Halloween week started with pumpkin carving. Dane got to help design his Jack-o-lantern, Jason uses shape blocks for the toddlers to teach them about how to make a face.
Eve got to design her own pumpkin as well.
All the other kids did their pumpkins by themselves.
Brock did a great job this year. Art-type-things are really hard for Brock so he rarely puts in a lot of effort into it. But this year he took a lot of extra time and pride in his work and came our with a great pumpkin and design. He is really starting to come into his own - I am loving it!
Noah is always so creative and artistic. He spent a lot of time on his pumpkin and came up with new carving techniques.
Megan and Madison did a great job - especially for carving themselves this year!
Pretty spooky
Here are the costumes (with out the pumpkins)
We really wanted Eve to be a bumble bee - because we call her Evee-bee or just Bee. But I couldn't find a cute one - and I wasn't willing to spend more than 5 dollars on it. So maybe next year. But I did have these matching pumpkin costumes.
It turned out perfects. Here is a Facebook post I posted about them and their costumes:
I am grateful everyday that we added these "pumpkins to our patch". They have been the greatest blessing and everyone agrees. I asked Brock on a mom and son date on Friday what the best thing in his life was and he said Eve. haha Life is a lot harder then it would have been and sometimes I think "what have I done?" But the love and joy makes it all worth it. "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven."
Noah was a detective. He really likes being a detective - even not on Halloween, he asked for this detective hat last year for Christmas.
Brock was a .... scary guy.
Megan a vampire
And Madison (my easiest costume of the year) a Unicorn.
Because of Covid we weren't sure what Halloween had in store for us. All of our pre-Halloween things were cancelled - trunk or treat, Trick or treat street, and all school parties. We had no idea if people would pass out candy or not. Our friend, Christina Marriott, organized a socially distanced park trick or treat - so we went to that. It was pretty great. Luckily trick or treating was pretty normal and people really got into the spirit.
Dane was the cutest trick or treater you ever saw (ever 2 year old is). He caught on quick to the principle, but didnt realize it was candy until we got home! Perfect!
Dane had been really into Dinosaur Train and we found these 2 t-rexs trick or treating, Dane quickly gave up on what he was doing and followed these dinosaurs around saying, "Dinosaur". It was adorable. They gave him a high 5 and everything.
It was a pretty great night. The boys skipped most of trick or treating and went to a Halloween party at Davids. I took the girls around to other neighborhoods but only until about 8 this year. We didn't get as much candy as usual... but for 2020 it wasn't too bad. This was the first year I just let them have their candy in their room and eat it how ever and when ever they wanted. I just didn't have the time, strength, or energy to regulate it. Personally I think it went great. They were out of candy within a few days and for the most part all the trash ended up in the garbage. Jason thinks they ate it way too fast, they probably did - but at least it was over and done with!
One thing I will always remember about this Halloween was the kindness of strangers. It had been a rough year for everyone and there was definitely a tendency to continue to with draw and just give up on everything. But instead everyone decided to raise the bar and show up for these kids - even kids they didn't know. House after house people went all out to decorate their porches, give more candy, come up with creative ways to be safe - I got teary eyed several times and what it all meant. I know it is just Halloween and just candy, but the sentiment was so much more.
