Halloween 2020 - Covid Style

Absolutely no Trick or Treating in Scotland thanks to Covid!  So she dressed up in last years costume, complete with cat protective face mask!

Halloween as a Tween

This Halloween I had a mom moment, because it was the first time I felt like the mother of teenager (or at least soon-to-be).  Every other year for Halloween I've helped her get ready, took pictures of her always fun and never scary costume, and then tagged along as she trick-or-treated with friends.  This year however, she went to a Halloween party at a friends house.  I dropped her off at school early that morning with an overnight bag and her costume.  All the girls walked home together to the friends house after school for the party where they changed into their costume, enjoyed some party games, and then went trick-or-treating together later than night.  They spent the night there and got up the next morning and walked back to school together (since Halloween was on a Thursday night this year).  So not only was it the first time that I didn't follow along behind her while she trick-or-treated, but I didn't even get to see her in her costume.  All I got was a few pics from the party mom.  And just like that I was officially ditched for her friends.  And so begins life with a teenager!

Halloween

We kicked off Halloween on the soccer field with the annual Challenge Spooktacular soccer practice.  Yes, even when we celebrate we still have to work.  The girls wear costumes to practice and play fun 3v3 mini games, play "catch the coach", and raid the coaches candy stash.

Halloween

Halloween was celebrated on several different platforms the last week of October.  First we kicked things off at school with a Monster Mash.  The kids gathered together in the gym on a Saturday night for games, a photo booth, and a DJ.  Next it was Spooktacular Soccer and our soccer club had a fun event for the girls to play games and get candy.  Finally, Halloween night we toured our neighborhood in the rain and enjoyed meeting neighbors and seeing friends.  This year Brenna was Mal from Disney Descendants.  She went all out with makeup and a wig.  She looked great and I told her it was my favorite Halloween costume so far. 

Halloween 2016

This year for Halloween Brenna randomly decided to be a pirate.  I don't know where the idea came from, but after a quick search she was set on pink pirate costume!  As a christian school, our school doesn't officially recognize the holiday.  So there's no halloween parties and no costume day.  But one of our bus drivers wouldn't let Halloween slip by without alittle fun.

Halloween

This year's Halloween caused us to look back over the years, starting with our costume selection.  Every year since Brenna was old enough to pick her own costume, she has picked her fascination at the time, making it easy to remember what she was "in to" at each age based on her halloween costume.  She was three years old the first year she picked her costume and it was Minnie Mouse because Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was her favorite.  The next year it was Pinkalicious and she could practically recite the book word for word.  Then she moved on to Strawberry Shortcake.  The next year she fell into the world of My Little Pony and wanted to be Twilight Sparkle.  And of course, last year she (and every other little girl) carried on the Frozen obsession as Elsa.  So, this year I just knew we were headed for a Barbie Halloween, but then she surprised me.  A large, inflatable, rainbow pair of butterfly wings caught her attention and she decided to be a Rainbow Butterfly.  She said it made perfect sense since she had a butterfly birthday party this year.  Her reasoning was that she wanted to keep up the tradition.  Last year was had a Frozen birthday and then dressed up as Elsa for Halloween  The year before she had a My Little Pony birthday and dressed up as Twilight Sparkle for Halloween.  And so it was settled, butterflies are the theme for 2015.

We got a late start to our usual Fall traditions.  Normally we would have visited the Brigden Fair, but we were away in Puerto Rico that week.  Then, Halloween was here before we knew it.   In an attempt to continue another fall tradition, we made a last minute trip to Korny Korners for pumpkin picking.  The kids were out of school the Thursday and Friday prior to Halloween due to a Christian teacher conference.  Brenna and her friend Sofi were on a mission to find the perfect pumpkin.  The good thing about living in a country that celebrates Thanksgiving before Halloween is that if you procrastinate (as I do) and buy your pumpkins the day before Halloween you can get what felt like 100 pounds of pumpkin for $9.  We walked away with two big ones for carving and four medium, and four mini pumpkins for painting.

Halloween at the Mall

Last year Brenna had a My Little Pony birthday party and was Twilight Sparkle for Halloween.  This year things seemed to fall the same way.  She had a Frozen birthday party and in keeping with that theme she wanted to be Elsa for Halloween.

I was concerned about how we would manage the cold for trick-or-treating.  In Texas, we never had to winterize a Halloween costume.  Unfortunately for us, a storm blew in that day bring 35 mph winds and sheeting rain.  Cold really doesn't even begin to describe it.  What was fortunate for us, the local Lambton Mall was hosting a Halloween event with trick-or-treating, face painting, and fun.  Cold and wet versus warm and dry…….it was an easy choice!  Brenna was a bit disappointed at first that we wouldn't be going door to door, but I played it up as a fun new way to experience Halloween.  Basically this whole year has been "a fun new way to experience (fill in the blank)!" So why not this too!

I have to admit, once we arrived at the mall and were waiting to meet up with our friends, my mind wandered to Long Meadow Farms.  I missed the annual meet-up at our house, pictures with all the kids, and visiting with all our friends and neighbors:  2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014.   Somehow, wading through a herb of strangers at the mall wasn't as appealing to me, but as with all our other Fall traditions this one was re-born too!

Brenna had a great time.  At least 95% of the mall stores participated in trick-or-treating.  The kids raced from one store to the next looking for the painted pumpkin that indicated the participating the stores.  In effort verses candy, this was by far our most efficient Halloween.  Within 45 minutes we had a bag full of candy after only a short walk through the mall.

Brenna wasn't interested in the Elsa wig, so we went with a traditional side braid and attached a blond braid onto her dark hair.  Due to the dark hair, side braid, and blue dress we were mistaken for Jasmine more than once.  Which might not have been a bad thing since there were so many Elsa's.  I stopped counting after about 20.

After the mall we braved the weather and enjoyed a dinner out with friends.  When we got back home we did have a few trick-or-treaters, mostly neighborhood friends who wanted to show off costumes, more Elsa's!

Continuing the Fall Traditions

Before Brenna came along, Jacob and I didn't have a lot of traditions outside of the normal holiday celebrations.  But, once Brenna was born we discovered that if she found enjoyment in something, we kept going back.  That seemed to especially be true for Fall traditions.  After more than five years in Houston, there were several Fall activities that we always enjoyed with friends and never missed; the Fort Bend County Fair 2011, 2012, 2013, and Dewberry Farms 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.

We were pleased to discover that we could keep those traditions alive here in Sarnia!  We joined some friends, which just happened to be another expat family that moved here from Houston, for a visit to the Brigden Fair and Korny Korners Farm.  And so, it began the re-birth of our Fall traditions!

One afternoon we drove off into the middle of nowhere for the Bridgen Fair.  Sarnia has a very small-town feel, but it is a hub for surrounding areas.  The area around Sarnia is a mass of acres and acres of agriculture.  Fields as far as you can see of corn, wheat, soybean, and a few plants I can't identify.  And the Bridgen Fair is located way out in the middle of one of those wide open spaces.

The fair was every bit what we would expect in comparison to the Fort Bend County Fair, just on a smaller scale and with a northern twist.  Instead of booths filled with cowboy hats, they sold fleece jackets and tights in beautiful and intricate patterns.  Instead of a rodeo, they had motor-cross, and instead of funnel cakes and fried snickers, they had french fries with gravy.  The kids loved it all the same.  They rode rides, toured the barns, played on some very large farm equipment, and enjoyed the motor-cross show.  We also browsed the craft booths and took in some hotdogs and kettle corn.  It was a fun way to take a old tradition and enjoy it in a new way!

Happy Halloween

Halloween was a lot of fun this year!  Things that we've done every year seems to get more fun the older Brenna gets.  We got boo'd this year by a school friend.  Brenna suddenly turned into Nancy Drew on the case to discover who the culprit was.  But this time the boo'ing was more fun than being boo'd.  We made a special shopping trip to fill our boo baskets with fun halloween treats and then we developed our boo plan.  DRRD!  Drop, Ring, Run, Drive!  Drop the basket!  Ring the doorbell!  Run like crazy as fast as you can back to the car!  Drive away ASAP!  Needless to say she thought the whole thing was fantastic fun!

Dewberry Farms

Dewberry Farms has become a favorite Fall tradition for us.  This makes our 4th year to attend with friends and enjoy all the fun that the farms has to offer.  However, this year was slightly different for a couple of reasons.  This is the first year Jacob got to go with us and Brenna enjoyed showing Daddy all the fun.  Also, this was the first year we had to go on the weekend when the farm was open to the public.  In past years we've always attended on a weekday when the farm is only open to private groups.  The farm was never crowded, always easy to maneuver, and we enjoyed each of activity as long as we liked.

This year was a tale of a different story.  We faced huge crowds that resembled a backwoods version of Disney World!  We arrived just before opening and waited in line for 30 minutes before we even made it through the gates.  Once inside we quickly hit the big ticket activities moving the kids from one to the other alittle quicker than they would have liked.  The kids would have definitely lingered on the jumping pillows longer if we had allowed it.  Within one hour lines were backed up and people were everywhere!  In the past, we've spent more than half a day at Dewberry, leaving only after the kids were completely spent.  This year we managed 2.5 hours before heading home.  The crowds were just too much.  On the way out we discovered that it pays off to be early because the line of cars to get to Dewberry was more than 2 miles long!!!!

Here's some pictures from our fun Fall day at Dewberry!

Halloween Haunts

Another Halloween has come and gone.  Each year it's more and more fun for Brenna.  This year she asked to be Strawberry Shortcake, one of her new favorite characters.  So I snatched up a costume the first week of October to avoid the rush.  I brought it home thinking she would be thrilled, only to discover she was very upset that the hat was too floppy!  "Strawberry's hat isn't floppy, it's tall!"  So after some engineering from mom, we came up with a nice muffin top hat that we could both be satisfied with.

Our month was packed with pumpkin patches, fall festivals, and general halloween happiness.  This year we did our usually trick-or-treating with our neighborhood friends.  We were short a few kids because the Helmcamp's skipped out on us in favor of going to Disney World for Halloween.  We wish we could have tagged along with them!  But our kids had a great time here in Texas!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Our fall season has kicked off with pumpkin patches, festivals, and candy collecting.  We haven't hit Halloween yet, but its just around the corner.  This year we decided to do something new of us.  Instead of the usual pumpkin painting, we decided to carve a pumpkin.  We ventured over to one of the local churches pumpkin patches on opening weekend.  Brenna searched until she found the perfect pumpkin! 

Kindergarten Field Trip to Dewberry Farms

Dewberry Farms has become one of our favorite fall traditions.  Check out 2010 and 2011!  I look back at those pictures and can't believe how much she's grown up!  I was worried how we would fit it in this year now that Brenna was in school and the weekends at Dewberry are crazy.  Luckily, everything fell into place when we found out our first official school field trip was to Dewberry Farms!

Ready to get the day started!

Halloween, Halloween, and More Halloween!

I'm all Halloween-ed out!  This year the monstrous season started way too early which led to lots of witchly fun.  We attended 4 Fall Festivals of various sorts, 3 Pumpkin Patches with lots of different friends, 1 Halloween Party with plenty of funny costumes, and finally made it to Halloween Night where we Trick-or-Treated with neighborhood friends.  Here's just a few pics of some of the fun!

Fall Festival Halloween Preview

Brenna's preschool's Fall Festival was this Tuesday.  The kids got to dress-up in their Halloween Costumes and play all the different games that were set up.  There was fishing, painting, bean bag tosses, a corn dig, and lots of prizes that they got to put in treat bags that they painted themselves.  After the festival there was lots of play time and they wrapped the day up with a class Halloween Party.  It was a big day for the kids and they had a great time.  Brenna wanted to be a pink fairy princess just like Pinkalicious for Halloween this year.  So, here's our little pig-tailed Pinkalicious!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

For our 2nd class field trip of the month, we went to Pumpkin Junction, which is a pumpkin patch sponsored by one of the local churches.  The kids all crammed into the little barn to hear The Pumpkin Parable.

Dewberry Farms

Because we had so much fun last year at Dewberry Farms, even I was excited about going back this year.   Also, I was alot more prepared since I knew what to expect, which was a long hot day of running and playing.  Here's our crew of 5 kiddos plus one 5-month old who cruised through the whole day.  We hit the jumpy pads as soon as we got there, because that was a favorite from last year.

Pumpkin Palooza!

Enchanted Gardens is a local nursery that's just beautiful.  It truly is like stepping into something enchanted with flowers, fountains, and fish ponds around every corner.  This past Saturday they held their annual Pumpkin Palooza where all the kids get to come enjoy cookies, popcorn, and juice boxes while they create their own unique pumpkins!  Here's the pictures of our crew having some enchanted fun!

Making pumpkins.

Halloween

We'll this year was different than previous years!  It was alot more fun!  This was the first year Brenna picked what she wanted to be.  And the winner was Minnie Mouse!  Nobody was surprised given her recent Mickey Mouse Clubhouse devotion.  This year we did more of the traditional halloween activities, with a visit to the pumpkin patches and pumpkin painting.  Brenna understood all about Trick-or-Treating and was excited all day.  In her words she wanted to "Fill my treat bag all the way up to the top!"  So just before dark, we rounded up the troops and hit the street!  Our kids ran from house to house knocking on doors, ringing door bells, and happily letting themselves into all the neighbors house to help themselves to their Candy Buckets, sometimes more than once!

After we made our rounds, we retreated back to the house, where Brenna would run the door at every knock yelling "Trick-A-Treaters Mama!  Trick-A-Treaters!"  And then she would dump hand-fulls of candy treats in their bags!  All our "Big Kid" friends stopped by after dark for candy and to visit.

Brenna had a great night and thanks to a couple of carefully selected candy treats washed down with a juice box, it also turned into a late night.  She was too excited to sleep.  She wanted to talking about all the trick-a-treaters she see saw, Buzz Light Year, Woody, and Cody the neighbors dog that was dressed up like a cow!  Her eyes finally closed and I'm sure she dreamed of candy corn and painted pumpkins.

Pumpkin Painting

Instead of pumpkin carving, we decided to do something alittle less messy and more "little hands" friendly, pumpkin painting!  Brenna got together with her friends next door and they decorated pumpkins.