Halloween Festivities 2013

Char and Mason got right into the Halloween spirit at the start of the month when we brought out our Halloween decorations.

What a month! There is no hiding that I adore this kid-friendly holiday and it was no different this year! From June until mid-October I was sewing costumes for Etsy orders like a crazy woman, but once I closed down my shop, we really had time to get into the merriment of everything! There is nothing like celebrating a holiday with young children. Everything excites them and amazes them! Even the weakest attempt of fun is appreciated and their enthusiasm is contagious! Here is a taste of the Halloween fun we Siegs had this year:

Cheesecloth Ghosts:

I have been wanting to make ghosts with my men for the past couple of years but this year we actually took the time to make them! Hot dog! The boys were over the moon and couldn't wait to scare guests with their scary ghost decorations.

We read a lot of Halloween books:

Here are a few of our favorites. But really, you can't beat Room On the Broom by Julia Donaldson. It is the best!

We played spooky board games:

My mom got us the MacGregor game when Mason was a little baby and I have been excited to have enough people to play it with ever since. It did not disappoint and was a welcome change from Uncle Wiggly.

Char never caught on that you actually don't WANT to be the ghost

We made festive food:

The boys were really into the pumpkin part of these pancakes but weren't into the added chocolate. My boys aren't big into chocolate. Who knew?

We worked on our own Halloween costumes:

Mason was so fun to sew with this year. He was so excited and so appreciative. His sweetness made up for the fact that I had to make the whole head twice because I made it slightly too small the first time round.

Char doesn't mind having an extra raccoon headpiece around to dress-up in.

We went to the zoo Halloween Spooktacular event. 

The most exciting part of the zoo party was the sign out front. I'm not really joking.

We carved pumpkins:

Coobie and Char were going for scary this year

Mason was going for a cute mouse. He took his carving very seriously

We went to the trunk or treat at our church:

I went as Pippi Longstocking. McCabe originally wanted to be Pippi earlier this Summer but I bargained with him that if he would be a zebra, I would be Pippi since I have a little more hair to pull it off. And the fact that I'm the girl.... Thankfully I had a bunch of extra fabric on hand to whip this baby together the hour before our party. See? There are perks of being a fabric hoarder!  And yes, McCabe was missing his clothing as usual.

We took some pictures before we headed to the party and it's a good thing that we did since I left my camera out by the car the whole night and never took any other pictures. And yes, I said out by the car....I left my camera bag sitting on the ground by the car where I set it down when we unloaded. Thank goodness for honest people! Another perk to taking pictures before the party that night was that we got to get some with our favorite Loftins as well! 

Halloween:

Someone at vet school has a sense of humor and decorated the statue out front for the holiday

Halloween morning rolled around dark and rainy so we got to drive James up to vet school for his fun day of test-taking. The morning stayed dark for quite a while and when it finally got light Charlie was reduced to tears. I was completely mystified until he said, "NO! You told me that we could go trick-or-treating when it was night but now the night is done and we missed it!" It took a little while to convince Char that the darkness earlier was just early morning and that Halloween night wasn't spent. ...Yet another reason for me to believe that children should never wake up before the sun does....

Trick-or-Treating:

Everyone assumed that they were characters from the Madagascar movie.

We got invited by friends to trick-or-treat in their family-friendly neighborhood this year and it was so fun! We ran into a lot of friends and it was such a fun time watching our little men race from door to door for their loot! Luckily we started early enough to be able to head home around 7pm. It kinda goes against how I was raised, but I must admit that it is kinda nice to have the boys be almost done with their Halloween candy already since they didn't collect a pillowcase-full like I always did.

 L: We had to stop by our favorite Bessie Wray! R: Mason in all of his raccoon glory. 

 L: All night long Coobie would happily say, "I is a zebra for Halloween!" to every person that he met.Then they would always respond, "Oh, SHE is so cute!"  R: Char took his rhino costume very seriously and even intentionally rammed into a stump with his horn at one point.

 The boys were more into the cool straws that Bessie Wray gave them than any of the candy. It was hard to keep them focused.

 At the end of the night, Char pulled a little slip of paper out of his bag of loot and asked us what it said. James and I had a good laugh at this poor entrepreneurial attempt:

Charlie is really excited for his jewelry show

 Coobie faded a little before the other boys and ended up snoozing on the way home.