2013 Halloween

With practices and homework we were running out of time to carve pumpkins this year.  Luckily Wednesday nights are free for us, so we did it the night before Halloween.  As with last year Andrew and Claire could not wait to start and Grant was disgusted by the whole thing.  Andrew and Claire did a lot of the work themselves this year.  They started with cutting around the stem.

 

 

This is the part that Grant really hates - scooping out the guts.

 

Then onto the fun part - carving.  First they drew their faces on the fronts of the pumpkins.  They came up with the faces themselves.

 

 

Claire got one of the eyes out all by herself.

 

Andrew was very serious about carving his pumpkin and getting it just right.

 

Then out came Claire's pumpkin's mouth.  She only needed a little bit of help in the corners, but otherwise did most of the carving herself.

 

Grant wanted back in the activity when it was time for pictures.

 

These pictures are a bit out of order, but you won't mind, right?  The Saturday before Halloween we had a Fall Festival party at the church.  The kids look forward to the food and the games every year.  I went around the games with Grant, so I didn't really get any pictures of Andrew and Claire, sorry!  First up was a fishing game.  They put the line over the plastic and then a prize magically appears on the line.

 

Grant and his friend Julia loved this game where they tried to eat donuts off of a string. 

 

Finally we had to get some help for Grant.  He was do determined to get his donut!

 

 

Next up was miniature golf, or as Grant plays it miniature baseball.

 

Grant really liked the beanbag toss.  He did this game a few times.

 

I painted this lovely pumpkin on his cheek.  Julia got hearts on her cheek so Grant also got hearts on his other cheek.

 

Andrew showed up to play the cake walk.  They each got to play enough to get a mini cupcake.

 

Then onto the big day!  This year Grant was a fireman, Andrew was an Air Force pilot and Claire was a cowgirl.  She really wanted this pink hat when we were in Wyoming.  I told her that she could get it if she was a cowgirl for Halloween.  My mom made her super cute costume again this year. 

 

Grant's daycare did a costume parade and games for the kids at lunch time. 

 

 

They walked in the backyard and waved at everyone.

We tried our best to get a group picture of everyone.  Grant plays the most with the boy to his right, Ian and the other fireman, Kai.  The daycare is run by Julie on the far right and her two daughters Chelsea and Rachel.

 

Of all of the games and things to play with Grant went through this tube the most.  He thought this was so, so fun. 

 

His hat is on backwards, but he was trying the bean bag toss.

 

Playing in this tent was quite popular.

 

Then at 1:30 Andrew and Claire had their costume parade at school.  Claire apparently forgot to wear her hat in the parade.  I'm not sure you can really tell what she is without the hat.

 

Andrew loved his costume because it was easy to put on and because of the sunglasses.

 

I took them to Krispy Kreme for free donuts (if you were wearing a costume). 

Claire specifically wanted me to take a picture of her cool pumpkin donut.  It was actually just a regular donut that they hadn't cut the hole out of and then frosted it.

We went trick or treating in a neighborhood nearby.  We went with Grant's friend Julia.  We didn't think that Grant would last the whole time but he did.  He loved getting more and more candy and didn't complain at all.  When we got home they sorted and traded candy.  Overall, it was a very successful Halloween!