Our "Under the Sea" Halloween

 Duh, I'm a jellyfish (and I light up, which was cooler in the dark)

 My little turtle boy (he insisted that the shell I made be able to carry his candy, which it did)

 My sassy little mermaid (she LOVES the colored wigs for some reason)


Our trunk-or-treat decorations.  Unfortunately it was about 4 degrees outside so she and I both froze!

Fall Traditions

Every year we have several fall traditions that we enjoy as a family together.  One of the things is we usually go to Mexico with our paternal side of the family for the week prior to Halloween.  We make an effort to enjoy the season though by carving pumpkins before we leave.  For the first time this year, the kids were allowed to carve their own artwork.  Daddy carved a tuna into his pumpkin, my little prince carved a scary face and my princess carved shapes into hers.

 When we get back (usually on the day of or before Halloween) we do final touches on our costumes and take our pumpkins up to the forest for the woodland creatures to feast upon at night.  They never last more than a couple days, depending on the weather, so something out there enjoys them.  I remember seeing the zoo leaving pumpkins in the cages for the animals to play with in the fall.  We have seen the bears feast on them, the hippos demolish them and the elephants toss them like balls.  That's what I like to think happens to our masterpieces... well, except it's probably not hippos... I hope.

The Best Costumes

My kids decided last year that they wanted a particular Halloween costume. In a weird twist of fate, they AGREED on the costumes. Let me reiterate that..

NOT ONLY did they AGREE on something,

They agreed on a HALLOWEEN COSTUME, which everyone knows is a BIG deal for kids.

NOT ONLY did they AGREE on a Halloween costume,

They agreed a YEAR IN ADVANCE on the costume.

NOT ONLY did they AGREE a YEAR in advance on a Halloween costume,

They agreed on the SAME COSTUME for both of them.

Impossible you say? Well, improbable, certainly. But nothing is impossible for

United States Soldiers!!!

Pickin' Punkin's

We tried something new this year and headed out to Cal Poly Pomona for their annual pumpkin patch. Some friends met us out there and braved the crowds for a chance to find the perfect specimen. That was an easy task because there were SOOOO MANY pumpkins! It was funny because the whole experience was over so quickly that we were kind of surprised to find ourselves ready to go shortly after arrival. I guess that's what happens when there are so many great pumpkins to choose from~

Halloween

Here's a shot of them with a couple of superhero friends, for those of you who didn't get to see my little ballerina and my little bat:

Our New Buddy, Webster

Spider Craft

We made a cute little craft with the kiddos yesterday. First, we took a black paper plate and punched holes around the outside. Then we took white yarn and strung it through the holes back and forth to look like spider webs and to finish it off we glued on some puff ball and pipe cleaner spiders. Here's the finished product for each kid:

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween - California style

Halloween Pre-Party

Yesterday, the kiddos and I went to a Halloween party playdate. There was pumpkin carving, hot cocoa, apple cider, treats, they played games like hot potato, hide & seek, bean bag toss,
and feed the animals,
and had a fun time playing with friends. This was a great way to get them all hyped up for Halloween tomorrow…oh, and let Mom & Dad get some well earned sleep. When it comes to putting the kids to bed easily – playdates ROCK!

Ooey Gooey Fun

The kids relished their pumpkin carving experience this year. Both picked out their own faces and our oldest even helped to carve hers (thanks to a kid-friendly carver). Both had silly faces when they took their first handful of pumpkin guts but were excited to get to clean out their own jack-o-lanterns. Daddy did a great job helping them out.The final products were great and they were so excited about their masterpieces that it was all I could do to get the kiddos back in the house once they were lit.

Dress Rehearsal

The kids have been admiring their costumes in the closet for quite some time now, so last week I let them do a little dress rehearsal of their outfits, you know, just to make sure they fit right of course!

My little man will be Clifford, the big red dog (thanks M for the hand-me-down):And my little princess is going to be...well, ....a princess. Cinderella to be specific:
It looks like the costumes fit!

Spooktacular Dancing

The kids got a singing witch a couple of years ago for Halloween and it has become an annual event that when we take her out of storage to decorate for the season, the rest of the day (read: week) is spent listening to "Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun". Although my little man wasn't quite sure about this witch, he decided that she was nice and offered her his pumpkin (however fleetingly). This year my little ballerina was in rare form:

Clowns

We had a fun day of trick-or-treating at the downtown shops with friends before heading out to visit great-grandma and great-grandpa for the evening (and more trick-or-treating). Our little clowns took it all in stride and were pretty good. By the end of the night they were both running up to the door and saying trick-or-treat (okay, our little guy just said "teet-teet", but he's one so we'll cut him some slack). Although he doesn't have it on in the picture, we even got Daddy to wear his clown hat for most of the day. Even our pup got in on the action with her clown ruffle so we toted her along all day too.

Halloween Party

Yesterday the kids had a great time at a Halloween party with some friends. They got to draw and finger paint ghosts, scare off ghouls with bubbles, make scary masks, go in a spooky mini-maze, scoop up maggots (rice), eat some devilishly good treats, and draw shaving-cream goblins. They both had a wonderful time!

Trick-or-treat Practice

Nana and grandpa are going to be gone on vacation over Halloween and were going to miss seeing the kids in their costumes. So to give them a chance to see the outfits (albeit not entirely decked out) and to give the kids some exposure to trick-or-treating before randomly telling them to take candy from strangers, we went over last night and did some "practice" trick-or-treating. The kids walked from door to door throughout the house while someone waited behind the door and answered when they heard a knock. At first, neither kid wanted to knock and forget about asking them to say "Trick or treat". By the 10th door though (there were 10 total), both kids were willing caught on and wanted to knock and even the 1 year old would yell "Teeeet" (okay, close enough, extra points for being adorable and keeping your hat on sweety). We all had pizza after which they both dined on their new treats. Daddy's and my costumes weren't all the way done yet, but we got in the spirit too by donning what we DID have completed. Now I have 2 weeks to hold the little kiddos at bay before unleashing them on the public.

The great pumpkin contest

At homecoming last weekend they were handing out pumpkins to all of the alumni so we brought a couple home with us, one big and one small. Knowing it is only 2 weeks until Halloween, I convinced Daddy to help us carve pumpkins last night. Being the total Type A personality that he is, he suggested that we make it into a little competition to draw prospective faces for the big Jack-o-lantern. We all sat down to the kitchen table, and with the pumpkin in the center for inspiration, drafted what we thought might be the winning face. Everyone knows that 2-year-olds are of prime age for Jack-o-lantern judging so our little sweetheart got the honors. I believe that the contest may have been somehow staged or the judge was paid off in skittles because remarkably one of Daddy's faces won. So they set to work cleaning out the goopy-goo inside and our little mister was in charge of separating the seeds. It wasn't long before Daddy was able to begin the face but when he sat back to admire his work he couldn't figure out what was missing....luckily our smarty little girl is very perceptive and giggled "Daddy...he needs a NOSE!" and pointed out where it should go.The end result was six big smiles; both lit up Jack-o-lanterns, Mommy and Daddy's faces, and both kiddos happy faces.