Trick-Or Treat!

Halloween at last! Wait... Haven't we been celebrating Halloween for WEEKS? Two weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch, last weekend we had a Halloween party at church, both kids celebrated Halloween at their schools on Friday, and yesterday B took them to a Halloween party in Lake County (No pictures and no blog because I was sick and stayed home... Sorry!). Yep! I'm pretty much done with Halloween! I didn't buy any candy this year, and the bucket that we usually use for passing out candy to trick-or-treaters holding our favorite snack-size chocolaty goodies (We don't have trick-or-treaters, who am I kidding!?!?) is pretty much full just from what the kids have collected at their various parties.

But the kids??? They have been SUPER excited about Halloween ALL DAY! They were SO excited in fact, that after lunch they both laid right down and took naps while I fixed a huge pot of clam chowder for dinner and a batch of pumpkin Crisp for dessert (recipe coming soon).

Grandma and Grandpa came to spend the evening with us and as soon as dinner was over the kids were raring to go! We got them in their costumes and headed out (Only half an hour later than I'd planned!).



We headed over near Molly's house to stop and say hello and trick-or-treated near her house for about an hour. That was long enough to satisfy the kiddos, short enough that mom could still walk, and time enough to have most everyone in bed by 9pm. Not too shabby!

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

Halloween Festivities At Big A's School

Today's post is written by my mom. She was so sweet to get up EXTRA early today to take Big A to his school Halloween activities while B took Little A to hers... But that's not all... She got up EVEN EARLIER to come over and do Little A's hair for me! Thanks, MOM! Love you!Today's post is written by my mom. She was so sweet to get up EXTRA early today to take Big A to his school Halloween activities while B took Little A to hers... But that's not all... She got up EVEN EARLIER to come over and do Little A's hair for me! Thanks, MOM! Love you!

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Halloween! One of the kids' favorite holidays! Probably because they get to "dress up" and act just a little wilder than usual, and get away with it! And, of course, the candy they know is coming on Trick-or-Treat day certainly adds to the excitement, too.

Today was yet another party for Big and Little A's. This time the parties were at their schools. Since mom had to work (Boo!), and dad could only be in one place at a time, we called on Grandma to help out. She was given "the honor" of escorting Big A to school, and then staying to help with his party, while daddy escorted Little A to pre-school and stayed to help with her party (also scoring some points towards fulfilling the required parent volunteer hours). All in all, it was a great day!

Grandma arrived at our house in time to put Little A's hair in two ponytails so that she could be an "authentic" cowgirl today. Remember that Little A's Halloween costume this year is the "Blue Fairy" costume that belonged to her mommy when her mommy was Little A's age. But in order to save the costume from the paints and cookies that would certainly be a part of a preschool Halloween party, we opted for the cowgirl outfit this morning.

Little A's hair done, it was time for Big A and Grandma to be off to Big A's school! What a wild ride it was, too, as today, of all days, it had to rain, and it rained hard! But Grandma and Big A arrived safely, and they were just in time to get the last parking place, too.

Off they went to the multipurpose room to wait for Big A's teacher. And very soon, they were at the classroom, jacket off, all costumed up, and ready for the big parade ...

Everyone in the classroom was costumed up, too, and such a variety of costumes there were...

Even Big A's teacher was in the Halloween spirit, and had to be careful that no one stepped on her "tail"...

Soon it was time for the "big parade." And although it was still raining, and the school-wide parade around the playground had to be canceled, the teachers got creative and changed the parade route to go up and down the covered corridors of the school, so the kids still had their parade and were able to show off their costumes to all parents and grandparents who had gathered to watch.

When the parade was over, the kids all went back to their classrooms. Big A's class is full of good listeners, and they all sat on the rug and listened to their teacher explain the festivities for the rest of the morning.

There were Halloween cut-outs to decorate, Halloween pictures to color, and a Halloween game of Candy Corn Toss ...

Everyone was able to toss at least one candy corn into the pumpkin basket, and EVERYONE was a winner!

Before the party ended, Big A's teacher asked everyone to gather for a class picture so that they could all remember all the great costumes they had worn for their Halloween party today...

What a great way to begin Big A's school experiences. He looks forward to many Happy Halloweens to come!!!!

C Is For Cookie...

A couple of weeks ago my friend texted and asked if I'd make sugar cookies for the school carnival. ME? SUGAR COOKIES? This is terrible, but when it comes to cookies, if I can't break them and bake them, they probably aren't coming out of my kitchen. Sad, right? But really.... Whoever invented that stuff is GENIUS!

Anyhow, I digress... So my friend called and asked me to bake sugar cookies and she assured me that they didn't care what KIND of cookies they were, as long as they were sugar cookies. I agreed to make 2 dozen cookies and had B pick up and extra package of dough so that the kids could decorate some cookies at home!

Molly and the kids baked the cookies this afternoon, and tonight the kids decorated them. We used food coloring and plastic bags, knives and bowls. We made a HUGE mess, but we had a great time!

Of course the kids each had to taste one to make sure they were worthy of delivering to our friends and once the cookies passed the test, we were off. We delivered cookies to four families and would have LOVED to do more but we were out of cookies. BOO!

We had a fun evening and I look forward to doing it again soon. I wish I were more of a baker, but oh well!

Whipped Cream Fun

Two kids...

Two grandparetns...

One can of whipped cream...

Enough said!

First Annual Children's Youth Group Halloween Party

Did I forget to mention that I'm the new Children's Youth Group leader? I did?? Sorry!

Guess what?!?! I'm the new Children's Youth Group leader (preschool - 5th grade) at our church! This means that I am responsible for Sunday School as well as planning a social or service event for the kids each month. Because I 'officially' started the assignment in October, it seemed obvious that our VERY FIRST EVENT would be a Halloween party.

I didn't have too long to pull the party together, but with the help of a few close friends, the Internet, and a generous donation from Trader Joe's, the party was a success! We had crafts, cupcake and pumpkin decorating, tattoos, games, snacks and costumes and I think everyone had a good time. Twenty-one kids isn't a bad turn out for our first event considering that on any given Sunday we only have 5-8 kids in Sunday School.

I'm excited about my new undertaking and I'm looking forward to being able to grow both the Sunday School program and the Children's Youth Group. Next month we're having a Pilgrim and Indian Harvest Party. I can't wait!