In the final weekend before Halloween, we squeezed in several fun activities and still made time for plenty of relaxation. Here’s our weekend review in reverse order.
Emerson pretty much summed up our afternoon yesterday when she said, “My feet are schfeating (sweating)! I can’t believe I’m saying this… I am too hot outside!” It was the most beautiful day we’ve enjoyed outside for months it seems. We played until the sun went to bed, mostly gathering or raking leaves. E has been making these lovely leaf bouquets lately which are actually really pretty in their own rustic way. She also gathered a variety of leaves that fit into the categories of: red, snowflake-shaped, and special.
Saturday night we rolled up our sleeves and got down and dirty with E’s pumpkin. It was a group effort; first Papa made the lid, then E pulled the seeds out before Papa scraped it clean and I finally carved the Jack O’lantern! Her favorite part of the process was squishing the pulp and seeds around in her hands. Before we started, Emerson and I drew a variety of faces on paper until she finally decided to give her pumpkin a ‘silly face.’ From the size of the eyebrows, shape of the eyes, placement of the nose (she drew that on the pumpkin herself) down to the big funny mouth, she was very opinionated as to what this guy should look like. I think old ‘Orange Face’ turned out pretty cute!
First on our weekend agenda was a trip to Arnolds Park for the ‘Children’s Fall Fest’ with E’s friend, Bremer! This was her first opportunity to wear a Halloween costume out and about, and we learned that even though she’s obsessed with Doc McStuffins on Disney Jr., it doesn’t mean she wants to be ‘Doc’ for Halloween…. just when you think you’ve got it figured out… (a last-minute costume has been ordered at her request for trick-or-treating). There were many spook-tacular events planned for the kids: cookie decorating, bean bag toss, coloring contest, duck pond and costume contest, but once E got her hands on a few pieces of candy she was ready to split! They had a great turn-out and we saw some pretty fun costumes! The highlight of the trip was that there were a few amusement park rides open so we got one more spin around the carousel and train! It was FREEZING outside but definitely a fun event. On the drive home, Emerson learned a little something about candy: Skittles and M&M’s were not created equally. She’ll stick with M&M’s.
