We had a lot of stuff going on to celebrate Halloween this year. I figured I'd put it all in one exceedingly long post. So, this is all the stuff we did this year:
The Branch Halloween Party:
Is it wrong for me to be annoyed that they insist on calling it a "Fall Festival" when it clearly is not a Fall Festival, but in fact, a Halloween party? It was the usual thing- Chili cook off, cake walk for dessert, lots of little costumed people running around, and a trunk or treat.
Rylee wore a horse costume, but it was bulky and cumbersome, so she's down to just her freckles here. Dan was himself.
My kitty Marian.
Poor Delaney. She was convinced that her adorable glow in the dark pajamas were a scary costume. She was irate whenever someone suggested it wasn't.
Callie brought her best friend Dorothy to the party and they were matching cats.
The pumpkin carving contest. I thought I did a pretty good one, but the others were way better. Not the best picture, but mine is in the center... next to the awesome "Where the Wild Things Are" carving. So yeah, I was okay losing this year!
Frosting the pumpkin cookies. My favorite part of the evening was hearing a kid ask for the "putrid" colored frosting!
Rylee posing with her cookie.
Marian, Dorothy and Callie doing the cake walk. This was the only way to get your dessert. Fortunately, there was plenty of offerings and when they started the trunk-or-treat (a little prematurely, I thought!) I snuck in and grabbed a bag of yummy cookies. (Hey, I had donated pie!)
Rylee and her horse trunk-or-treating. Somehow the horse's bridle part got left at home and she had to hold the poor thing's head up as she begged for loot.
Joshua and Callie hanging out in our trunk. Joshua likes to give out candy. He also thinks he is very clever. We had gotten a plastic foot as a Halloween accessory, and when kids would come up and say, "Tick or Treat!", Joshua would hold out the foot and say, "Smell my feet!"
Nope, still not a great shot of the pumpkin I slaved over to carve!
Running Group Halloween Play Date:
My running group got together on Wednesday and had some fun. I felt silly and ashamed, since I was the only adult NOT in a costume.
We had a mummy wrap relay which the kids LOVED.
And the coloring sheets and stickers were a huge hit for Rylee.
Isn't she cute?!
Delaney's Pumpkin Day:
This was an exercise in disorganization, but the kids seemed to have a wonderful time. I had signed up to assist, but since no one knew what was going on, I just hung out with Delaney and did what she did. There was a lack of supervision, so I did get to help keep her class going where they needed to, and I got to help with the less organized kids. Again, the kids thought it was great. They went out to the track and ate lunch out there. Then they had several different stations to do stuff at.
Delaney having her lunch with her friends.
They made these cute cotton ball ghosts at this station. The wind was quite blustery so it was challenging.
The next station they were given adorable little pumpkins and the kids made predictions about their pumpkins and then measured to see if they were correct.
This was the "How far will it roll" measurement.
The "will it sink or float" test. (They float!)
The next station was to make these popcorn hands. Delaney is a little kooky and I have no idea what she is doing! There were 2 more stations- I think it was decorating a cupcake to eat, and pulling out pumpkin guts. I had to leave and run over to Callie's class at this point!
Callie's Party:
Callie's class cleverly scheduled the presentation of "Personal Narratives" on Halloween and thus was able to consider it educational, while still having a party! I went to see Callie's presentation. In a class of 30 kids, I thought it might take forever, but it only took an hour. Score! And the kids were impressive. They did a great job on their narrations. Callie was #27, and hers was short and sweet. It was kind of hard to hear some of the kids over the sounds of munching, but what I did hear was very good.
Hanging out at her desk, waiting her turn. Note all the candy and treats around the room. Callie also got a little pumpkin to bring home.
Giving her narration. She was quiet, and shy, but knew her stuff and spoke clearly, if softly.
Halloween Night:
After school, Delaney and Marian went to the Karate Party. Dan dropped them off and I picked them up. I think they had fun. Again, Delaney was heartbroken that no one thought she was scary. And she got a prize for "silliest" costume, which really hurt her feelings. She was perplexed as well. She'd had me draw "angry eyebrows" on her and could not understand why no one thought she was scary. Poor kid.
Joshua and Callie took off before I got back from the karate party pick up and I never even got to see Joshua in his costume. Well, I did for 30 seconds when he returned form trick-or-treating, but I didn't have the camera then. Marian opted not to go out, but wanted to help pass out candy. But she really didn't. She was too shy to answer the door and hand over candy.
Delaney is in the pink, in the middle of the line. Marian is all the way on the right, in the black cat outfit. There were a lot of kids at the karate party.
Delaney and Rylee with their loot haul. They had fun. Dan takes them out and they came back with a decent haul. Joshua and Callie came home a lot earlier than they had to, but that worked out fine since it was raining by the time their curfew rolled around. There was plenty of candy for all, and I'm pretty sure that is all they ate all weekend long!
Oh, these were the pumpkins we carved for Halloween. Joshua did the pokimon pumpkin on the left. I cleaned out the guts and he did absolutely everything else! The wolf pumpkin on the right was selected by Callie, who was also suppose to carve it, but alas, I did all the work. And it came out awesome!
