Watch out for Demon Mops!

Prior to Halloween, we prepared by carving jack-o-lanterns.

In bell pepper form.

Seriously, it's so much easier. 

Although Calista enjoys using the knives in either just fine.

Spooooooooky!

A Normal Halloween

Halloween this year felt... normal. Which felt wonderful.

Presenting: the pumpkin, witch, dinosaur, and peacock. 

Kyler is not in the photo because 1. He's taking it, and 2. He is not dressed up in any way.

Kiddos in their costumes!

Gorgons, Slayers, and Mad Scientist Monkeys, Oh My!

Happy Halloween from me and 

 

My three little pumpkins!

Carving pumpkins was more difficult than we thought it'd be because they were really thick this year! 

And Calista, in spite of breaking a knife, 

enjoyed it.

Mostly.

Scraping the seeds out was kind of fun. 

And kind of gross. But, they looked good in the end! 

Kyler did a great job interpreting Craig's drawing.  

Spoooooooky!

My favorite part of Halloween, other than the chocolate, is the costumes. I love helping the kids dress up as whatever their creative little minds think of, and this year I had a bit of work to do. 

Group pictures are always so tough on the kiddos. 

Especially when swords and snakes are involved. 

Or when the sun still hasn't risen yet. 

Caleb was a mad scientist monkey who defends his lab with a shield, but everyone thought he was just a monkey. 

A little disappointing, to be sure. 

Craig was Perseus - not Percy Jackson. 

Perseus, the slayer of the gorgon. 

As long as he looks at his shield instead of at her! 

Although they don't always need to be slaying each other.

And, of course, that leaves Calista. 

My beautiful girl, my Medusa. 

I know a parent isn't supposed to have favorites, but hers was my favorite costume this year. She loved how surprised everyone was about the snakes in her hair... but maybe not the snakes themselves after all day long at school. 

The headband got heavy. 

Halloween culminated with a Trunk or Treat in the church parking lot. Covid friendly and all that.

Caleb managed to leave the house with just socks on, so he got to ride. Good thing they didn't have to travel very far to fill up their buckets! Which they definitely got full. It took days to eat it all.

Happy Halloween!

Spooky Celebrations

In preparation for Halloween, I bought a watermelon. Because that's what you do. Caleb saw it and got really excited, but then begged to buy a pumpkin, too. So... he and I went to the store and bought a pumpkin, too.

Craig took over the watermelon, and Calista and Caleb worked on the pumpkin.

Craig did great, hollowing out the pumpkin nearly all by himself.

Calista and Caleb went to work on the pumpkin,

Though we quickly decided Caleb was a little too free with the knife and relegated him to eating watermelon.

Calista discovered that she had never gutted a pumpkin before

And she, surprisingly, loved the feel of the seeds and muck in her fingers.

After it was cleaned out, we got out the drill and let Calista go to town.

She loved using the drill, too. I think it made her feel powerful.

The finished products were pretty awesome.

Especially all lit up.

And Calista and Craig were both pretty proud of their creations.

As for costumes, Caleb went back and forth a bit before finding an owl costume in our costume box.

He fell in love with it, and decided that's what he wanted to be for Halloween.

When we went to Boo at the Zoo, we got a picture of Caleb with the snowy owl.

He loved it.

Craig informed me he wanted to be a pumpkin for Halloween. Why?

I don't know.

At first I thought I'd have to make one, because I had no idea where to find a pumpkin costume that fits a 7-year-old.

But, to my surprise and Craig's delight, I found one at the thrift store!

Complete with a jack o' lantern face. How perfect.

Calista was Elsa for Halloween, which has been a long time coming. 

The August Calista was 4, she decided what she wanted to be for Halloween... for the next 6 years. I might have laughed at the time, but here we are: Year 6. 

Her list is now complete. Never doubt a Calista when she makes plans.

My kids were all excited for their costumes, 

and I was pretty happy to have only spent about $20 on all three.

As previously mentioned, on Halloween itself we first went to Boo at the Zoo.

It was cold but not horrible, so we had a good time.

The white handed gibbon put on an especially good show,

And it was nice to get out of the house and do something as a family.

We also got out of the house that evening.

We hit up a few houses in our neighborhood

carried lanterns in our pockets and in our hands, 

And had an overall good time.

And got lots of candy.

Happy Halloween!