Halloween Fun!

Our day started off pretty late. The kids slept until almost 9am today! Whew...I guess it's a good thing we don't have to rush out the door to get to school. We had a boring breakfast of cereal and bananas and then the kids went off to get dressed for the day. Daniel (still wearing his Superman pajamas from yesterday) grabbed the puppets we made a few weeks ago and climbed back up in to his seat yelling "Joshua, school!". The puppet is a craft from the story of Paul Bunyan that we read a couple of weeks ago. On our weekly trip to the library, we try to pick a biography each week. Paul Bunyan is more of a tall tale, but made for a good craft and more geography lessons. Last week we read about Sacagawea at Joshua's request after watching the movie Night at the Museum. Last week we began our gigantic paper mache pumpkin. I had been secretly adding more layers of newspaper after the kids went to bed, so that it will be strong enough to hold our treats.
Today we finished the project. Joshua worked really hard at painting the pumpkin this morning after breakfast. While dinner was cooking, we popped the balloon and cut the top off, like a real pumpkin. The kids all enjoyed looking inside and singing (it echoes). Joshua added the eyes, nose and mouth.

The finished project!! It was fun and messy. Joshua said he learned that messy crafts are fun. I learned that no matter how distracted I get by Keith putting in a grown-up movie after the kids go to bed that I need to rinse out the bowl I used to make the glue (flour and water mixture). I forgot to do that the first night of the project and woke up to a glued on mess in the bowl. Yuck.
Tonight was a Trunk-or-Treat for AWANA. In the rain and blowing wind. Daniel went as a fireman, so that he could wear his fireman raincoat. Megan fought tooth and nail to wear her tu-tu (again, for the gazillionth day in a row), but lost because I'm still more stubborn (for now). She was finally happy with with a Halloween shirt and bright orange hair-pretty. Joshua decided he was going to be a hunter. Can you tell that by the time Halloween actually got here, they were pretty done with getting dressed up?

The kids had a good time at AWANA tonight and they all came home with lots of treats. Daniel was fussing as I walked by the nursery on the way out to Trunk or Treat with the kids, so I picked him up and brought him out with me. He had a little paper cup in his hand that he had been eating Goldfishes out of. By the end of the Trunk or Treat, he had collected 3 rolls of smarties in his little paper cup. By the time we got home, the cup held 3 chewed-through wrappers.

The parties and not so healthy treats have really taken it's toll on the kids (and me!). They are bouncing off the walls. Poor Joshua looked like he would explode if he had to sit for more than 10 minutes at the table today. I'm pretty sure it would have been a really bad day if he were in a traditional school setting. I think we are all pretty tired and feeling sluggish from the sugar highs and crashes. Fortunately Keith was home this morning to rest up for an evening flight. It was a beautiful day in the mid-40s. I ran down to the beach this afternoon. I wasn't cold until I stopped to look out over the water. Then I ran up towards the hospital and walked home from there. Now that I sit here listening to the howling wind and the rain beating on the windows, I'm glad I got out earlier today. I hear we are in for some yucky weather over the next day or two.