Last Week

So Halloween has come and gone. For me, it was in a whirlwind fashion. As my little family expands, I find it harder to slowly enjoy any holiday. My kids were asking to decorate for Halloween in August. It was a steady, daily asking of the question, "When can we decorate?" We held out until the second week in October. And although I am NOT a haunter, as I have come to affectionately know many in the haunt circle, I LOVE Halloween and I LOVE to decorate for it. I guess I decorate, I don't haunt? Hah! I don't know, that sounds like an argument waiting to happen. Decorators vs. Haunters. Like knitters vs. crocheters, right? (Crochet all the way, baby!) Before my tangent dives even deeper into weird town, here's our jackos:

 And a ghoul hanging out....

I know they aren't the best pictures. I don't know how to take good pictures. I guess this is just to prove that Halloween 2016 did happen at our house! If that wasn't convincing, I offer you the cutest freaking Dopey EVER:

I can't even. My youngest steals my heart every time. His ears!!!!! My daughter was Snow White and my son was a crazy prospector! Hah! I love that my son chose that costume because as strange as it sounds, he really is! He's obsessed with rocks, and geodes, and mining. Hehe. 

The Friday before Halloween our city held it's Fall Fest in their historical downtown district. So fun. Every year for the last 4 we've been and it's wonderful. Everything is free. The food, the games and candy, the old movies shown in an old historical theater. For the last two years we've entered the costume contest and (ahem) won a few medals! I'm pretty proud of that actually! Last year my oldest won Second Place for Spookiest in his age category. This year both him and my daughter took Second Place for their age categories for Most Creative (him) and Spookiest (her). My daughter chose to be a Vampire that night instead of Snow. There were hundreds of AMAZING costumes! Everything from Baby Ghostbusters to the Hatbox Ghost (I think he won first for most creative. His costume was phenomenally done. Wish I had a pic!). It really added to the fun atmosphere. Parents were also dressed up. I usually go as a vintage Halloween party-goer but this year I ran out of steam. My husband usually goes as Frankenstein's Monster but alas, we didn't get it together! I think I joked more than a few times that we were dressed up as Tired Parents.

Halloween night was great. I'm happy to say that MANY of our neighbors got into the spirit of Halloween this year. I had more sidewalk conversations with families or people we knew. There was one neighborhood about a mile away that was super magical. This one house in that neighborhood gave my son a HUGE bag full of goodies. I peeked inside their living room and it was adorned from ceiling to carpet with Halloween decorations. I loved it. They were having such a great time. It was in a poorer part of our neighborhood too. It made me smile. People with much less sometimes know much better how to celebrate life. By the end of the night our own house had a ton of Trick or Treaters. It was a satisfying holiday for sure. And we are STILL wading through bucket loads of candy. Sigh. It's never. Ending.

So this was way wordier than I wanted, so I'm wrapping it up. I plan on posting here throughout the days and weeks ahead because Halloween is always on my mind. Looking forward to next year!

How fun is this find? Thrifted it on a date night with the hubs. It's going to be used year round.