Halloween 2014

Our Halloween was a little more relaxed this year.  We did at least 2 or 3 fewer trick-or-treating events than we have the last couple years, but we were able to fit in some other fun things that we usually miss out on... and it was absolutely wonderful!

The kids participated in the library's costume contest.  Neither won, but all the costumes were great!  The magic/juggling/comedy show that followed was awesome!  Lots of laughs from the kids and adults. :-)

 We made it a local corn maze for the first time this year!  They have these cute signs to get pictures with so of course we had to get pics at each one!

 Only 15 months apart and Morgan is over 6 inches taller than Blake!

 The Corn Maze!

 There were signs throughout to learn about farming in Michigan.

 The kids excitedly ran ahead almost trying to get lost.  We were ALL SMILES the whole maze.  Loads of fun! :-)

 We picked out a pumpkin, then enjoyed some tasty donuts and cider.  (We were one pumpkin short from me cooking the ones we grew...oops!)  

We don't always find time to carve pumpkins, but the day was just too nice to miss out on the opportunity this year.  And, of course, Rich and the kids had to get silly with them.  (Ew!  LOL!)

 The kids did the design, and most of the carving, themselves and the pumpkins turned out super cute!

 Blake had also painted this pumpkin in Cub Scouts.  (Can you see it's a TMNT Mikey?)

A fun little 'spooky' mouth snack we made.  I think the black 'teeth' make it look spooky anyway ;-)

 Speaking of spooky...Morgan walked out into our mudroom to see this one morning just before Halloween.  She said she jumped thinking someone was behind the curtain. (Blake checked it out for her and it was all clear.)  No one place the shoes/curtain that way, so we think the wind must have done it at some point and she just happened to notice it that morning.  We had a good laugh about it :-)

Besides all that, we enjoyed Halloween day going to the kids school.  They dressed up, paraded through the school and ended at a magic show in the gym.  That evening we went around to five family members to trick-or-treat...we usually try to do a few more, but everyone had lost power due to high winds/rain....made for an extra eventful Halloween for sure! :-)

Halloween Activities 2013

Our Halloween activities started at the beginning of October.  Some friends invited us to camp with them at a nearby campground during one of their Halloween Weekends.  It was a warm weekend for October which made it nice to be outside.  It was rainy too, but only at night while we were sleeping.  The kids enjoyed a scavenger hunt, looking at the campsite decorations and trick-or-treating.  There was a haunted hayride too, but we figured they were too young.

Morgan as a fairy and Blake as Hulk.

The kids with our young friends.

 

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The following Friday night we had made plans with another friend of mine to go to one of Greenfield Village's Halloween nights.  It had cooled off a bit, but was a pleasant night and perfect for being outside.

 

The kids just outside the gates waiting for our time to go through.

The amount of carved pumpkins was AMAZING!  There must have been hundreds lining either side of the walking path, plus more stacked in places and the neatest was seeing several decorating a tree!!  (Bottom left picture is the tree with the jack-o-lanterns.)

There were several 'spooky' sites, but nothing really scared us.  Some of our favorite spots were a covered bridge that was full of smoke, the carousel with ghosts riding, the mad scientist lab where all the glassware glowed neon colors and the headless horseman!  The kids thought for sure the headless horseman must have been fake.  We reassured them that he was alive.  His costume was just so good that you couldn't really tell that his head was in it...we didn't tell the kids that though ;-)

 

There were also treat stations along the way with people in really neat elaborate costumes.  The whole experience was really quite awesome!  The only thing I wished was different is that it wasn't so crowded!  Keeping track of the kids, in the dark, in shoulder-to-shoulder people, was a tough task!  Thankfully they're really good about sticking with me.

 

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We didn't make any new decorations this year, but we enjoyed the ones we already have.  The kids absolutely LOVE the decorations that glow and had me take pictures of them all.  They thought it was fun to turn them all on and shut the lights off to make it 'spooky' in the house. :-)

 

 

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We also took advantage of the library's Halloween activities this year.  They had a Halloween Origami night this year.  The kids were able to make some neat origami pumpkins and bats!

 The library also had a movie night where they showed Monsters U with snacks, a treat bag and a costume contest.  Blake was still the Hulk, but Morgan changed her mind the week before and said she wanted to be a vampire.  When I asked her why, she said her teeth made her look like a vampire anyway!  LOL!  (She was missing her 2 front teeth.)  I didn't think it'd happen, since we didn't have anything to make her look like a vampire, but she found a cape at her grandma's, she wore her own black pants and white shirt, Blake's vest and some orange teeth he got from his teacher, we pulled her hair back and she inherited her pale skin from her mom.  ;-)   She was all set!  She won 2nd place ($2) in the costume contest! :-)

 

 

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Halloween day was busy!  I didn't even stop to take pictures...how bad is that?!?  The kids had their Halloween activities at school that I went to to be with them.  They went at separate times to see a magician who was quite good and it was all Halloween themed tricks!  They would typically parade through town and the businesses would hand out candy to them, but it was rainy and our town's main street was torn apart, so someone from each of the businesses lined the hall of the school to pass out candy.   Then they'd usually enjoy donuts and juice outside, but they had that in their classroom instead.

 

I then took them out of school early, so I could run them over to meet up with my mother-in-law and go to Rich's great-grandmother's nursing home were they handed out candy to the kids.  Afterwards we had dinner with Rich's family, then spent the rest of the evening driving around visiting family.

 

That was the gist of our Halloween this year.  Very fun times that I'm sure we'll always remember. :-)

Halloween Fun 2012

My head was NOT into Halloween this year. Between mentally preparing for a trip, being distracted by the hurricane and it's effect on our area and our yard being dug up for a water line to go to the barn, I didn't do as much as usual. We still got a couple little things in though :-)

The kids' footprint ghosts.

These are some pudding mosters we made

 

A game we played called "Don't Eat Frank!"  We had a TON of fun with this one.  So simple too!

A wine bottle ghost I made with glow-in-the-dark Mod-Podge.  I made 2 more for my sister and my mom :-)

 

Rich took Halloween off to help get a last minute car issue fixed before I had to drive it for my trip.  It was nice since we were both able to go to the kids' Halloween parties at school and I didn't have to feel guilty about missing one to be at the other.  We also got to bring the kids home early and they carved their pumpkin that we got from the garden a month ago! :-)

 

Love Blake's face as he cleans the pumpkin.  Too funny!

Rich enjoyed doing the carving.

The picture I took the kids right before they left for trick-or-treating and I left for my trip.  They still had fun without me :-)

I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween festivities.  I'm hoping next year is a little more relaxed! :-)

Please ignore the messes in the background!  A tiny house, with small kids somehow equates to HUGE messes!  It's never as bad as it looks though ;-)

Pumpkin Fun and then Some

We managed to squeeze in a few pumpkin projects this fall, despite having less time with both kiddos being in school. I think it's harder on me than the kiddos, not having the time to be as creative with them! LOL!

The kiddos' entries into the newspaper's coloring contest. I think it's cute Blake tried coloring his like his sister's :-)

These are some Marshmallow Pumpkins we made. I had seen them on Frugal Family Fun blog, but I made a little change by adding a green sprinkle for the stem :-)

The kids LOVED making these Paper Bag Pumpkins!

The pumpkins turned out almost as cute as their creators :-)

Of course we had to pick our TWO pumpkins from the garden.

Then do a little posing for pictures with the pumpkins....and the cattle.

I put the kiddos to work taking the pumpkins to the house...good thing work is fun at their age :-)

I made these Candy Corn Cupcakes just because I thought they were cute and would be fun to eat this time of year :-)

The cat posing with the pumpkin that we never had time to carve before Halloween. Now if only she were black, it would be more fitting for this time of year! :-)

Halloween 2011

This year seems busier than usual, so we haven't done as much crafts as in the past, but the kids still had the chance to do some trick-or-treating and other fun activities for Halloween. (We did do some pumpkin crafts and activities that I'll share in another post.)

Two weekends ago the local library had their Halloween Story Time and craft. The kids heard the story "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything", then made a pumpkin craft. Afterwards, they were given Halloween Oreos, pretzels and punch and watched "Spooky Buddies". Then, when the movie was over, there was a costume contest in which about 10 kids were given silver dollars as a prize and Morgan and Blake each won! Their 'special coins' are now in a safe place :-)

On Halloween, Morgan's school paraded through town and were given treats from all the local businesses. Blake and I went to watch, but didn't stay for the whole parade. As we left I found out that walking with a little one on the sidewalk during the parade meant you became part of the parade! So, even though Blake wasn't dressed up, and despite my protests that we were just going to our truck, he got a bunch of candy too :-)

As you can see, Blake was the same firefighter as he was last year, although I think he has a new helmet, and Morgan was still a princess! She wore her Princess Aurora costume that she wore the Enchanted Princess Ball in the Spring. (She was Snow White last year.)

Rich's mom picked Morgan up from school that day, then swung over to pick Blake and I up and take us to the nursing home where Rich's great-grandmother is at to do some trick-or-treating. This picture is of 4 out of 5 generations. There is another picture with me in it too, to represent Rich for the missing generation, but it's on his aunt's camera. :-)

Rich then picked the kids and I up from his parents' after work and we went to visit a few more family members before heading home. All the activity sure made for a long day, but it was fun! :-)

Halloween 2010

We've been busy with all the fun surrounding Halloween this year....as you'll see! :-)

We made this Curled Paper Pumpkin that we saw on the Frugal Family Fun Blog.

We also went to our first Lowe's Build & Grow clinic to make these flapping bats! I was awed at how well Blake did for his age and it was exciting that they got to keep the aprons, got badges (like in girl/boy scouts) to sew on the aprons for finishing, as well as a certificate! How awesome is all that for FREE!?! We came home, took the apart, painted them black and put them back together. The albino bats were neat, but we like them black better :-)

Morgan participated in the newspaper's coloring contest...plus she tried on her Halloween costume....on multiple occasions! :-)

We made these ghost kites that we saw on the Frugal Family Fun Blog.

Morgan's preschool class isn't allowed to celebrate ANY holidays (I doubt Morgan will notice, but I was bummed!), so we made these pumpkin shaped popcorn balls to take in...just because ;-) No harm in pumpkins, right?

This next craft was a simple one that we saw on Trendy Treehouse. It's a Candy Corn Banner made from a paper plate! Super easy!! :-)

Of course, we had to get our REAL pumpkins out of our garden. Here Morgan and Blake were trying to carry the pumpkin together since they're kinda heavy :-)


Leine even got in on the fun!

Posing for a picture with all the pumpkins from the garden.

Once we had the pumpkin, we had to make something yummy with it, so we tried these Pumpkin Swirl Brownies. I also made some Pumpkin Fluff Dip and Ginger Snap Strips to put the dip on-YUM! (It was good on cinnamon graham crackers too!)

The night before Halloween a local church did a trunk-or-treat. The kiddos got all dressed up, Blake as a firefighter and Morgan as Snow White, to go to their first trunk-or treat.

I thought a couple of the trunks were pretty neat! This one made Blake forget all about candy! LOL!

Gotta LOVE the Beverly Hillbillies! Not really a trunk, but it was still really neat!! :-)

On Halloween we finally got around to carving a pumpkin. The kiddos weren't too anxious to touch the insides though...

I did the drawing depending on what the kiddos said they'd like and Rich did the carving while I cleaned some seeds to make some Sugared Pumpkin Seeds that I saw on Gooseberry Patch's facebook page.

In the afternoon we went to the nursing home that Rich's great-grandma is at for the kids to trick-or-treat. She is in her 90's and doing great! :-)

After that we did our regular trick-or-treating and then some! Instead of just going to family this year, we made it to friends of the family too! I think we made it to 10 places all together and were able to visit a little at most of them, which was nice :-)

Today, the kids are going to go through some of their candy and give it to our dentist office. I'll be taking in all the candy we bought for trick-or-treaters too, since we didn't get any again this year living out in the country. The dentist is buying candy off of kids to send to local soldiers! I thought it was really neat and I'm going to see if they'll just keep the money to use for shipping. :-)