halloween at our house

Halloween weekend for us started on Saturday as we got ready for the Illumination of the Jack-O-Lanterns in a local Gold Rush Town near us.  It's a fun little "contest" for kids to carve their gourds and bring them to the town square to win awards.

For some odd reason, my kids don't believe in drawing on their pumpkins before carving, so after cleaning the pulp out of the pumpkins, they got directly to cutting out their gourds. 

Saturday evening we brought the finished products to the town square to be judged.  (It's not really judged per se -- there were more than 20 awards to be handed out and no child was intended to feel left out.)

Anberly's jack was a dragon that was mistaken for a bat at the contest.  She won the Most Haunted Award.  (Sorry about the blurry photo... no tripod.)

Matthew's jack was Jack.  Teehee... Jack Skellington that is.  He added his own little touches to make it more Matthew-esque.

The rest of the weekend I furiously worked on their costumes to get them completed.  Anberly's costume was nearly done by the weekend, except for the sleeves on her jacket and her top-hat.  The sleeves were completed on Sunday and the hat was not completed until moments before going out the door to trick-or-treat.  Whew!

She was (what we called) a Steampunk Chick.

Matthew's costume was started and completed on Halloween day.  I was actually fairly impressed with myself!

He was a Black Hand Assassin from the game Elder Scrolls IV:  Oblivion.  This costume was really last minute... he kept changing his mind about what he wanted to be and only on the Tuesday before did he finally settle on this. 

We all had a lot of fun this Halloween.  Much more fun than last.  I am so happy to have had this experience with my children.

Thanks you so much for stopping by!  My plan is to update next time with a Project Life post and maybe a shoppe update so I hope to see you again soon. 
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letter to matthew

 10/28/2011

Dear Matthew,

My mama heart swelled with pride today as I witnessed something that I was afraid would not happen anytime soon. 

Today, we took you to a new-to-us Martial Arts Studio since we were all entirely unhappy with the previous one.  I was incredibly apprehensive as we waited for the class to begin.  I think you were a bit nervous as well – you tried to keep yourself busy by playing on my iTouch.

When your class started and I had to send you “to the mat” by yourself with new teachers and peers you’ve never met, I started to get very anxious.  I was expecting you to put up your protective shell, keep to yourself, and do your own thing.  But what I saw took me by surprise and made me so proud of you! 

You jumped right in with everyone else and started participating in all the activities.  You welcomed others’ help.  You even played a game that you usually hate:  Dodge Ball.  At the end of the class, other kids stopped what they were doing just so they could say “Bye” to you.  After climbing into the car, I stood at your door and asked you what you thought of this new place.  You said, “I love it!”  And I love that you love it. 

Love,

Mama