Halloween "Smookies"

My girls were so into Halloween this year! It was a lot of fun to see them so excited. I always loved Halloween growing up. Next to Christmas it was my favorite. My mom and I would scheme and think of creative costumes for her to create. Over the years I was a salad, buffalo, a tube of toothpaste, to name a few. Before they had their own say in what costumes they would be, my girls were a turtle, a skunk, a pea pod, and a duck cracking out of it's shell. Last year they were both fairies. Boring. This year, Maggie kept saying she was going to be Minnie Mouse, but in September suddenly changed to Dolphin Fairy.  You've all heard of that, right? Well, in Maggie's mind it means a blue fairy. Boring. Oh well, I guess the holiday is not all about me anymore. ;) Lila chose to be a cheetah. I had already made her a cheetah costume for the dress up box last Christmas, so she put it to good use. Cam painted her face.

 

Living in a rural area, we’ve never tried to trick-or-treat near our home. We’ve had the tradition of going to my in-laws’ neighborhood which just so happens to be the neighborhood I grew up in. It’s a pretty, well-lit area with some of the folks still around from my childhood. We order pizza and all the grandparents come over for the celebration. After pizza, we make the trick-or-treat rounds. It has been really fun to see my girls growing up each Halloween. This year, no one needed to be carried. They walked to the doors by themselves and knew just what to do. They were both so excited that they may have forgotten their thank you’s a few times. We made the neighborhood loop and came back to Nana’s homemade hot chocolate with whipped cream and a fire in the hearth. We snuggled in to watch the Charlie Brown Halloween movie. All in all, a very fun evening.

Maggie refused to wear her wig for actual trick-or-treating, so Mimi wore it.

 

The weekend prior to Halloween, we hosted a party at our home. The girls and I brainstormed all kinds of fun decorations and activities. We pored over Pinterest and had a great time coming up with food, beverage and fun. The weather was fairly cooperative that day. Cam made a fire out front and it was nice to have a warm respite. Lila and Maggie spent the morning at Mimi’s while Nana helped me decorate. When Lila and Maggie got home, they *loved* the decorations! The guests brought some spooky food and the kids came decked out in costume.   

 

Our wooden bear "Fuzzy Wuzzy" even dressed up

Opa forgot his Cyclops hood, so a painted eye will have to do.

Cece the pink flamingo

 

 

Lila had just gone to friend’s birthday party with a scavenger hunt and she thought it was the best thing ever. She thought we definitely needed one for our party. “We can do a scavenger hunt where people are DIEING , mommy!”. I nixed that idea and we ended up searching for parts of a skeleton I named “Boney Woney”. The clues were rhyming and had them criss-crossing the yard finding his legs, arms, torso, and head. The readers of the bunch read the clues. The sweetest part of this was when one of the girls wanted to give everyone a turn to read, so she whispered the words into another child’s ear so she could “read” it to the group. How very inclusive. Way to go, Mama Rhonda for raising a thoughtful girl. Cam did a hay ride, we ate, we ate apples off strings, the kids ran around like ghouls. Success.