We had a wonderful Halloween this year, and hope you did too!
We kicked off the holiday a day early with our annual trip to the neighboring Pumpkin Fest, a tradition 3 years running now!
So we donned our costumes, and headed over. This year, we (okay... I) wanted to do something more spooky. The kids were so adorable last year as Little Bopeep and her Sheep... but it was time to get back to some good ol', traditional Halloween stuff. So a bat and a witch it was (plus, I found the costumes at a consignment sale for a few dollars each!) And thankfully for me, the kids were with me when I found the costumes, and were totally on board! Yay! I'm guessing that might not be the case next year!
At any rate, the Pumpkin Fest was fun... but word has clearly spread, because it was literally 4x more crowded than years past. That made it less fun because I don't do crazy crowds, especially w/kids.
The pumpkins were just as impressive as ever, though!
Liam loved being Bat Boy. Although, with the bow tie and buttons I worried he looked a little penguin-y. But thankfully we only got that comment once. We tried on his costume a few times before Halloween, and he was so proud of himself. He'd look at himself in the mirror with just the cutest expression and then he'd run up and down the halls yelling, "I'm bat boy! To save the day!" I'm not sure where "bat boy" came from, but he decided to make it a superhero, so we just went with it.
I also got into the fun this year... picked up a witch's hat for myself at the dollar spot in Target. Elizabeth REALLY wanted Daddy to dress as a ghost... sheet and all, but he wasn't going for it. Spoil sport!
I'm not sure if you can tell from the pics, but Elizabeth was WOUND UP that first night. Like... CRAZY wound up!!! We had a looooong talk when we got home, and later I found out daddy let her have some candy... so I think the candy mixed w/her excitement just made for an "interesting" mix. Fortunately, she did great the next day.
Below is a carved Beltie cow... so VERY Fearrington.
And here we are checking out the barn and the pretty lights. It was cold, though, so that combined with the crowds and we didn't stay long.
The next day was Halloween and the kids were excited. Elizabeth knew exactly how this worked, and she was stoked. Liam wasn't totally sure what was up, but he was stoked too.
I had to get some pics before he headed out.
My spooky little goblins :)
They were just so cute!
I had Bella get into the spirit w/a witches hat (another dollar bin find).
After a few pics, we were off. The night was chilly, but thankfully the rains let up right before we set out.
Of course, before we set off, Liam noticed our candy for the trick-or-treaters (we made ghost lollipops) , and wanted to open one. Thankfully we were able to convince him to put it into his pumpkin bucket, explaining there was a lot more where that came from. It wasn't easy though...
Daddy and sis heading out (I think I'm still dealing w/the lollipop fiasco at this point--lol).
I put some makeup on my big girl and curled her hair. She is really growing up, isn't she?
No one was home at the first house, but they left candy on the porch. Liam was excited, almost surprised, when he realized he got to pick more candy. But then he decided he wanted to stop and eat it right then... again, we had to explain he could get more at the next house. So after diverting another near candy catastrophy...off we went...
Daddy and his little monsters :)
My spooky crew :)
It didn't take long before Liam figured out that you are supposed to ring the door bell, say "Trick or Treat" and pick a piece of candy. I'm not sure which was his favorite part... ringing the bell, or picking the candy. He rang the bell on some houses multiple times--oops!
Sissy was so sweet and patient with him. She would run ahead, but wait for him to catch up.
Check out the spooky cat :)
And the spooky decor!
The kids never seemed phased by the spooky decorations. A few times Liam would say in his funny voice, "Dis poooky mommy!"
Aren't they so cute?! Brings back so many childhood memories. I loved Halloween as a kid! It's amazing how many people here do not celebrate... a lot more than I ever remember back home (heck, our church growing up even had a haunted house!) so I hesitated to post these pics on Facebook. But seriously, we only look at it in fun, nothing more. It may have pagan origins, but we don't celebrate for those reasons. Same with Christmas.
Anyway, we met our neighborhood buddies half way. Katherine and Elizabeth had THE best time running ahead of us to all the doors. They took turns ringing the doorbell, which was particularly sweet because after each house I'd hear one of them say, "Okay, Elizabeth its your turn now..." or "Katherine, you can ring the doorbell this time... it's your turn." It was also so sweet to watch them because they were literally PROS at this. Sometimes they'd even run, cutting through the grass or woods to get to the next porch quicker. They were good too, though, about waiting for their little siblings... and not getting too ahead of the group.
Liam and Ava did their best to catch up with their big sisters. And to be honest, Liam was right behind them most of the way. Toward the end though, they were getting tired. They held hands at one point... and then toward the end, they both got held by their daddies. It's funny, when we first set out, seeing how chilly and drizzly and icky it was outside, I told Vassil, let's just do a few houses this year. Well, of course, it ended up being so much fun, we ended up almost making the entire loop around our neighborhood. I don't think the big sisters ever even got cold... they were running and having the best time.
Seriously... what a fun Halloween?!
