Halloween Part Three: Pumpkins and Dinner Anyone?

I love my husband.  I love that he is such an organized, planner type.  I love that when I send him to the store late Saturday night because I forgot to buy pumpkins to carve, and we have to get it done before Halloween on Monday, he not only goes to the store in the wee hours of the night while I snooze, but . . .

. . . he stays up even later, cutting, gutting, and cleaning that stinky, slimy, orange hairy stuff out of the pumpkins so that the kids (and mostly me) don't have to participate in that part.  Yuck!

Hooray for Johnny!

Here is what they came up with this year.

Every year on Halloween, before we go out trick-or-treating, we all sit down to a wonderfully creeptacular dinner.  In the past we have had Mush Brains (spaghetti and meatballs served out of a football helmet), Shrunken Heads (calzones), Fingers (garlic rolls shaped like fingers with pistachio shell fingernails),  and Spider Eggs  (fruit salad with whipped cream and Jello).   This is one of my favorite parts of Halloween!  I love coming up with new things to make, and most of the kids think it is hilarious.

Isaac hates it.

He has never eaten on Halloween.  Poor boy.  He can't seem to get past the idea that he could possibly be eating some football player's brains.  This year was no different.  I even made things that I was certain he loved.  I tried coaxing, and bribing, and begging, and everything else. 

He nibbled on a few bites of pork ribs.  Had a bite of a short, stubby bread stick, minus the fingernail.  But that was as far as he could go.

This year on the menu:

Harry's, may he rest in pieces, Ribs (citrus glazed pork ribs)
Brain Jello (with raspberries and whipped cream)
Fingers (topped with garlic and Parmesan butter)
Ghost Slime (Alfredo dipping sauce)
Witches Brew (soda with dry ice)

Halloween Part Two: The Parties

We celebrated Halloween a total of 4 times this year.  Hooray!  It makes me feel justified in spending so much time sewing their costumes.  Actually, the costumes this year were not as labor intensive as some, Brady's required no sewing or gluing or taping or anything at all for that matter.  And for Yummy's costume I just had to tear up an old pillow case that I had kneaded in the mud in the back yard.  He looked pretty homeless, but that's the whole point of being a house elf, I suppose.  So cute!

Did I mention I love Halloween?  I love trick-or-treating in the brisk night air, watching the kiddos run through piles of leaves as they go from house to house.  I love the magic of costumes, that even a 10 year old can still appreciate.  And yes, the candy!  (See Hershey sponsored TG party below!)  Even when we lived in Texas and didn't get a proper Fall, I would have to say it is closing in on November and December as my favorite time of year. 

Every year, Hershey's chocolates sponsors a Halloween party at Kellogg.   They line up three long folding tables end to end, and then pile the candy up in mountains.  Because the kids had already attended this party last year, they knew what to expect, and came prepared to shamelessly shovel the candy into their bags.  I should say that I was embarrassed that they took so much, but I cannot tell a lie.  I coached Avery and Isaac on what kids to put into their bags, and what to leave on the table.  YUM! 

And there were even boxes of chocolates left over at the end of the night!

We also had a church party, which was great fun, and then parties at school, complete with a costume parade around the block.


Nathan at the Halloween Parade





Isaac pulling out his Elder Wand to curse someone




Brady (looking a little like a future politician) and his mad eye



Avery was by far, the most excited to see us.



Halloween Part One: The Wands and the Wizards

Halloween has turned into quite a production at our house over the years.  The kids start planning months in advance.  This year, I overheard talk about what they were going to be clear back in July. 

Around August, one of the kids, probably Isaac, called Grandpa Anthony, and put in an order for some magic wands.  (I found this out later from Grandpa Anthony, when he called to ask which wands were needed).   He sure outdid himself with the wands.  They were masterpieces.  Each one was identical to those in the movies, and the kids were absolutely thrilled.  They arrived about 3 weeks before Halloween and became the accessory of choice for the kids wherever we went.  At one point, the boys lost theirs, and I spent days combing every corner of the house until I found them.

 This year, just as last year, the kids all wanted to dress up together.  The theme:  Harry Potter.  Isaac was Lord Voldemort with the Elder Wand.  Avery couldn't decide if she wanted to be Ginny Weasley or Hermione Granger.  Grandpa made her Ginny's wand, and I think in the end she was Hermione part of the time, and Ginny the rest.  Brady was Mad Eye Moody.  And Nathan, of course, Harry Potter himself.  They voted that Will dress up as Dobby, the house elf. 

Avery and the Activity Day pumpkin

This year Avery started attending Activity Day Girls at church.  Activity Days was made for her.  A bunch of darling girls, acting silly, doing crafts, learning skills.  She LOVES it.  Last week she made this cute flower arrangement in a pumpkin.  She is so beautiful, both inside and out.

Now for the rest of the story.  We put the pumpkin on our little table in the entryway.  It looked beautiful for about a week.  Then one day as we were walking out the door to take the kiddos to school, Nathan poked the pumpkin with his finger, and exclaimed "Oooooooh, yuck!  Its all mushy."  And it was.  The back of it had actually rotted and started to collapse.  There was this stinky, slimy greenish brown stuff running down the back of the table, onto the wall and down into a little puddle on the floor.  Nice.  How could I have missed that?!?!?!  I must have walked past it at least 20 times.  And the smell?  So gross!  Anyway, it was nothing half a can of Lysol couldn't fix.

Isaac and the Webelos

Last week Isaac earned his Religious Knot for Cub Scouts, as well as three pins, and his Webelos patch.  You can tell by the surprise on his face, that he was not expecting to earn as much as he did.  His Webelos leader has done such a great job keeping on track. 

Right now, he is one of only two Webelos in his pack (and I think the other one leaves this month into 11 year old scouts, which will leave just him in Webelos) and I really have to hand it to him for keeping such a great attitude.  In fact, that is one of his strengths, something that God has blessed him with.  A willing heart, a kind spirit, and a great attitude.

Sukkot

A few weekends ago, we attended our wonderful neighbor's Sukkot celebration.   This is a Jewish festival that is held once a year during harvest time, when they set up their Sukka as a symbol of the temporary homes or tents that the Israelites built while they were journeying in the wilderness for 40 years. 




Our neighbor's Sukka in their back yard

 They eat meals in their Sukka during Sukkot, and Karen said that some people even sleep in there.  The Sukka is decorated with a beautiful cloth inscribed with the tribes of Israel, as well as fruits and nuts hanging from the ceiling, and pictures of the family all around. 




A view from inside (minus the twig roof that had already been taken down)


Karen and Kenny have had an open house both years that we have been here for Sukkot, and it has been so much fun to get together with them and their family!  (Not to mention that Karen is one of the best cooks I have ever met, a fact John appreciates very much!)

Another view from their backyard

Their yard is really as magical as it looks.  Heavenly.  When we first moved here, I would look out the window in my upstairs hallway down into their yard.  There was a little trail leading from our back gate, into their yard, that just got lost in the foliage once you entered.  I thought it was so lovely, and decided that when things settled down a bit, I would go meet the people that belonged to it.  Karen beat me to it.  She heard us playing in the backyard one day (not hard to do, actually, it would be hard to miss I would say), and came over with her kids.  Since then she has become a dear friend, and has been a saving grace to me in more ways than she will probably ever know. 

Great things about Today

1.  Standing outside in the rain with my Yummers, watching the wind blow the yellow leaves off of the tree in our neighbor's yard.  And, even better, watching Yummers watch the leaves.



2.  Spending the day at home doing laundry and cleaning the house.  We had mountains of laundry piling up and I lost count after the 5th load.  I love days at home.  (Unlike yesterday, when I spent the ENTIRE day at the DMV renewing my driver's license.  It really wasn't the entire day, but nearly 3 hours is close enough for me.  Thank goodness that Yummy is SUCH a good baby and didn't even so much as squeak the entire time.)



3.  Isaac had a field trip to the Robert Crown Center today to attend a puberty education class.  This was my conversation with him when I picked him up from school today.

Mom:  Hey, how was your day?

Isaac:  Uh, seriously sooooooo boring.  That was the WORST field trip of all time. 

Mom:  Really?  Why?

Isaac:  Dude, it was just all of the 5th grade boys packed into this little room and we had to look at slides and hear this guy talk for, like, two hours.  We just had to sit and listen, and it was soooooo boring.

Mom:  Didn't you learn anything new?

Isaac:  No, nothing at all.  I was most disappointed in the lack of fun (his exact words).  We didn't get to walk around or anything like a normal field trip.  Dude, it was so bad that I told Derek on the bus ride home that I would rather have been taking ISAT's (Illinois's standardized testing) all day.  You shouldn't have even paid the five dollars.  And we didn't even get the goodie bag with deodorant and stuff like people said. 

I love 10 year old boys.


4.  Eating this for dinner.

Balsamic glazed pork tenderloin.  Yum!