Halloweek

Thanks to Halloween celebrations at all of our extracurricular activities, my kids were vibrating on Halloween morning. I thought Halloween falling on a Saturday was going to be awesome, but it basically turned the entire week into Halloween – fun, but exhausting.

On Thursday, Annabel’s dance class put on a Halloween performance. It was pretty cute seeing all the kids in their costumes doing ballet and tap.

Friday was the big day at Annabel’s school. When James saw me helping Annabel get on her costume, he grabbed his and brought it over to me. Knowing it was highly likely Annabel’s costume would get wrecked at school, I figured it would be a good idea to get a photo of them all dressed up before she left, just in case. This proved to be wise because those gloves she’s wearing in the picture were toast after a day at school.

Zero, Sally, and Jack Skellington

Annabel picked these Nightmare Before Christmas costumes because they filled her criteria of being “pretty and scary.” She ended up being so thrilled with this costume – last year, all the kids recognized her Lego Movie character, but few adults did. This year, kids AND adults knew her costume, and she loved not having to explain who she was. Plus, she really loves face makeup and wigs.

First, the TK, Kindergarten, and First Grade had a costume parade:

Later in the day, the room mom and I went into the classroom to throw a little party for the kids. We had crafts and snacks, and the teacher played Halloween music that the kids could dance to. It was really cute and the kids were so happy, especially the Kindergarteners, who’d never experienced a school party.

On Saturday morning, the kids were up before the sun. “IT’S HALLOWEEN LET’S GET UP!!!” Luckily, we had things to do, like carve pumpkins. They turned out pretty cute – Mike designed one and Annabel designed the other:

Then it was off to a Halloween party at my sister-in-law’s house:

I’d put no thought into a costume for the party, which isn’t like me…I don’t know what my problem was! So I slapped some white makeup onto my face, drew a spiderweb on my cheek, pinned some bugs and snakes into my hair, and called it a costume. Annabel said I looked like one of the residents of Halloween Town, so I went with that.

(I think I mostly looked like a pinterest fail)

After playing at the party, it was back to our neighborhood to trick-or-treat.

Annabel didn’t want adults to go up to the door with her, but James needed some guidance at first.

But eventually, he was confident enough to walk up with just his sister:

Annabel still prefers handing out candy to trick-or-treating, so after about 45 minutes we were back at the house. James loved it, too, squealing, “Trick-or-treat!” every time someone rang the bell. Handing out candy was especially fun this year now that we know more neighborhood kids through the school.

At the end of the night both kids were super-bummed to go to bed, although no surprise, they both fell asleep about 10 seconds after their heads hit the pillows. Even I was ready for Halloween to be over! I know next year will be even better…James will be old enough to have costume opinions!