Halloween 2011

Halloween Day had us up bright and early getting the girls dressed in their costumes and ready for their school's Halloween Parade and parties! Fred had to work Halloween night (again) and since he wouldn't be joining us for trick-or-treating that evening, he wanted to be there for the girls' parade. They were so eager to show off their costumes. We were just as eager to see them. Ü

The parade started at 9am and we got to the school 15 minutes early thinking it would leave us ample time to find a seat. Boy, were we wrong! The school doesn't have a large parking lot to begin with but I had no idea that we wouldn't find a parking spot for two blocks! We rushed to the gym and of course...it was crowded. We found some pretty awesome standing room right by the door and captured some shots of Mady's class waiting in the halls. The Kinderkids were last to march and they were so patient. Sariah's class went towards the middle of the parade.

Some of the costumes were so creative! Our favorites (aside from our girls) were the Chinese Take-Out Box and Pac Man. Pac Man was especially cute because his little brother dressed up as one of the little ghosts from the game. How stinkin' cute is that?! Sariah has already decided that she wants to make her own costume next year. She's been buzzing about ideas ever since!

After the parade, Fred headed to the gym while I stayed to volunteer in Mady's class. They sang songs, had story time and then broke into groups and visited different stations in the classroom. I led the Erase-A-Poem station which was pretty fun. The other stations included Halloween Bingo, a word matching game and a slime making station. I'm sure that was the kids' most favorite since it was the messiest! After class all of the kids received Halloween goody bags filled with candies (of course), crayons, erasers and glow sticks for trick-or-treating that night.

I didn't get a chance to volunteer in Sariah's class that day but she didn't hesitate to tell us all about their Halloween activities when we picked her up. Including how they decorated as many sugar cookies as they wanted. And eagerly consumed, I'm sure. Ü

We decided to stay local for trick-or-treating on Halloween night. We headed out just as the sun was setting. My nephew Tairiq joined us for the evening and he literally ran from house to house for the first hour. Mady was already calling it quits 30 minutes after we started so I gave her some words of encouragement to get her going again. Ü It was pretty funny getting cans of soda from two different houses. After walking several blocks and driving down a few others, we made our way back home. I checked over all the candy for the girls, tossed a few funky looking ones, separated the junky ones and let them gobble up a few pieces. Kudos to me for not completely indulging in all of the chocolate goodness they received. I wonder how long that will last?