Getting ready for Halloween!

Aaarrgh!

We're caught up with our fall posting....and there was much rejoicing. Yay!

We've been spending the last few weeks getting ready for Halloween. Devon and Rylee have enjoyed doing lots of Halloween crafts. They made lots of spooky pictures for the house, and hung ghosts and all around our yard (and Grandma's yard).

Last weekend, we met up with some friends at Boo Bash, a trick or treating event sponsored by some stores in Saint Paul. We didn't want to ruin our actual costumes, so the kids agreed to wear their "back up" costumes.  Here are they decked out as a pirate and a zebra.

The world's cutest zebra (not that I'm biased)

Pumpkin cleaning

Another activity from this weekend was pumpkin carving. It took us 2 days, but we got it done!  On Saturday, the pumpkins were selected and purchased. Both Devon and Rylee helped clean out the pumpkins to get them ready for carving.  Seeds were extracted, washed, and toasted.

On Sunday, we tackled the carving.  They each took great care to design just the right jack-o-lanterns. Devon drew the face on his pumpkin himself, and I helped with the carving. He was very proud of the fangs. Rylee wanted her pumpkin to look like....wait for it....a princess. She helped me figure out what it should look like, and gave me very precise instructions about how it should be carved.

Ewww....pumpkin guts!

Showing off their completed works of art

Devon's vampire pumpkin

 Rylee's princess pumpkin

Another fun activity this weekend was going to the "Trick R Trolley" - a trolley ride sponsored by a local independent bookstore. The kids wore their costumes, and really enjoyed a reading by author Sam Hiti. He read his new book, Waga's Big Scare and showed the kids how to draw a monster. The kids came home eagerly clutching their autographed copy of the book, and Devon talked at length about his new aspiration to be an author/illustrator when he grows up.

Finally, we topped the weekend off with our traditional spooky dinner. We had Grandma and Grandpa over for meatloaf rats, mashed potatoes, spider rolls, and swamp punch. Grandma and Devon made these eyeballs (peanut butter balls) for dessert!