Happy Halloween!

We were able to celebrate Halloween a few different times this year! First off, we celebrated at a local grocery store about a week before Halloween. They had fun games and activities throughout the store. A few of the events included ...

 a duckie game,

 decorating pumpkin cookies at the bakery,

 coloring pumpkins in the produce section,

 (Ryan, as usual, was a cheerful observer :))

 "fishing" for candy in the seafood department,

 and playing tic-tac-toe in the dairy section. It was actually a lot of fun for the kids!

 We took a pumpkin picture of Ryan before we left. :)

Ryan and Ian both liked the balloon-on-a-stick they each got in the floral department. :)

 Another highlight of Halloween was receiving special mail. Thank you, Grammy and Papa, and Grandma and Grandpa, for sending neat cards!

 

The weekend before Halloween, we got to carve our pumpkin. When I told Ian what we were going to do, he said, "We HAVE to spread out newspapers!" It's funny that that's what he remembered about pumpkin carving from last year! :)

 Ian was a very excited helper! He did help spread out the newspaper,

 draw the features of the pumpkin,

 supervise the top removal,

 and try to take out the seeds. This year, he was grossed out by the sliminess and refused to reach into the pumpkin after the first attempt.

 He cheerfully got back to work after we suggested a long spoon and diligently worked to get every single seed out of the inside!

Ian helped Daddy do the hard work of carving with our pumpkin carving tool,

 and the most fun part was removing the pieces. "This is like a puzzle!" Ian said.

 Ian helped salt the pumpkin seeds but didn't really like eating them. Kim was pleasantly surprised that the seeds turned out yummy even without any olive oil. (I just didn't let them dry out after rinsing them off!)

The day before Halloween, the kids were encouraged to wear their costumes to Preschool Time at the library.

 Ian was excited to see his friends' costumes! Caleb L. is a superhero, and Caleb B. is a T-Rex.

 Here are all of the kids from Preschool Time!

 The awesome librarian planned some fun activities, like a cookie walk,

 "bowling,"

 and making haunted houses. What fun!

Finally, after weeks of waiting, "trick-or-treat day" arrived. Ian had practiced what to say and was nearly bouncing off the walls after dinner on Halloween night.

 We took time to light the jack o' lantern and take some pictures first. Doesn't our Spiderman look super cute?

 Santa's pretty adorable, too. :)

 Our first stop was neighbor Cindy's house. Ian sort of froze when she opened the door and had to be reminded what to say. :) After that, he got the hang of it.

 Ryan seemed to like being outside

and even let neighbor Dennis hold him for a little while.

 Ian got tired of trick-or-treating after about 12 houses but was excited to help hand out some candy at home before heading to bed.

 Here's Ian with his haul of candy ... pretty nice for only 12 houses, huh? His favorites seemed to be Reese's Peanut Butter cups, the glow stick, and an orange jello cup that our creative neighbor Gloria decorated to be a jack o' lantern for Ian. What a fun holiday! :)