Halloween!

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. The costumes and decorations are great, but the idea that an entire night is devoted to giving children candy and junk just really doesn't sit well with me (no comments from the peanut gallery!). Plus with Brad's allergies it makes it more of a frustrating holiday for him, and I worry about him feeling excluded. So, we've tweaked our Halloween to make it more about fun, games, activities, and friendships. Yes, there is still some candy. But not a lot. And within a week, it will be gone!

This year the boys dressed up as knights (Brad insisted on wearing his cowboy boots, and Ben his Spiderman pants- whatever!), and Savanna dressed up as an 80's girl ( I still think it's funny that her generation thinks that is SO old! We were googling 80's fashions and hairstyles and she couldn't believe how we all dressed back then...too funny).

Knight Benjamin

Yes, he has blue hair

Knight Bradley

Like totally rad!

After soccer games, naps, and an early dinner, we started off our night at a local Halloween Festival. It was sponsored by a church, so everything was free! They had games, face painting, bounce houses, a petting zoo, a puppet show, a cake walk, and the boys favorite- firemen with a fire truck! At every event the kids got a little candy for their buckets- it was so cute! It was mainly aimed at younger kids, but Savanna enjoyed it and said she'd like to go back next year.

Games

The kids had to try to catch the squirrel through the hole

He got it!

So did Savanna!

The cake walk

Yay- we won! There is something so fun about winning an entire cake. Much better than candy, if you ask me.

Ben really liked the goats

Face painting- he's supposed to be painting on helmets for them

The fire truck

Then we were off to our old neighborhood where we always trick or treat. We visited with our friends and the kids got even more candy!

Here are our friends' dog Rupert dressed as Peter Pan

At home we dumped out their loot and sorted through the stuff that kids wanted to keep, giving a bunch to Dad and leaving the rest outside for the Switch Witch. Who is the Switch Witch you ask?? Well legend has it that if you leave some candy out for her, she will switch your candy for a present. The kids tried it out, and true to the legend, the boys were left some dinosaur books, and Savanna some cash. ;) They each have a little bag of treats for the week, and like I said, Halloween is done and over.

10-31-09