Halloween Festivities

Liam has been looking forward to Halloween since the end of last Halloween.  He had his costume all planned out as well as requests for decorating the house and activities we had to do.  He even had a countdown going since about August-always asking how many weeks until Halloween.  So, here's a rundown of our Halloween activities.

Pumpkin Picking

Our church playgroup took a trip to a pumpkin patch run through one of the Ag programs at the university.  We got a ride on a tractor, 3 large pumpkins, and all the little pumpkins we could pick (which was about 15).  The weather was gorgeous and everything was free! I love living in a university town.

Cooking Making/Decorating

Early in the month of October, we made a large batch of "Christmas Cookie" dough and used a few Halloween cookie cutters to cut them out.  This was the activity that kept on giving because I think it gave us about 3 days worth of fun between the baking and decorating.  There was so much dough that we made and decorated cookies with two different friends, gave some away, ate a bunch, and still have a few in the freezer.  

Halloween Parade at Preschool

This was another one Liam was really looking forward to.  Since the beginning of October he would ask every day when he could wear his costume to school.  As a bonus, the week before Halloween they had Princess/Pirate day where the kids could dress up like a princess or pirate.  The Halloween parade was fun and the songs the kids sang were adorable.  I asked Liam to make his best pirate face for this picture.  

Pumpkin Carving

The day we picked the pumpkins, Liam prayed "Please bless that we can keep our pumpkins forever", however he was also dying to carve the pumpkins-which we told him would make them rotten fast.  He patiently waited until a few nights before Halloween and helped Daddy carve this cyclops pumpkin.

 

Trick-or-Treating

Last but not least was Trick-or-Treating!  The weathermen were predicting a big cold front with terrible storms right in the middle of trick-or-treating and our neighborhood Facebook group was full of chatter about "changing trick-or-treating to Friday for the sake of the children".  It was in the mid 60's during the day on Halloween but it was supposed to drop to the 40's by Trick-or-Treating time.  Thankfully, the weather held off and we just had mild sprinkles and mid 60's for Trick-or-Treating.  Liam remembered how to do it right away and it didn't take long before Amelie was bold enough to walk up to the houses without Mom or Dad.  This is one of those things that is so much fun now that our kids are big enough to enjoy it and we live in a neighborhood where we know and like our neighbors.

For months I had been telling Liam the baby would be born after Halloween, so I was really glad we had the chance to make the most of this holiday.