On my birthday, we bundled up and headed to the pumpkin patch that we've been going to since before Eric and I got married. It is a great little family farm that opens to the public during the weekends in October. The kids had a great time with the various farm animals... they petted goats, fed chickens and ducks, looked at a calf and sheep, and much more! After spending time with the animals, we trekked out to the pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect pumpkins for our porch. Conor had a tricky time deciding on a pumpkin... each one that was perfect for him was only perfect until he saw the next perfect pumpkin. We really lucked out in terms of the weather... it was cool and foggy, but we avoided getting rained on, which is always a plus.
The Saturday before Halloween, we whipped out the newspaper and carving tools so we could convert our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. Earlier in the day, Annika and I had gone to the store and discovered a new (at least, new to us) way to decorate pumpkins. When I was a kid, the Light Bright toy was quite popular; the same idea was applied to create this pumpkin decorating kit. The kit includes a little wooden mallet, some templates, and colored plastic pegs (very similar to golf tees) that get pounded into a pumpkin. The kids both chose to use the light-up pegs instead of going with the traditional carving method. In fact, Eric is the only one who did a traditional face in his pumpkin. I scraped "BOO" into my pumpkin and outlined the letters with the light-up pegs. The kids had a great time ... as did their mommy and daddy. :)
On Halloween proper, we went to the home of one of Annika's classmates for a Halloween dinner party. After work/school, the kids donned their costumes and we packed up our contribution to the party: ghost and bat cookies. (I didn't get a picture of the bats... but trust me, I made 'em!) Unfortunately, I was also coming down with a nasty cold, so we didn't stick around at the party long enough for the group's trick-or-treating. We meandered with the kids as we walked home so they could do some trick-or-treating and fill up their candy bags. After visiting a couple of houses, Annika decided that her ghost costume was more of a hindrance than intended, so Eric ran home to get the dinosaur costume she wore to school. Presto chango!! Fortunately, both costumes allowed her to wear street clothes and a warm coat. For weeks, Conor told us that he wanted to dress up as Spiderman for Halloween.... fortunately, we have a hand-me-down costume from our nephew Ian and Conor received a Spiderman mask from some family friends for his birthday last year. Talk about perfect!
Just like at the pumpkin patch, we lucked out with the weather. Last year, we got poured on when we were out trick-or-treating... this year, we had a dry and somewhat warm night. The kids had a great time and really got swept up in the fun of Halloween.
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