I'm not sure how to conduct thorough research on the matter, but I'm fairly confident Reid enjoys Halloween more than Christmas. He loves looking for decorations anytime we drive anywhere. He loves dress up and pretend play. And he loves candy. He has been in heaven all week long.
And the big day did not disappoint.
We started with his new art class at the YMCA. He made a haunted house, skeleton, bats, and candy corn. Nell's been really upset she has to go to drop in without him. Even the drop in employee has commented on her change in attitude. "She always does better when her big brother is here. You can tell she misses him."
Which reminds me, totally random side note that I must share. Yesterday she slammed her finger in a bathroom drawer. She screamed and cried immediately. When I noticed blood I swooped her into my lap and started prepping a band-aid. I was having no luck comforting her. Her shrills were almost unbearable, and when she finally spoke she said "I want Reido." I hollered at Reid to come comfort her. The tears and screams immediately slowed when he walked in the room. The moment he started kissing her and telling her that things would be okay she stopped all together. It was the most beautiful experience I've had as a parent. I love them.
After the Y we rushed home to prepare for a Halloween party with our play group friends. We had a little picking up to do and then Reid and I got to work making Hot Dog Mummies. He loved it and insisted on rolling the hot dogs all by himself. They actually turned out quiet well and I think it will have to be a Halloween lunch time tradition.
The party consisted of a pot luck lunch, carnival games in our basement, followed by a ghost craft (planned by a friend) and some balloon tying (Reid chose a dog and that was probably his favorite part of the whole party). There were just seven kids total (two infants), but they had fun running around together.
Both kids napped while I prepped dinner in a pumpkin. This recipe will be used every year on Halloween. I loved this tradition as a kid (and teen) and I plan on keeping it with my kids. Also, it was delicious. Reid was mighty impressed that I cooked dinner inside a pumpkin and he told Ben it was his favorite dinner before he'd even taken a bite. He and Nell were both too excited to eat much of it though, since they knew trick or treating preceded dinner. So we dressed up and headed out.
Let me explain our street. It is a long dead end, with about a dozen houses on each side. Five of those houses have trick or treating aged children. Two have teens, the rest are retirees who keep amazing yards. They are all extremely friendly and are always happy to see the kids and I out and about mid-day. I love trick or treating down our street because I almost feel like we are doing a service. You can just see the happiness in our neighbors faces as our children greet them. Most hand out full size candy bars or a huge handful of fun sized ones. I think they know they'll only get a handful of trick or treaters, so why not go all out? Seriously, Nell was loaded by the time we got home.
Because I believe our street is the perfect trick or treating destination, and also because I don't want the neighbors to become discouraged by the limited number of kids, I invited some friends that live out in the country to come trick or treating on our street. Reid was in heaven to have his friend, Spiderman, join us. We already did about half the street before they showed up, but we were still able to visit several houses together.
We also make a stop at two of Ben's coworkers each year. They live in super busy neighborhoods, the ones people seek out on Halloween, but it is always fun to go see them right before trick or treating ends (our city runs trick or treating from 5-7). Also, it makes me so grateful for our perfect little dead end road.
We ended the night with some rough play, to get the hypers out. Then Ben read the kids lots of Halloween books from the library. He also got them to pose as scary monsters so I could get a photo of them in their Halloween PJs.
And the big day did not disappoint.
We started with his new art class at the YMCA. He made a haunted house, skeleton, bats, and candy corn. Nell's been really upset she has to go to drop in without him. Even the drop in employee has commented on her change in attitude. "She always does better when her big brother is here. You can tell she misses him."
Which reminds me, totally random side note that I must share. Yesterday she slammed her finger in a bathroom drawer. She screamed and cried immediately. When I noticed blood I swooped her into my lap and started prepping a band-aid. I was having no luck comforting her. Her shrills were almost unbearable, and when she finally spoke she said "I want Reido." I hollered at Reid to come comfort her. The tears and screams immediately slowed when he walked in the room. The moment he started kissing her and telling her that things would be okay she stopped all together. It was the most beautiful experience I've had as a parent. I love them.
After the Y we rushed home to prepare for a Halloween party with our play group friends. We had a little picking up to do and then Reid and I got to work making Hot Dog Mummies. He loved it and insisted on rolling the hot dogs all by himself. They actually turned out quiet well and I think it will have to be a Halloween lunch time tradition.
The party consisted of a pot luck lunch, carnival games in our basement, followed by a ghost craft (planned by a friend) and some balloon tying (Reid chose a dog and that was probably his favorite part of the whole party). There were just seven kids total (two infants), but they had fun running around together.
Both kids napped while I prepped dinner in a pumpkin. This recipe will be used every year on Halloween. I loved this tradition as a kid (and teen) and I plan on keeping it with my kids. Also, it was delicious. Reid was mighty impressed that I cooked dinner inside a pumpkin and he told Ben it was his favorite dinner before he'd even taken a bite. He and Nell were both too excited to eat much of it though, since they knew trick or treating preceded dinner. So we dressed up and headed out.
Let me explain our street. It is a long dead end, with about a dozen houses on each side. Five of those houses have trick or treating aged children. Two have teens, the rest are retirees who keep amazing yards. They are all extremely friendly and are always happy to see the kids and I out and about mid-day. I love trick or treating down our street because I almost feel like we are doing a service. You can just see the happiness in our neighbors faces as our children greet them. Most hand out full size candy bars or a huge handful of fun sized ones. I think they know they'll only get a handful of trick or treaters, so why not go all out? Seriously, Nell was loaded by the time we got home.
Because I believe our street is the perfect trick or treating destination, and also because I don't want the neighbors to become discouraged by the limited number of kids, I invited some friends that live out in the country to come trick or treating on our street. Reid was in heaven to have his friend, Spiderman, join us. We already did about half the street before they showed up, but we were still able to visit several houses together.
We also make a stop at two of Ben's coworkers each year. They live in super busy neighborhoods, the ones people seek out on Halloween, but it is always fun to go see them right before trick or treating ends (our city runs trick or treating from 5-7). Also, it makes me so grateful for our perfect little dead end road.
We ended the night with some rough play, to get the hypers out. Then Ben read the kids lots of Halloween books from the library. He also got them to pose as scary monsters so I could get a photo of them in their Halloween PJs.
I am so in love with this picture.
2 comments:
Fun times!! Wish we could have been there! We had about 200 Trick or Treaters...
That is a CUTE picture of them in their p.j.s! I see why you love it. Sounds like Halloween was a huge success at your house. Next year I will have to send them a decoration! Thanks for sharing!
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