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I didn’t take many photos at Halloween or Thanksgiving. Between having a party for Halloween with Jen for the street and having the usual gang for Thanksgiving, I just didn’t pick up the camera much. A neighbor has more Halloween ones of the kids and I’ll those when I get them.
Hayley went as Nancy Drew:
Grubbing
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I’ll post more photos later but Hayley went as Nancy Drew for Halloween. I didn’t really take many photos as we had a party in the cul-de-sac and was really having too much fun to take pix.
We had a long day – Hayley came home from my folks, went to a birthday party, headed to our neighborhood Fall/Halloween Festival and then watched Twilight outside at the Lanes’ house on their huge projector screen. Cold but much fun!
I was helping during the festival so I didn’t take many photos.
I have always loved Halloween. When I was young, I read a Ray Bradbury book called the Halloween Tree. I read it once, twice and then again, repeating that every fall. I loved that book.
The book starts on Halloween and takes a group of children on a scary journey through cultural history and version of Halloween, as they attempt to catch up with and save a dying friend. One of the key elements is the Mexican celebration Dia De Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) which seemed fascinating to me.
Celebrated on on Nov. 1st and/or 2nd, The Day of the Dead is where gatherings of family and friends to pray and remember loved ones who have died. Some other cultures celebrate similar holidays as well and the Day of the Dead has its roots in Aztec culture. The idea is to honor the dead but also that people who have passed away are supposed to be able to hear your prayers better at this time than any other time. November 1st is traditionally to celebrate children who have died and November 2nd for adults.
Dia De Los Muertos isn’t as sad as it sounds, it is rather upbeat. Good candy, good food and good memories. The celebration can be at the graveyard or an altar/shrine in your home. You decorate with photos, food flowers, candles and items of those of who have passed away or things they’d like. You are supposed to tell funny and warm stories about those people and talk to them.
I was printing of some weekly reading assignments I thought would interest Hayley and found a great one of the Day of the Dead but it was written for 5th to 7th graders. Of course, she read it perfectly and loved it too. So we decided to make our own shrine at home to celebrate.
Interestingly last night Hayley was over at my folks and they went to the family graves this morning to tidy up. How perfect for our Day of the Dead event!
We set out to do it for my Grandpa Jim, Grandma Jeannette and Uncle Mike (my mom’s parents and her brother) but then Hayley decided we should add in our dog Sam who passed away, which was awesome. We made sugar skulls ourselves and decorated them in the style. Hayley talked to my mom and made lists of food and hobbies of our family members who passed. I got out photos, my grandmother’s engagement and wedding rings, my granddad’s prayer books and golf hat and ton of articles on my uncle’s golf championships plus Sam’s dog collar. My mom made a family recipe book that was a great addition. We added all sorts of food and snacks – doggie biscuits too. (I’m going to post a photo on flickr with all the items labeled.)
After some time talking to them, we ate the candy and food and blew out the candles. It was a great way to share about family history, learn about another culture’s history and traditions, not to mention be creative and silly! (It is so much fun it is to have a child with an inquisitive spirit.)
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We had a GREAT Halloween! Hayley decided to go as something different this year and we put together her costume ourselves. She went as Danica Patrick, the first woman to win a Formula One race. I’m not really a racing fan but Formula One is more interesting to me than NASCAR and Patrick certainly made an impact culturally. We went through about 20 ideas and Danica Patrick was the only one Hayley loved – I’m sure because she is gorgeous that helped Hayley with the decision.
Turns out they sell replica jersey versions of her racing suit (just the top part). That with a hat we got from there, black soccer pants, black underarmor soccer shirt and riding gloves made for one adorable but mean race car driver.
Our friends up the street had a party beforehand so we all went up there for dinner. They did a great job with their garage! I made a green jello Frankenstein hand and encircled it with looser red jello – it was GROSS looking but tasty.
Jeff and Hayley took off to trick or treat with our next door neighbor Wes and their kids Ethan and Mason. We figured Ethan would tucker out sooner so Wes ended up taking him home and Jeff continued on with the girls. Jen and I hung out on her front porch and handed out candy. Of course if you know me, you know I love Halloween. For the 4th year, we handed out glow sticks with our candy – and this year I got Pop Rocks and Pixie Stix. Oh yeah, I rule and you know it! ha!
The kids came back with insanely filled bags, we weeded through them, traded and tossed some out over at Wes and Jen’s. We let the girls play until about 10:30 and finally took the 10 steps to our house and crashed.
**updated note –> Hello to the people who came here from the Danica Patrick fan site that link here!
We decided to pull out all our dog Halloween costumes and dress up the dogs for a few moments the evening before Halloween. I knew they wouldn’t stay in them long so we did it just to be silly for awhile.
We dressed them up in matching polo shirts from Old Navy and then went to the more daring selections of Pirate, Zorro, grass skirt and others.
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To get in the Halloween spirit, Hayley and I made a Halloween wreath that we just adore. Then we set off for the pumpkin patch with our next-door neighbors where we bought many pumpkins (and pretended to eat them where I taught Ethan to fake throw up, lol).
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Photos from Halloween night. I didn’t take a ton of photos this year. Hayley went as Sharpay from HS Musical, but I had her put a shirt on underneath and wear practical shoes. Yeah yeah yeah, I’m a downer like that but it never really matters because she is just cute as a button all the time.
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Yeah for REAL, Hayley’s photo and Michelle’s words are on CNN’s website! They were doing a special on Harry Potter and asked for good quality photos of kids in HP gear. So I sent them a really good one from Halloween. They CALLED me on Monday to talk to me about it all.
And then whammo, we are in the gallery of photos and the story!
Turns out they picked seven photos for the gallery and Hayley’s photo was one the seven posted! She is #3.
Check it out:
CNN.com I-Report: You look just like Harry Potter
And then read the story where they quote me AND use Hayley’s photo as the featured photo, I-Reporters show their love for all things Harry Potter
We went nuts for Halloween. Strobe light, fog machine, tons of sensor things (you walk by and they scream), bloody doors, spider webs everywhere, ghost in the trees, luminaries in the yard. I missed a lot of cool things to get photos of – mostly the glowing light/sensor stuff but oh well!
Hayley and her friends did a lot of it and I didn’t even care that stuff looked so nutty, it was charming! People loved it – some people were even taking photos with their cell phones of their kids and the Mummy. Little kids couldn’t handle all the noise and fog
It was so fun. I stayed out on the porch working some of the toys to freak people out. It is our tradition to give out glow stick bracelets and necklaces with the candy, so I did those too.
Hayley pretty much went nuts. She had a friend sleepover and three other neighborhood kids ask to Trick-Treat with her. I was so happy for her to have people want to go with her and then everyone come over to her house. We got pizzas for us, her friend and her mom and out next door neighbors came over too.
Next year, I’m just going to plan on throwing an after-party for everyone!
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