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| The prettiest, freaky dragon I ever did see! |
It’s been several months since Halloween but it’s been on my mind lately. For one, it’s amazing how much has changed since last October–who could have guessed that my kids would be home from school for six months straight, the world would be walking on eggshells, and people would be hoarding toilet paper and flour. Also, we JUST ran out of Halloween candy. We managed to ration the chocolate and suckers pretty well.
Our October kicked off nicely. We put up all the decorations we have stuffed in our storage room (it’s by far the most decor-heavy holiday at our house) and started listening to Nightmare Before Christmas and Thriller and the like whenever we were driving around in the car.
At the Indiana State Museum, we enjoyed an awesome cardboard box Halloween maze that we would have loved to have in our own home…if we ordered about twenty thousand more packages from Amazon.
While my parents were visiting, we found a “haunted trail” at one of the nearby state parks. Honestly, one more excuse to dress up and ask for candy and we’re there.
By the time we had our annual trunk or treat at church the week before Halloween, the weather was holding out so nicely we wondered if we were going to be wearing shorts to go trick or treating.
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| Peter makes the cutest pumpkin! |
We also had our annual family Halloween feast, complete with feetloaf, spider dip, deviled eyeballs, witch’s brew, and candles. What can I say? We love Halloween!
For one of our family home evenings, we made sugar cookies and decorated them. I’m always impressed with how detailed they get with a little frosting and some sprinkles.
One mistake I made was waiting a little too long to get pumpkins for carving. Jack was out of town for half of October for work. By the time we had a chance to go in search of pumpkins, everything had been snatched up. Thankfully, we live by a small pumpkin patch and they had a few very small pumpkins left for us.
With all the practice we had trick-or-treating before Halloween even begun, we were in prime condition to dress up in full costume and run house to house looking for a treat.
One of my very favorite parts of Halloween is doing the kids’ face paint. It’s sort of an artistic outlet and completes their look. For five kids (I wasn’t about to try to put makeup on a squirming Peter), it’s quite the endeavor. Everyone’s anxious and eager to go, but they manage to sit patiently while it’s their turn. Claire was a pretty yet ferocious dragon…
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| Fishnet stockings make the paint look like scales. Pretty cool! |
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| So happy to be a unicorn! |
When I finally finished, our kitchen looked like the makeup aisle had been ransacked. But, cleaning up would have to wait. We loaded in the car and since we live in the country, we get to pick which neighborhood we descend upon.
Not far from us, there’s a charming neighborhood. By charming, I mean extremely impressive. We’re talking enormous stone and brick houses with fountains and bronze statues. They were already very generous with their treats–everything from full candy bars to organic fruit snacks–but all the nice weather we’d had in October had disappeared by Halloween night. It was windy, snowy, and FRIGID. Normally, we enjoy walking through the neighborhoods together but on Halloween, we modified our plans. Jack drove the car alongside us while Peter napped in his car seat and the kids who couldn’t stand the cold would jump in and warm up.
Every time we asked if they were done, we were given a resounding no. The kids trick-or-treated until the bitter end, when their buckets were so stuffed full and heavy that they could barely drag them to the car. Their hard work was worth it. 🤣
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| That’s just some of Henry’s haul. |
Halloween came and went but can we really have too much of a good thing? I don’t think so. For one final hurrah, we threw a Halloween costume party for some friends.
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| Homemade dry ice rootbeer and everything! |
It was so fun to catch up with people we don’t get to see all that often and enjoy the lighthearted fun the holiday brings. It was definitely one of the highlights of 2019!
October is by far my favorite month. The weather is fantastic, the changing leaves are gorgeous, and though Halloween is a silly, inconsequential holiday, it has brought us some incredibly happy memories.
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| I love it when adults answer the door in costume. 😅 |
We’re already looking forward to this coming October and another round of costumed candy begging.
