Here Comes Halloween

The approach of Halloween in this house is cause for serious excitement. Claire's birthday comes soon after, and then the holidays seem to arrive before we know it. For the kids, and for me (who, no doubt, is vicariously living out her childhood trick or treat dreams), Halloween is tons of fun. The week before Halloween is generally dedicated to carving the pumpkins we have chosen. I don't like to carve them before that because they get all nasty and attract bugs, and in the south, bugs means some serious bugs. This year, however, we didn't have to worry about the bug issue. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Allison bought the kids Mr. Pumpkin Head kits for decorating their pumpkins. Instead of carving out a face, we just pushed the face pieces into the pumpkin just as if they were Mr. Potato Heads. Though Claire missed roasting the pumpkin seeds, I will say that this year's pumpkins were much cuter than years previous, AND there was no clean up (huge plus!).

Here's Ben and his Mr. Pirate Pumpkin Head. He was SUPER proud of it.

Trick ARRRRR Treat!

Claire decorated this pumpkin at school. She insisted that it be included with our other pumpkins. This is her Sleeping Beauty Pumpkin.


Here's her Ms. Princess Pumpkin Head

As all stay-at-home moms know, free programs for kids offered by the community are a lifesaver. The local library has a preschool story time every Tuesday which includes singing, reading, and usually some type of craft. We try to attend as often as possible and usually end up staying for quite some time enjoying the children's area stocked with puzzles, stuffed animals and computer games. I'm fairly positive that the librarians are happy to see us go, as Ben seems to break out his most obnoxious voice and behavior for the times we are there, but both kids really seem to enjoy it. This week, in honor of Halloween, the librarian read picture books about bats, and the kids made a bat craft. The kids loved making their bat hats and wore them around the house for the rest of the day. Ben really got into this one. You can even see the stripes he insisted on adding to his hat.




Ok, so they look like cats with wings. Use your imagination, people!