and October
We had a fun Halloween this year and a busy month of October. Here is a REALLY long post about our October and Halloween adventures...scroll to the end to see our Halloween day activities.
First there is our pumpkin patch. We planted a bunch of pumpkin seeds in the spring. Scott and I were not sure we would get anything to grow...but EVERYTHING grew and we ended up with a very dense pumpkin patch. The leaves got that fungus later in the season and started to die prematurely and the patch was so dense that it was hard to get in to treat individual plants. Also life was busy and I didn't spend much time fussing over the plants as the summer wore on. So we took the laissez-faire approach to the garden this year. We ended up with close to 70 pumpkins by the fall. It got cold early and by Halloween most of the pumpkins from the pumpkin patch had become soft and mushy - we think because of a lot of hard freeze nights. The ones that survived we had set very close to the house on our front porch, so maybe they stayed a little warmer. Anna and Grant spearheaded a pumpkin selling stand and sold many of the pumpkins to neighborhood kids for cheap. They made a little bit of money and had fun with it.
The patch. Next year we will spread out the plants more so they can be more accessible and get more air circulation.
An early hard freeze - our tiny pear tree (which only grew one pear this year and we were very excited about it) is heavy laden with ice one cold morning in early October. Too soon for being so cold but it did kill a lot of the mosquitos.
Our yard is now fully fenced. When we moved in we had fence on one side and the back side. Our neighbors on the side that didn't have a fence have been wanting to get a fence - they are in the same boat as us, fenced on all sides but one. And we also wanted a fence so we finally got it done just in time for the cold fall weather. It's a long fence run and we put in gates at the front part of the house so people can no longer just walk into our backyard.
Here's an in progress picture
Some kids think our yard looks smaller now but I like the privacy. I think our neighbors are happy too. They have plans to get a dog.
Leaves are falling and Grant just went out and wanted to rake one day. Almost all the kids have voluntarily gone out to rake leaves - the novelty will probably wear off eventually.
Matthew is in the junior high band this year playing trumpet. He wanted to transition to French Horn but I told him I didn't want him to do that since we just purchased a trumpet. So now I have guilt about that. The kids were required to wear a costume for their Halloween concert. Matthew dressed up as Dr. Strange. The way they did the concert was great. There are 4 different band levels and they had beginning band first (Matthew's band). The played 2 songs and then there was a 15 minute break where beginning band parents could leave and intermediate parents could come in. Each new band level started at 30 or 45 minute intervals so we could just see our own kids and then leave. Love it!
Can you spot Matthew? Matthew's band teacher dressed up as a disco guy with a big disco wig.
After the concert.
We put this costume together from various part and pieces since the Dr. Strange costumes I saw online were kind of pricey. I was happy with how it turned out - we got a cheap Dracula cape, used a bathrobe and women's obi style belt and voila. We also bought the little Dr. Strange necklace (time stone?) to complete the look.
Anna has started taking violin at school. She enjoys it so far but might want to transition to flute next year. We are just renting the violin.
Matthew earned some Boy Scout ranks and has his sights set on getting his eagle
Grant started cub scouts - he's in the bear den and they got to carve soap a few weeks ago. I was helping the den leader that day - we did have a few knife injuries, but nothing serious.
John came with me to the bear den meeting that day and was mad that his soap carving didn't look more professional. I think he expected it to turn into a perfect little toy shape. Don't know why that's MY fault, but ok. Sorry John.
John is in the tiger scout den. He got to participate in the flag ceremony at pack meeting. The little tiger boys doing the flag ceremony was kind of adorable. They are 1st graders.
John earned his Bobcat
And got a chalk paw print in his back for his bobcat
Good job John
I wasn't too sure about adding scouts to our busy lives, but have all three boys participating now since its available. If we move and there isn't an easily accessible pack or troop I won't cry too many tears about saying goodbye to scouts. The nearest physical scout shop here in Utah closed up so I had to buy their things online. It's a hard road for scouts without the church I guess.
If you look close you can see Grant in his scout shirt and blue bear kerchief in the background.
Grant's den ran the cub scout carnival for pack meeting. It was cute. One boy did face painting.
Grant and Scott spent most of the night doing the fishing game at the carnival so we didn't see them much. It was very cold since we had the carnival outside and we've been having a colder than normal October here. After an hour or so outside in the cold everyone was ready to head home. John's hands were so cold he started to have a little panic attack about his numb hands. We got him home and warmed up and he felt better.
Everyone was tired and face painted and cold by the end. Missing having a church building to hold pack meetings. So cold.
John after warming up and calming down with his painted face.
And Halloween prep time. John decided he wanted to be a ferocious wolf. I thought he looked more adorable than ferocious, but maybe that's just me.
Grant as a giant skeleton - this skeleton that wears a certain kind of hat is from the game Clash Royale (a version of Clash of Clans) that Grant likes. He's always seen holding a round black bomb.
We had a few Halloween themed dinners
Pumpkin shaped bread bowls from our local grocery store
Matthew has been participating in his school play this fall. The play is called 10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse. Matthew played one of about 16 "survivors"
(humans not yet eaten by zombies). Spoiler alert - his character even survived until the end of the play. :) There were also 2 narrators and about 60 zombies in the play. It's a comedy type play - not really a scary one. Matthew had 20-30 lines and did a great job. He's also planning to try out for a speech team at school and entered a speech contest as well.
I think he enjoyed performing in the play.
Zombies roamed the audience before the play started.
Matthew in his survivor costume. They did 5 nights of performances and had a lot of fun. He learned about doing stage make up.
Speaking of survivors - we carved some of our surviving pumpkins (the last few left that weren't rotted by the freezing temps).
We did some painting and some carving
Anna and Emma painted some of our little ornamental pumpkins
Grant carved faces on both sides of his pumpkin
This was the largest surviving pumpkin from the garden
Emma had a Halloween party at her preschool class the day before Halloween
She was batgirl
She had a lot of fun
They made a few Halloween crafts
And finally Halloween morning came!! Matthew didn't dress up 'cause the junior high kids don't dress up for Halloween. I saw one junior high kids dressed up. So when in Rome...but he did plan to dress up and trick or treat with friends. John all ready as a wolf, Grant as a skeleton bomber and Emma as batgirl. Anna wasn't picture ready yet.
Batgirl
Big bad wolf
Giant skeleton bomber
We made a bomb out of an old ball and black duct tape - with a pipe cleaner fuse.
Anna as an Air Force airman. She wore Scott's old patches so she's a Major in this picture - Scott is a Lt. Col. :). We got this mini uniform at the base. It's the new style the Air Force wears now. Scott has been through many different uniform styles.
We went to the school to see the kids parade. Emma and I waiting
The teachers and staff at the school all dressed as characters from the Toy Story movies. Their school theme for the year is "You've got a friend in me" from Toy Story and they have Toy Story decor up all over the school. Last year their theme was "This is the Greatest School" from the The Greatest Showman and they dressed up as circus people for Halloween with the principal as the ring master. It was cute. So the head custodian was Woody and the principal was Buzz Lightyear. All the staff were different characters.
All the 2nd grade teachers were the Army men
Grant's teacher was one of the aliens - here's Grant as the skeleton
John's teacher was Gabby Gabby from the newest movie - cute John the wolf
Anna's teacher was Forky from the new movie and a couple of other 6th grade teachers were the slinky dog - one was the head, the other one the tail connected by a slinky. It was so cute. Anna as a soldier at the end of the parade.
And at trick or treat time. Grant the Giant Bomber Skeleton, Anna an Air Force airman, Matthew as Dr. Strange, John the wolf and Emma as batgirl.
It was cold - in the high 30s. We were happy because the night or two before it had been in the 20s or 10s in the evening. Brrr. 30 something still felt pretty cold. Anna met up with her school friends and they walked around trick or treating together. I am glad she has made friends with nice girls with similar interests to her after changing schools. Matthew met up with two of his friends and trick or treated with them.
I dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and Scott as the woodsman to go with the big bad wolf. We usually don't do coordinated costumes - I really liked picking my own costume as a kid and want my kids to pick whatever they want, but sometimes Scott and I might try to coordinate with one of the kids for fun. After they pick what they want to be, Scott and I coordinate I mean. John independently wanted to be a wolf. Grant went trick or treating with his BFF so Scott and I just had John and Emma. It was cold and we were probably out for an hour or hour and a half.
"Grandmother, what big teeth you have!"
"The better to EAT you with!!"
Some trick or treating
No trees were actually harmed
Several of our neighbors have cute Halloween set ups at their houses
This neighbor does a Halloween farm with lots of food and a fire set up. We had hot cocoa and homemade root beer and the kids had fun picking treats. Another neighbor was passing out hot dogs which the kids enjoyed.
They live about half way down our long street and a lot of the neighborhood kids would stop there to socialize and warm up - and drink hot cocoa before going back out. Matthew and Anna both had fun hanging out there. Our little neighborhood is kind of great.
After a cold night of trick or treating the little ones made it back to the house with their loot.
Eventually the other kids made their way home too
Plenty of candy was collected and lots of fun was had.
We warmed up in front of the fire and space heater and watched the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown movie. Then part of Harry Potter. The kids had no school the next day which is just the best idea ever. I let the kids stay up a little later eating candy and watching TV.
Happy Halloween everyone!!
And now as I write this it is November 1st - that's open season on Christmas music as far as I'm concerned. Bring on the Christmas season!!
