Hollow Eve

We did some serious partying this week as the calendar demands such things around this time of year. Wednesday was our first Halloween at this house, so we spent last Sunday afternoon in preparation for it. We hollowed out some pumpkins before carving them up. Merritt’s pumpkin had gone a little squishy since we bought it, but that may have been a good thing, because he had a grand time drawing all over it with a marker and then stabbing it with his dull knife:

If there’s a better way to raise a serial killer, we haven’t found it yet.

The other kids had a good time designing their pumpkins, but the boys left the hard work to Kira and me. We cleaned them out and then did all of the carving, but that’s fine because we don’t exactly trust them with sharp objects anyway. Avey got most of hers done on her own, and then just needed a little bit of dad’s touch to get the mouth just right. Hakan really wanted his pumpkin to look like it was holding some candy. That turned out to be a challenge, but he was happy. 

Halloween itself was fun, as the kids all got dressed up in their costumes. Well, Merritt would have none of that nonsense, but he enjoyed going out with the older kids and seeing all of the fun. He was in a camo coat, so Avey told people that he was an Army guy or something. Hakan went as a tiger. He seems to think that he looked really scary, but…well, you tell me:

Carver went as a ninja, using costume pieces he purchased with his own money from the dollar store. 

Avey went as a beautiful witch. She tried to color her hair purple, but the dye we bought didn’t seem to work. Maybe we’ll try it again another time. 

Kira took the kids out and about to threaten the neighbors with mischief unless they delivered candy. They were quite successful. I manned the house for kids seeking candy. It was easily the busiest Halloween we’ve had in years; We didn’t get many trick-or-treaters in Illinois, or while we were in Texas. 

In lesser news, we had a viewing yesterday for my birthday. The official day is not until this coming week, but I was anxious for cake, so we had a little party. Kira had to attend some church training in the morning, and then made a trip to stores near the training, so the kids helped me bake and do various Saturday chores. The boys even let me cut their hair before bathing, so we got plenty done. Kira then took them to the library and park for a couple of hours so that I could have a little quiet before a pizza dinner and a movie on the couch.

I have to be on campus for my real birthday this week, but maybe I’ll go buy a slice of cake at a diner I pass all the time, but have always put off.

We all seem to have recovered from our colds. My energy is finally closer to normal after some great nights of sleep. Last night with the time change, Hakan decided to come and wake us up around 1:30 a.m., and then refused to go to bed. I volunteered to sleep on the floor so he would fall asleep in my spot. I didn’t really get any rest during that time, but Kira moved him back to his bed after he was good and deep, so then I got back in bed.

Our leaves are finally starting to fall, and the kids are excited to rake up piles. Unfortunately, it’s very wet today. They still went out this morning to play a new game of waiting for a gust of wind and then chasing leaves as they fell, trying to catch them.

I’ve not had the energy or motivation for many home projects this week, but now that my energy is starting to get better, I’m looking forward to finishing painting our upstairs bathroom and a bedroom that needed some work. I’ll hopefully have the time to knock those out in the next week or so.

In the meantime, we’re working really hard to scale down the amount of Halloween candy in our pantry.

#Happenings