happy halloween!

The kids are out with Paul trick-or-treating. This year it is my turn to stay home and answer the door.

So here they are: Indiana Jones and a bat, on their way out (and Underdog too).

Yesterday afternoon we carved the pumpkins. Kestrel did the shorter round one, and Cooper did the taller, thinner one. Kestrel did all the carving herself. Cooper drew the face on his, and did some of the carving, but needed a little help. Today after school we had fun decorating the front of the house.

It's getting busy now (I write about 2 words and the doorbell rings again), but I'm having fun answering the door. I just made this one girl's night because I knew right away she was Tracy Turnblad. Then there was the werewolf whose trick-or-treat bag was as big as one of those yard waste bags (probably was one, but at least he decorated it). Too funny!

not bird, nor plane, nor even frog, just little old me...

The other day I made my first dog costume. Meet Underdog.

Our dog trainer had a Halloween party last night. The kids really wanted to go so we had to make a costume for Harrison too. Kestrel came up with the idea of Underdog, which I thought was a really funny idea. Kestrel was a bat (a costume she designed and I made) and Cooper was Indiana Jones. The kids had fun. They had a fire pit out back where the kids could make s'mores. Lisa, the dog trainer, took us to her barn so that Cooper and Kestrel could see her two horses. Kestrel asked if they could groom one so she took one of the horses out of the stall and let them brush him. Cooper kept saying "I never brushed a real horse before!"

We'll get pictures of Kestrel and Cooper's costumes on Halloween. They want to take Harrison trick-or-treating. We'll see how that works out.

This morning Cooper wanted me to take a picture of him with Harrison, so here it is:

happy halloween

After Kestrel got home from school yesterday we got to work carving our pumpkins. Paul got home a little early and joined us, so we ended up each carving a pumpkin. Afterwards, Paul roasted the seeds while the kids and I put up the Halloween decorations. They were pretty excited about decorating this year, and we got some new decorations -- the graveyard! Of course we still had the singing/screeching cat from last year at the front door to surprise the trick-or- treaters.
We ordered pizza for dinner, which has become one of our Halloween traditions. Paul stayed home to hand out candy while I took the kids out trick-or-treating with some friends from Kestrel's Brownie troop. They had a great time, though Cooper was getting tired trying to keep up with the big girls who were zipping from door to door.
You'll be happy to know our candy basket is now fully restocked to last through the next year!

Our pumpkins. From left - Kestrel's, Cooper's, Dad's and Mom's.

halloween funfest (or, halloween part I)

Tonight I took the kids to the mall for the annual Halloween Funfest. Yes, it was pretty much the same as last year with too many pushy people and long lines, but they really wanted to go again, and didn't believe me when I said they didn't have that much fun last year. Besides, there was a costume contest, which was just way too enticing for Kestrel. I figured they are only kids for a short time so if they wanted to go, I would take them.

They both participated in the costume contest. Cooper as the Black Power Ranger didn't win anything in his group (crazy judges), but Kestrel got called up as one of the top 10 in her group. She was very proud!

Power Ranger and Scarecrow - on our way out to the mall.

Kestrel on stage with the top 10 costumes!

Her top 10 prize was a token for the carousel. I bought one for Cooper so they could have a ride together.

BOO!

Carving Pumpkins

Wolf and Alligator before going out

Here they are when they came back because Cooper was tired. Notice the red cheeks. It was chilly out! Good thing they had such warm costumes.

Well, we had a fun Halloween! We spent the afternoon carving pumpkins. Cooper wanted to do a bat on his, and Kestrel wanted a cat with an arched back. We downloaded some templates which made it a lot easier. We also had fun decorating the front of the house with the pumpkins, some lights, a bat and a skeleton. One of the highlights at our front door was this cat, that Grampa bought the kids when he was visiting this weekend. It has a motion detector and hisses or shrieks or sings a goofy song when someone gets near it. The cat would surprise the trick-or-treaters when they got near the door.
This year it was Paul's turn to take the kids out trick-or-treating, and I stayed home to answer the door. After an hour they came back home because Cooper was tired, and then Kestrel and Paul went back out for almost another hour. Cooper and I had a great time answering the door. Cooper loved to hand out candy and wish everyone "Happy Halloween"!

a pre-halloween event

I finally finished the wolf costume! Last night I took the kids to the mall for a Halloween Funfest. They were so excited to go, and were talking about it all week. They both were excited about the haunted house that was supposed to be there. Well, we went and they got some candy and played a few games, but all in all it was just too crowded. They decided they didn't want to go to the haunted house once we were there (we ran into Kestrel's friend who went in, and told them it was very scary). They both participated in the costume contest, but that was too crowded as well. We couldn't see anything because there were too many people crowded around the stage, though they did each walk across the stage. The best part of the evening was they they got to eat candy! I couldn't get a great picture of them.. hopefully I'll get some better shots on Halloween.

more pumpkins & parties

Cooper was at a birthday party Saturday at the orchard. Here he is decorating his pumpkin. The other picture is all three pumpkins together: Kestrel's two that she decorated earlier in the week on the ends, and Cooper's in the middle (they asked me to put in a picture of all three together).

Kestrel was at her good friend's party also on Saturday. This friend is turning 8 and just got her ears peirced! So exciting!

pumpkins & hair!

Today was Kestrel's turn to "teach" the craft at Brownies. Last week we decided we'd decorate pumpkins. Kestrel came up with a list of all the items we would need: little pumpkins, constructions paper, glue, glitter glue, markers, and straw for hair. The straw was an awesome idea! I also ended up buying sticky back black felt which worked well for face pieces and other shapes. We decorated one last night to try it out.

So I had 10 pie pumpkins, and had them in my car for the past two days since I bought them. When I got to school this afternoon for Brownies of course there was nowhere close to park, and found the pumpkins were a lot heavier than I expected (I don't know why I didn't expect it)! I felt a little silly trying to drag this box full of pumpkins while all the kids were getting out of school. I could only drag it a few feet and then had to keep stopping. And of course I was running late!

Eventually the pumpkins and I made it, and Kestrel did a great job leading the craft and the other kids all seemed to really enjoy it. It was very cool to see what they each did with the pumpkins. Kestrel was sure to tell the other girls that they were free to use the materials in any way they wanted, and that the decorated pumpkin she brought in was only a "demonstration". Kestrel's pumpkin that she made today with her troop is the last one on the right, the cat. She finished the straw whiskers at home. Yesterday she made a witch (the demonstration).

Cooper got a much needed haircut yesterday. We were at the mall, and I asked him if he'd like to get his hair cut, and before I knew it he was gone. He went right into Mastercuts all by himself and I found him at the counter asking for a haircut! He certainly is not shy. This morning I asked him if he wanted me to spike his hair, which he did, but we got into a little argument because he wanted it spiked all over, not just on the top. I tried to explain that was impossible, because the hair is far to short to spike on the sides and back, but he didn't seem to believe me.