Halloween '08

The kids had a fun Halloween this year. A week or so before Halloween we painted pumpkins. This is the first year we've painted them and I think we'll do this until the kids are older. They seem to enjoy it more because it's more colorful, they get to actually do more of the work and the designing and we like it because it's less messy and doesn't take as long. I hope next year we'll do a little of both. The kids loved "mixing colors", which usually just ends up with most colors looking a tannish gray hue, but they had fun and that's what counts.

Above is Sarah's pumpkin that she painted. You can see that she started with a good face and then just started mixing colors.

As far as costumes go, Sarah chose to be a witch and was excited about getting a little black kitty cat to go with her outfit. Nathan, who has fallen in love (read 2.5 year-old obsession!) with Thomas the Train was able to wear a costume that we borrowed from our friends the Angerbauer's. We also borrowed a Giraffe costume from our friends for Jane as well. All the kids were cute and excited. We went to our church's Trunk or Treat. It was nice because they started early (5:30) so we were actually home a little after 7 pm. The kids are still young enough to just be excited with whatever is in their bag at the end of the night, though I'm sure the days out with friends where they fill large containers full of candy and go out way beyond when anyone answers the door will come in a few years (such fond memories!). I guess that we did get a hint of that this year as Sarah has been so interested in counting her candy and playing with it when Nathan naps (I figured she would end up eating some pieces unless I watched her closely but, no, she just loved sorting and organizing her candy. She really did just want to play with it! Coincidentally, this was something I loved to do with my candy... when I was younger). The kids get a couple of pieces of candy a day and are excited about choosing and often sharing with one another. One thing that was crazy was how warm it was... it had to be in the 60's, which was a really nice break from the usually really cold weather this time of year. We didn't have a Halloween Party like last year, but maybe we'll do that again in the future. Mary and I didn't do anything to dress up this year, no surprise there... I love how the kids enjoy it but I don't really want to dress up, though I would if I had a good costume. Anyway, below is what you really came here to see.

Sarah and Nathan before we headed off to the Trunk or Treat.
Sarah was really excited about counting her candy before she went to bad that night and was pretty pleased with her results.