Saturday we went to a couple of "safe" Halloween events (number 11). One of the places was a trunk or treat put on by the business owners of our nearest shopping center. The kiddos got dressed up, considered it a dry run for Halloween, and we went to get goodies. They almost filled up their little buckets in about ten minutes time! Two of the three also decided that they needed more layers under their costume choices for the "real" thing, and another may be changing her costume back into last year's because it's warmer. It's been really chilly up here in Michigan and so the ability to layer underneath the costumes is really important, and it's supposed to be raining. As I write this, twelve and a half hours into the 31st, it has been raining almost steadily for 9 and a half hours. I know because Peanut was up and down almost all night long.
We then went to our local hardware store that was holding a little celebration for Halloween. There was face painting (which only Peanut was interested in), painting pumpkins, making pumpkin magnets (which now adorn my refrigerator), a coloring station, free popcorn, and a free hot dog stand. While we didn't do everything that they were offering we did do most of it and stayed there for about an hour. The workers were all dressed up as well and the kids had a blast. The best part for my pocket book? You guessed it! Totally free event!!
We also just did our carving of the jack-o-lanterns and making of the pumpkin seeds. We do this most years of course. Don't mind my appearance in these pictures ... I included them to show the kids doing the work (and Mommy's not always at her best lol ). The tradition in our home is as follows:
Kids - clean the pumpkins out and design their faces with marker
Dad - makes sure the pumpkins are cleaned out and transforms the marker designs into wonderful jack-o-lantern faces
Our recipe for pumpkin seeds is one of the easiest out there. We rinse the seeds in warm water to get the rest of the "ick" off. Place them in a bowl with about three teaspoons of warm water and however much salt we sloosh into the bowl. Mix and let stand for two to three hours. After that we spread the seeds out on a cookie sheet and pop into a 350 degree oven for about ten minutes, mix them up, turn the heat down to 200 and let "finish" for about twenty more minutes. Sometimes we add more salt before baking once they're on the pan and sometimes we don't. This year it worked out that the seeds were made after swim class (as well as dinner) and that the Cracker Jack's were old enough to help out with making the dinner sides while Daddy BBQ'ed the meat.
We also (finally) did our leaf rubbings... This was the first time for Peanut to do them and she had a blast. We used some of our "homemade" crayons and some of our "good" crayons. ** Please if you don't like the way certain crayons color be advised that they will NOT color better if you re-make them. **
This means that we've finished exactly one half of our Fall Bucket List! There's a few things on the list that are in progress such as learning to swim (swim lessons are still going on and one out of three kiddos has learned to swim) and learning the rosary (they know all the prayers but haven't got the order down yet). And there's a couple of items I'm not sure we'll finish such as painting one of the kid's rooms and visiting the Detroit Zoo, but we're sure going to try!!!
Do you have a Fall Fun Bucket List? I'd love to hear how you're doing on it!
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