Halloween 2009 - Gobble Gobble & Goblins

As you may have heard, we've had a very wet Autumn and it's been unseasonably cold for this time of year.

Well, yesterday, Halloween, was no exception!

The day started out with the Cub Scout's annual "Turkey Shoot." Josh and I headed off, in the rain to see what the Cub Scouts had in store!

Josh had to go through the safety course. Where they spoke to the boys about gun safety, and even though these are BB Guns, they are still weapons. Each boy had to attend before they could go out on the range. When they were done, their name tags were punched.

Since it was pouring rain, they didn't have the BB Gun range open, but they did have the Sling Shot range....

and a place to make a marshmallow shooter...

(yes, I did saw all the pieces of the PVC pipe and help him put this together)

By the time we were through with all that, plus we took time for a drink of hot cocoa and a snack, the weather cleared up and the ranges opened.

Josh was very excited! He got his target all ready --

Put on his safety glasses....

and then had a go...

Each boy was allowed to take 10 shots. When they were done, they had to wait until all the boys in their "range" were finished. Then they could get the targets when the Range Master told them it was okay.

Here's Josh showing off his "after" target. He was a bit disappointed because he only managed to hit the paper once -- up in the top right corner.

However, he's decided that Grampa can take the time and really show him what to do and how to aim shoot the BB Gun at a target properly when we see Grampa next. And he had fun!

And this was just in the morning!!! In the evening we went to a friend's house for pre-Trick-or-Treat insanity.

It was wet, and cold and rainy, but that didn't stop the kids from having fun, running around the neighborhood and collecting heaps of candy! Which Mom and Dad quickly "inspected" last night!

Today is cold, but sunny and the boys are outside getting more fresh air, rolling around in leaves. Rich and I are packing up the Halloween Decorations (well, really Rich is. I'm eating pumpkin seeds). And we're getting geared up for Sam's birthday party next weekend!

Pumpkin Patch and Bobcat Badge

Man, things have been busy here! Yesterday we had two fun things going on.

In the morning, Sam had his "Happy Harvest Day" celebration at school. They used to take a field trip out to the YMCA Camp nearby, but apparently it got too expensive so now the school hosts an in-house field trip.

The kids ride a train around the parking lot...



Then got to go out to a "pumpkin patch" (which was really the church's baseball field with pumpkins in it) and they got to pick out their pumpkin. Sam was the first one in and the last one to find his - but he got the perfect pumpkin, don't you agree?



And here is (most) of his class modeling their pumpkins.



They listened to the Story Teller...



And did some Crafts! It was a fun day for all!!



Then in the evening, Josh had a Cub Scout Pack Meeting. He got his Bobcat Badge (which really is his "initiation" into scouting). He was even branded!



I had a friend take some pictures of Josh getting "branded" and hers turned out better than the ones from my camera. I'll post them on Flickr or here once I get copies of them.


And he earned his whittling chip - which allows him to carry a pocket knife to all scouting functions - except those at school. He's got Grampa's old knife so he's very excited to bring it to the Den Meeting on Monday and show it off.

This week we're just a busy -- Halloween is coming up and it seems we have all sorts of activities surrounding Halloween and then Sam's Birthday... before we know it Thanksgiving will be here!

Have you come down from the Sugar Rush yet?

Wow, what a weekend! Seems like Halloween was weeks away, not days!

The boys had a great time this year. Sam and I went in to Josh's class and helped with some fun Halloween activities. The kids in his class are fantastic. He's got a wonderful teacher -- but she's been out since mid-September (she had back surgery). Thankfully, the supply teacher is wonderful too! Apparently the teacher expects to be back after Thanksgiving. I know the kids will really miss Ms. Barlow, but it will be good to have Mrs. Waterfall back too!

Anyway, I want to share a few photos...

Here is this year's pumpkin. Since I seem to be the only one willing to carve them, I decided only one this year. Of course the kids picked out the pattern...

Josh and Sam in costume... Red Power Ranger and Spiderman.

I told the kids I was not buying any costumes this year and they had to make do with what we had. A friend gave us the Red Power Ranger suit in exchange for an old Buzz Lightyear we'd loaned her years ago. I got the better end of the deal!

Sam then wanted to be Spiderman so they could be Superheroes together.

And thankfully he was Spiderman because at one point on Halloween night, he looked up at me and said, "It's a good thing I'm Spiderman with muscles so I'm strong enough to carry this bag of candy!"

We went to a friend's house and trick-or-treated with them. Here they are just before the candy fest began.

We were only out for an hour and the kids collected 3 1/2 lbs of candy! Sam had a melt down at 7:30 and Josh was exhausted so we left. I think Trick-or-Treating ended at 8:30 anyway. But there is no way we could have made it out that long! On the way home Josh looked up at me and said, "Man Mom, I feel soooo gooooodddd!!!" At that point I began to wonder how much candy he had eaten enroute. The boys were so excited they were up early on Friday and Sam even asked if it was time to Trick-or-Treat at 7:00 AM!

But they had fun and we have HEAPS of candy!

On Saturday we were lucky enough to discover we needed a new dishwasher! Yea us! Our dishwasher has been producing black junk/mold/disgusting stuff. We clean it off, it comes back. And it's not cleaning or drying properly either.

So this weekend we decided to take it apart to clean it properly -- and the whole thing was gross. We decided if it was broken, it wouldn't be worth it to fix. We checked on line and if the heating element is gone (what we expect) it wouldn't be worth it to replace. What sucks is it's only 4 years old!

So, off we went to the shops and now I'm waiting installation of a new Bosch -- it's a quiet one so I'm quite excited. We have an "open plan" and it's hard to hear the TV when the dish washer is running.

And Saturday was Josh's last baseball game. I forgot to get pictures. Rich wasn't feeling well so I was solo at the game with both boys. And eventhough Rich wasn't feeling well, he had to sort out our garage door. So not only did we just get a new dishwasher, but we may need a new garage door soon too. I know. Lucky us. Don't be jealous, I'm sure you'll have the "everything breaks at once close to Christmas" sooner or later too.

Sunday Josh and Rich were both sick (just keeps getting better doesn't it?). I kept Josh home from school today so he can have ample time to recover. But it threw the whole weekend right out of whack.

And when Sam got in the car after preschool today he said something about making an instrument and I realized today was "Home Made Instrument Day" and I'd forgotten completely and didn't send one in with him! Yeah, I know, my nomination for Mother of the Year is almost a lock!

Both kids are home tomorrow too -- with the election and all. I hope the lines aren't too long. If they are, then God bless those in line around me! Maybe I'll bring the bag of Halloween Candy and pass it out to the others in line.

Don't forget to go out and vote tomorrow!

Our Halloween!

Wow! Yesterday was a long day!

We had plans to go over to our friend's house for dinner and then trick-or-treat with them in their neighborhood. And, of course, since we were going over there for dinner and trick-or-treating and that Rich had to work, that meant we'd be leaving around 5:30pm.

As soon as I picked Sam up from school (at noon) he started asking when we were going to Miss Mary's house. I convinced him to eat lunch and take a nap (he slept for 2 hours! Yay) because it was still a ways off. Once Josh got home at 2:30 all the excitement and subsequent tears that follow, began! I knew that from 2:30 until 5:30 when we left was going to be a challenge so I was a bit relieved when a boy that lives down the street came to play with Josh. It got the boys outside and not thinking about "Trick-or-Treat!"

However, about 4:30 when I told the boys to come in because it was time to do homework and start getting ready, things went swiftly downhill.

At one point Josh was crying on the stairs saying "Halloween is RUINED! This is the worst Halloween EVER!!!" Poor kid! He was just so excited!

Finally, it was 5:30 and we were ready to go! We headed over to Mary's house and the boys had a blast playing before dinner. Josh and Mary's oldest Cade really play well together and don't really get to play as much as they used to. They were watching "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and Josh thought it was the funniest thing ever! He kept saying, "I got a rock!"

Then the boys put on their costumes. Meet "Skull Warrior" and the "skeleton."

The neighborhood Mary lives in had a little Halloween Parade with the kids just before "Trick-or-Treating" started. All the kids gathered at one end of the street and walked down to the other end. It was very cute!

Waiting for the Parade to start

The Skull Warrior with his Mommy (he didn't like the mask very much so it didn't last too long). He looks just like his father!

Mommy and her little skeleton!

I love this one... You know he's thinking, "Can't we just go already!"

FINALLY! The parade begins!

We walked from one end of the street, around the corner and up to the entrance to their neighborhood. Then everyone started Trick-or-Treating. And it was pretty cool because we were all there together at the start, it was like the whole neighborhood was doing it together.

While all the other kids were in line across the street, I sent Josh and Sam over to a house where there was "no waiting..."

Sam had the all the women just enthralled! At one point he came back to show Daddy what he got and Daddy asked if he had said, "Thank you!" Sam said, "Oh, I forgot!" and turned around and went back to say thank you and got more candy!

Josh was really excited and FAST! He and Daddy went ahead of Sammy and me. After we hit about 7 houses, Sam looked in his bag and said, "Mommy, do we have enough candy yet?"

And, unfortunately, Rich's work kept calling him so we could only hit a few more houses in this neighborhood, then we headed back to our own neighborhood to finish up while Daddy worked. This worked out well though because I managed to get Sam to bed then Josh and I went up and down our street and got a few of Josh's friends' houses. By then it was nearly 8:00 and he was ready to come home.

We'd left a bowl of candy outside our door while we were out and, surprisingly, it was still over half full! Josh got to pass out a few pieces of candy to some Trick-or-Treaters. We also lit our pumpkin up.

But, at the end of the night, Josh proudly proclaimed that this was the BEST HALLOWEEN EVER! Quite a change from a few short hours ago!

I hope you all had a happy and safe Halloween!

Now, are you ready for Christmas?

Halloween Artwork in a Jiffy

Josh wanted to decorate for Halloween so one morning before school. The boys drew some pictures.

This is Josh's Halloween Picture. It's hanging on our front door now.

There are Ghosts, a spider, a skull, a Jack-o-Lantern, a witch on a broom, and a bat.

This is Sam's picture....
.... It's a bat.