Halloween Weekend

Well, we did it. We survived Halloween 2010. Here's a glimpse into our Halloween weekend.

Jumping in leaves, waiting for the high schoolers who were supposed to rake them (They never showed up! Grrr.).

 

 We carved a jack o' lantern.

We tried to make our house look festive and a little spooky.

We got dressed up in our costumes. We were able (luckily) to convince our eldest that we shouldn't (as a family) be the lifecycle of a butterfly. D and I were duking it out for the roles of chrysallis and caterpillar. And, I thought the photo opportunities for Baby R (appointed "the egg" by big sister) were limited (and disappointing!). But, many kudos to our eldest for her smart idea! :) In the end, we decided on a beautiful monarch butterfly and a lovely flower. With the exception of the wings, we were able to piece together the outfits from things we had (and a couple of thrift store finds!).

We gathered on the steps (we seem to alternate steps) for our annual neighborhood photo. These kids have been trick or treating together most of the last 7 years.

We (Baby R, really) discovered candy. Eek.

The one thing I am bummed about is that I forgot my camera (what is up with that?) when we went to the Pumpkin Festival at LL Bean. It was a truly magical event - many thousands of jack o lanterns lit for a cause (Camp Sunshine). It was especially fun as Baby R is currently obsessed with pumpkins which she calls "pum-pums" -- so it was an hour of "pum pum, pum pum, pum pum." :)

And, how was YOUR Halloween?

A New Take on Trick or Treat

Last night my daughter sketched out her vision for a trick or treat bag. 100% self-inspired. (Not only the ideas - but the idea of creating a trick or treat bag to begin with.) And, honestly, I'm in awe of her little notes and sketches. I

I'm a little annoyed by one thing though. In the bottom righthand corner of her elaborate drawings, Little Miss Sassafras (my new nickname for her), wrote (in her phonetic writing), "My mom always has very bad ideas."

Seriously? Was that necessary?!

Apparently, when she inquired about how to make the 3-dimensional felt pumpkin shape that she had determined would serve as the base for her trick or treat bag, she didn't like my ideas of paper mache or wet felting. Were those suggestions really lame? At the time, I was thinking they were not only clever, but downright generous. I mean, afterall, do I really have time to take on a giant wet-felting or paper mache project with my daughter? Not now, my Little Miss Sassafras. :)

In any event, I had to laugh this morning about the irony in my life. Still wounded from the little note about my bad ideas, I read my email which included one from Garnet Hill (one of my favorite catalogs) and discovered a totally adorable burlap trick or treat bag. And, not only is the trick or treat bag adorable, but it benefits Unicef (for every bag purchased, Garnet Hill will make a donation -- $3.50 -- to provide a child in the developing world with one year's worth of micronutrient powder).

 {photo via here}

Do you remember as a child (or am I dating myself there?) carrying your trick or treat bag in one hand and the little Unicef box in the other?

For more information visit www.unicefusa.org, feedprojects.com, or hsn.com/hsncares.