This is Halloween, This is Halloween...

Halloween, Halloween...

Our Halloween festivities began the weekend before the big day with a trip to a local pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkins to color on with markers; I figured this was more appropriate than handing a two-year-old a knife to carve one, don't you think? The little farm we found also had some other activities set up for the kids to enjoy, and enjoy them Clara did. I think we spent nearly three hours there before we had to drag her away for lunch and naptime. She probably would have been content to stay the whole day if we would have let her.

The farm had a little petting zoo set up and once Clara was comfortable with pigs, chickens, goats, and cows walking right up to her she decided she wanted to feed them. We spent the rest of time trying to convince her that we didn't have any more change for the feed dispensers:


They also had a 20+ foot tall slide that Clara wanted to try; I know her face looks a little scared in this picture, but every single time they would make it to the bottom, she would jump up and say, "Again, again!" and run back over the steps of the slide.


She loved this little animal train they were running (a bunch of drums decorated to look like animals and pulled by a tractor). She convinced Oliver to do this one four times, despite the fact that it was not designed for 6 1/2 foot tall individuals:


This farm also does a huge corn maze each year (which we didn't do), but they also have a pint-size version for the little ones. This is Clara standing in the middle; the goofy smile is what we now get when we ask her to smile for the camera:


Once we finally pulled Clara away from the joys of slides and animals, we went on a hay ride over to the pumpkin patch. Here she is trying her best to navigate the very rough field:


And again with a Clara-sized pumpkin in tow:


She had a grand time, and I'm guessing this will be a part of next year's celebration as well.

On Halloween night Oliver came home from campus a little earlier than usual, so we had time to decorate pumpkins and get Clara ready for some trick-or-treat fun. Like I said, I didn't think my not-quite-two-year old would do well with a carving knife, so we pulled out the washable markers instead. Her drawings never did dry completely, but I didn't really want to try and get permanent marker or paint off her clothes or her skin. Again, note the goofy, goofy smile in the first picture. When do they outgrow this little quirk?




I made a little pink tutu for Clara's costume and paired it with an old bead necklace from a past Halloween costume, a tiara from her Grandma, and some fake flowers she likes to carry around. We called her a fairy princess; anyone have a better idea as to what we might have called this little outfit? (And yes, she is barefoot outside at the end of October. It was around 70 degrees that evening. Crazy.)




Trick-or-treating consisted of a trip over to Bryce & Lisa's house (Lisa is Oliver's cousin & Bryce is a second year in the MBA program). This is Clara heading up the stairs to knock on her one and only door of the evening:


She's still too little to really get what Halloween is about, and she can't eat most of the candy anyway, so we figured one house would do the trick. Bryce & Lisa were great, though, and gave her Skittles & Starburst (both Clara-friendly), which she enjoyed immensely. We stayed and chatted for a bit while Clara & Sophie played, and headed home for bed when the melt-down potential reached the danger zone.

It turns out she's very fond of her costume, too; she keeps asking to wear her "hat" (the tiara) and as we were heading out the door somewhere she grabbed the tutu and insisted on taking in the car with us. Maybe we can recycle it for next year too...