Pumpkin Carving

Since we seemed to be on a Halloween roll for the last 24 hours, we went to the pumpkin stand to get pumkins today too. After about twenty minutes of hard exploring, they each settled on a pumkin to get.

 

Theyd rew the faces on first. Alexa gave hers eye lashes. She started out wanting to make hers a scarey face like Chloe, but in the end she doesn't have the heart for it. "Mine is a happy, little pumpkin."

All set for Halloween!

 

Trick-or-Treating on Church Street

Dispite having attended the school party last night the kids still wanted to go to the annual trick-or-treat at the stores on Church Street. I am actually glad to see the costumes get so much use.

The peacock costume for Chloe took some figuring to get right. She was thrilled and people keep commenting on how neat it is. It did come out well. Last night it had some malfunctions, so we reinforced her feathers today before heading down.

Alexa's panda costume was pretty easy to complete. She loves it and keeps describing herself as a fuzzy, little panda bear.

She stayed in character all the way down to Church Street.

Church Street is crowded for this event, but it seems easier to take. You are outside, which helps, so you can step away from the crowd and the air is cooler. The craft table didn't have much of a crowd at all, and it was edible!

Just your average day with a panda and a peacock eating a snack in the park.

We headed home after and they are all set for Wednesday night!

Halloween Party

Last night was the kid's school Halloween party. They wanted to attend and even though costumes were optional, they wanted to wear them. Which pushed up the Halloween costume making by about 5 days. I made it though and we headed out.

The place was really crowded. Really. I tried to get a few pictures but mostly other children kept walking in front of my camera.

There was one really sweet moment where Alexa was afarid to got hrough the giant catdboard box tunnel they had created, so Chloe took her hand and took her through. A sweet touching moment...

and they are blocked by balloons and my inability to get around the crowds to get any closer. Sigh. I promise you it happened people!

The cookie decorating was the best I could do for photos.

We took Alexa's panda suit off so it wouldn't get frosting on it. She looks like she was just in a fight. They had fun though.

Halloween

Today is the day that the girls have been counting down to for about three weeks. Now costumes are not allowed in school, but that didn't deter them. Alexa had her outfit all set to got today in an old shirt Auntie Kim gave Chloe., plus a spider web hair tie, and some festive socks.

Chloe made her own shirt to fit the occasion. She used glow in the dark paints. You just have to trust me that they really glow.

And tonight was the big adventure. Alexa is so excited to head out she looks like she has already eaten half a bag of candy.

They set up their jack-o-lanterns on the porch before we left.

Don't worry we used the battery operated lights so the kids could set them out and we could leave them going while we were gone. Hope you all had a great Halloween.

Pumpkin Carving

With tomorrow being Halloween we finally got around to carving our pumpkins today. They drew on the faces that they wanted.

Neither of them wanted to scoop the guts out, but they toughed it out.

They did a great job carving. Alexa did some of it herself, but I helped out when her arms started wearing out.

All set of the big night!

UVM Fall Family Festival

Living in a college town definitely has its challenges. I do have to give UVM some credit though they are really trying to reach out to families lately and work to help the students  and residents connect. Today the girls and I attended the fall family festival on the UVM campus. It was a rather small affair, but the kids had fun. It was nice to not have something be overly crowded.

There was face painting which is always a hit with Alexa.

There were lots of crafts.

They had games too, but I could convince my kids to do any of them. There was also a bouncy house. They are big fans of bouncy houses.

And then there was a nice hill for a bumble bee to run up and down.

Church Street Trick-or-Treat

Today was trick-or-treating on Church Street. A really fun event where the kids get to go trick-or-treating up and down Church Street at the stores. It usually takes place the Saturday before Halloween. Which caused me to believe that it would be next weekend. Imagine my surprise when I saw the banner this past Monday indicating that it was today. You can imagine that I was even more surprised because I had only just purchased the materials to make the kids costumes the day before thinking a had a comfortable two weeks window to get them done. Fortunately Vermont schools were closed on Friday (don't question it just go with it we all did). I started making costumes when I got home from work on Thursday and finished Friday evening. I am quite proud of that effort. Alexa wanted to be a bumble bee.

Her costume came together pretty smoothly even though I completely created it free hand without a pattern. Just don't look too closely or you will see the flaws. Lots of them, but she is happy and that is what counts.

Chloe wanted to be a dog. I thought this would be a simple enough costume. I had a pattern, I figured I would make a few small adjustments to, and it would be done.

I should have known better as she decided she want to lots of spots on her costume and proceded to cut out an amazing amount of them for me to attach. I was thinking I could already feel the case of tendonitis in my wrist from the sewing when I hit upon the idea of hot glueing them on. I know lame, but it worked and with the exception of my loss of finger prints from all the hot glue mishaps they are on and look like she wanted.

They had a good time trick-or-treating.

We even found a craft table where they could make spiders with pom poms and pipe cleaners. So everyone was happy including me. I figure if I put all the effort into making the costumes; I like it if they wear them to lots of different Halloween events rather than just one night.

Trick-or-Treat

Out we went for trick-or-treating. This year Alexa wanted to be a fairy. She picked out the fabric. I made the dress large enough to fit lots of layers under it. Good thing too because it was about 34 degrees and I saw snow flakes coming down. Chloe was a horse. She wanted to be a black horse which is not a great idea for trick-or-treating, so they were decked out in lots of glow sticks, flashing lights, and pumpkin flashlights. Her costume was warmer since it was made of fleece. She was layered underneath too.

I was hoping to take some pictures while they were out, but Alexa was clutching my hand. She likes the idea of trick-or-treating but has never been a fan of people in costumes. The older kids out there tend to scare her as does any house that has anything remotely creepy outside. I got the after photos though.

As you can see they made out really well and should have enough candy to last quite awhile.