this halloween was the best yet!
jack and emma were SOOOO into it – not only the candy, but the dressing up, handing out treats (jack was flagging people down yelling “come over here!”), the walking around, the saying “trick or treat, happy halloween!”, and everything in between.
I truly let them pick their own costumes, and i have to say that i am glad that they have not chosen to be anything too “store bought” thus far. Makes it 1. cheap, and 2. easy and I actually really like the look of pulled-together, homemade costumes. Jack came up with the Colts outfits last year, and this year he REALLY wanted to be a soccer player and never strayed from that. Made it VERY easy on me as that is his soccer uniform from his city league, and we talked him out of getting “real” cleats until he starts summer soccer. Emma was not very vocal about what she wanted, but we had this orange tutu from Aunt Kitten, so Mommy made the decision that she was going to be a Halloween Fairy with the addition of orange wings and a magic wand – she loved it and looked adorable!
We just re-cycled Jack’s skunk costume from 2008, added a bow to make her a Skunkette, and Soph was a cute little stinker! She did great, and passed out in the Ergo (shocker) the entire 3 hours we were walking around!
This year was also super fun in our new neighborhood, which we have grown to love. One thing that we like about many Chicago suburbs is that each community is so tight-knit. And instead of large “subdivisions,” there are just rolling streets that kind of blend into each other. So pretty, and it seems like each street is kind of it’s own “neighborhood.” Well, we seem to have landed on a fun street with great people – Traver Ave is very fun! We were with a group of about 11 kids, ranging in age from Sophia at 6 months, to 5th graders. The kids ran ahead with we parents pulling up the rear pulling wagons – not for the kiddos, but for the beer coolers! So fun. We headed out for 3 HOURS (Jack was EXHAUSTED and could hardly hold his loot it was so heavy!) and then headed back to a house for chili and nuggets for the kids. It was a cold, late night after the kids finally got to bed at 9:30, but SO FUN and made me realize that we truly landed in the right place. Poor Jack, though, he is the ONLY boy – he will appreciate this when he is 15. :-)
Jack also had a fun parade with school on Wednesday that the girls and I attended. It was super cute, and he loved it, but did remark that it wasn’t a “real parade” since they didn’t throw candy and didn’t walk through all of uptown. Hilarious.
And now that Halloween and October are over, and it was SUPER FUN but SO VERY BUSY, I have to say that I am ready and excited for some normalcy. We have been on the go since the beginning of September with house hunting, packing, wrapping up city life, moving, starting school, a 10 day vacation, a wedding, kid swap, starting swim lessons, and now Halloween festivities.
I think we all need to get into our “new normal” routine in our new home – unpacking, getting settled, hunkering down for winter. I feel like I am starting to breathe now and can catch up with everything and everyone….Ahh! Life is great, but needs to SLOW DOWN a bit! If I could lock us up in our house for a few weeks, I would do it!
