking forward to all things Thanksgiving now though. We are also going to start working on figuring out our advent activities for Christmas. I love this time of year.
Comments
Post a Comment