Halloween at our House

Wow, can you believe that it's November already?  I would've posted this yesterday, but I was too busy un-decorating to sit at the computer.  My Halloween decorations are totally taken down, and packed away until next year.  Well, except for 14 jack-o-laterns.  They get flipped around, and stay out for another month as pumpkins.  (The girls were astounded when I performed this bit of "magic".  At least they gave good performances!)  Why the rush, you ask?  It is only slightly over 3 weeks until Thanksgiving, and I really want to enjoy my fall decorations for as long as possible, before pulling out the Christmas stuff!

Here are some of the things that kept us busy in the last few weeks:

Here is a project that the girls and I did this year.  A friend had these on her front porch, and Katie loved them, so we came home and raided our recycling bin.  They are milk jugs, with holes cut in the back, and drawn on with Sharpie:


Katie and her creations.

Abby, Emma, and Katie each made two.  We weighted them with rocks, moved them to the porch, and stuffed them with white Christmas lights.  They looked so cute!  Here is the whole group:

Cute, easy, fun, and CHEAP!  All the hallmarks of a good craft.

Abby and Emma had their first costume parade and class party last Friday.  I was scheduled to help with the party, and Mrs. B. said that Katie could join in the fun.  First of all, Brianna, Brittany, and Maddie came with us to watch the parade.  After dropping them off at home, Katie and I went back, and spent the whole day at kindergarten.



Maddie Mouse, watching the parade.



Super Girl Katie at the parade.

The kindergarten class actually had their learning centers to start the day, and Katie was feeling a little left out.  I gave her the camera, and had her take some pictures.  Here are a few of the better shots:


Emma, decorating a cupcake and a cookie.



Abby, making a pinata bag.



And the one and ONLY picture of me in my costume.  Out of focus, but documentation nonetheless!

There were a few learning stations where Katie was able to participate.  She got to decorate a cookie and a brownie, make a bat, make a Halloween necklace, and play Halloween bingo.


Here's Katie, playing Halloween bingo.  Emma is on her other side.

After centers came recess time.  All three girls ran around like crazy with their friends.  I did manage to corral them all long enough to take a picture.

Then, of course, was party time!  Picture 26 kids, all at their tables, eating plates of pure sugar and drinking juice.  Halloween music played nonstop, and there was plenty of chattering.  LOTS of fun.  Katie got to sit next to Emma, and they fixed a plate of goodies for her too.  And since that wasn't enough, they also got to break a pinata, with each kid in class getting 3 swings at the pumpkin.  Apparently, the pinata didn't hold enough candy, so the teacher gave each mom a bag of candy to sprinkle on the floor for the kids to pick up.  At dismissal time, 3 of the kids handed out treat bags to the entire class.  We hardly needed to go trick or treating!

Saturday found Brittany and the 3 kids carving pumpkins.

And on Sunday, Don helped Maddie with her pumpkin:

Sunday night, of course, was trick or treating.  Each year, we seem to go a little further around the neighborhood.  This year, we were out for about an hour, and each of the 4 kids got plenty of candy.  Here is a group shot of them before we went out:

And here is the one shot I took of them out and about:

Hope your Halloween was fun!  Talk to you again soon!