On Halloween

On Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:
One surprise sandwich for Jack's lunch box;
And one wonderful raven costume (after many hours of hot gluing feathers).
Jack likes flapping his wings and reports that the feathers are warm and cozy.
I like the eyes.
But his smile when he saw it on himself in the mirror? Priceless.

Samantha thinks all of this is a little bit nuts!

(We took the kids to a trunk or treat yesterday and while I love and adore cheeks, it bums me out that only one person, a teenager, even commented on Jack's costume because they were all fixated on cheeks. My big kid deserves attention too people!)

All that's left to do is trick or treat and gorge ourselves on Halloween candy.

Happy Halloween to you!

On the seventh day of Halloween

On the seventh day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:

One very rushed, last minute trip to the pumpkin patch as I realized the sky was turning black with rain and I still did not have decent photos of the kids yet.
There were tractor rides;
Big tire swings;
Cute poses;
Two kids actually looking in the same direction on the first shot;
Two times in a row;
Fun in the straw (Sammi LOVES leaves and straw);
Big tractor rides;
And corn to play in.

And one successful early morning trip to the flea (with no kids), complete with:
A very sweet tablecloth (that darn closet is overflowing again already);
A few more hankies for the hankie quilt (which I am starting as soon as this Halloween stuff is done);
A very sweet clothespin bag;
A fun handmade pumpkin;
A pile of honeycomb pumpkins;
And a gaggle of skeletons.

Oh yea, and 300 lbs of pears. Well, not quite, but it's a lot. A grocery sack full for $2. I am going to make pearsauce instead of applesauce for the kids.

With any luck we might make a trunk or treat even this afternoon so the kids can show off their cute costumes in the daylight.

Back tomorrow with the finale - the costumes. :-)

On the sixth day of Halloween

I have to tell you that two weeks ago I did NOT think I was going to be able to get all this stuff done - making costumes, pumpkin patches, hay rides, huge birthday parties, but as of an hour ago I am DONE. (I won't mention that I am pretty close to done with Santa Claus too!)

Relief.

I have to break this up into two posts today because I just could not get to it yesterday.

On the sixth day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:
One afternoon spent carving pumpkins.
Jack said the pumpkin guts looked like a Halloween cave, complete with bats hanging down.
He is very proud of his ability to carve a pumpkin now, and he carved three of them!
Sammi is just plain cute in that hat.

Last night my dad had arranged for us to take a hayride in Amish country. (My dad and my brother have been working with the Amish near Bowling Green.) Wilbur drove us all over in his wagon and it was magical.
It was silent and chilly and beautiful. We sat in the middle of the cow pasture and watched the cows. We sat in the horse field and watched the horses chase the wagon.

We admired the reflection of the trees on the pasture pond which was as still as glass.

And we noticed that there were thousands of twinkly stars.

Sammi was mesmerized.

And I hope it becomes tradition.

On the fifth day of Halloween

On the fifth day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:
Three super cute witch ornaments, made with Jack.
(It used to be so easy to make things with Jack.)

(Now there is an awful lot of complaining involved. But I am determined to carry on with tradition.)

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On the fourth day of Halloween

On the fourth day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:

One trip to the dentist with Jack (2 fillings and 4 sealants);

One trip to the eye doctor with Jack (nothing wrong with the eye that they can find, watch it for a month);
One handmade indian costume...
complete with sequins;
and one restyled $1 thrift store gymboree romper...

complete with a happy daisy.


And about 12 hours of hollering at Jackson. Who is driving me freaking insane. For reals.

The end.

LOL

On the third day of Halloween

On the third day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:
One finally transformed garage sale painting...
vampire, anyone?
One AMAZING spelling test from Jack (he worked so hard to teach himself how to spell these words! His teacher gives him a separate spelling test from the rest of the class);
One pair of giggling ghosts in the big gold frame;
One tablecloth closet full of blow molds. This is the first time I have put them here and I really like them all grouped together.

AND I finished Jack's costume yesterday, yippeeee!

Off to change smoke detector batteries. Cheerio!

On the second day of Halloween

On the second day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:
One beautiful baby in one large pumpkin.

Now, before everyone goes and thinks oh man! I can never get my kids to do stuff like this, there was some complaining on her part.
She did NOT want to smile because she really wanted to know what on god's green earth she was doing inside of this cold slimy pumpkin*.
But it was worth every minute of the crazy talking and encouraging I had to do.
I can't wait to see one of these in an 8 x 10 on the collage wall.
Also, when did she get so big?
I mean she is standing, independently in a giant pumpkin!
So thank you Great Pumpkin.

And pinterest, where I stole this idea from.

And my dad, who drove us ALL the way out in the country to a field and hiked around with 6 wild grandchildren while my SIL and I searched for the perfect big pumpkin to squeeze cheeks into.

*I had been watching the weather report waiting for the perfect day. It's 85 degrees today. I knew I had to jump on it NOW before the bottom drops out tomorrow. Also, I hollowed the pumpkin out a day in advance so it wouldn't be quite so slimy.

On the first day of Halloween

Wow. It is taking me a long time this year to get to the great pumpkin series.

On the first day of Halloween, the Great Pumpkin gave to me:
One super duper fantastically cool old Halloween costume.
Incredible! (All handmade.)
One hanger and one doll blanket.
Four identical feedsacks all sewn together.
One Santa Claus hankie.
One sweet peach house...
that is part of a village.

Thank you Great Pumpkin. Even if I did have to go to the flea market IN THE DARK yesterday (which I never do*) to get them.

* I have a "relationship" with the flea market that is more than shopping. I know a lot of the vendors, they know the kids, etc. When one of them saw me there in the dark yesterday he exclaimed "WHAT THE HELL! Are you sleep walking?" LOL I decided since Sammi had me up at 5 am I might as well get moving. Despite being there in the dark I still did not buy a single ornament. I did, however, see them all in the cart of another woman. Bah humbug to that.