Happy Halloween!

Halloween began as any other school day with scriptures and aerobics.  But as today is a holiday, we had to spice it up a bit.  

First we wrote poems, narratives, and descriptive essays about pumpkins.

About two weeks ago I took all the kids to the commissary and let them each choose a bag of candy.  Some knew exactly what they wanted right off.  Others were overwhelmed by the choices and needed a little help in their selection. Jessica-Reeses, Emily-Heath, Spencer-Tootsie Pops, Hannah-Skittles, Gavin-Pop Rocks, Katie-M&M's, David-Lifesavers.

3. We couldn't just eat the candy.  First we had to analyze it.  Each kid grabbed their bag of candy.  They studied their labels and then they organized themselves from greatest to least: servings per bag, weight and mass, grams of sugar, fiber, and yummiest!

4. Next we sponge painted jack-o-lantern pictures.

I thought Katie looked like a cute jack-o-lantern in her orange shirt and toothless grin.  

5.  We cleaned up for lunch: Tomato soup, saltine crackers, strawberry muffins, apple slices with dip.  We made two kinds of dip: yogurt/peanut butter and peanut butter caramel.

6.  Let the pumpkin carving begin!  Everyone found a partner and guessed how many seeds their pumpkin contained. The smaller pumpkins contained about 100 seeds per pumpkins and the bigger ones contained over 600 seeds per pumpkin!

Braden was showing me the smile he wanted on his pumpkin.

Each pair had one person that liked the feel of the pumpkin, and one person that didn't want anything to do with it.

Braden was at first reluctant, but he warmed up quickly. 

Hannah said the little pumpkins that Jessica grew in the garden were easy to cut.   

When it comes to holidays, I always have to mess with tradition.  I like to tweek the holiday until it fits our family and to make the customs work for us.  

7. Trick or treating in the dining room was a huge success.

Each kid had their bag of candy to pass out and a bag to collect candy.

Braden thought we had all gone crazy but he wasn't going to complain.

Then the kids trick or treated around the circle.  

We realized that this was Emily's first time trick or treating.  She was always too shy to knock on the neighbor's door.

Let the trading and eating begin!

8.  Taco's for dinner.  Braden just couldn't make it any longer.  He took a power nap in between taco bites.  

9. Trick or treating again.  Out of our street of 16 houses, only 7 gave out candy.  

Only four families were out knocking on doors.  The kids got more candy than would be expected from so few houses.

10. While we were out, Jessica put candles in the pumpkins.  After he finished his candy, Braden spied the pumpkins.

He looked at the pumpkins, stared into their faces, tried to touch their candles, and opened and shut their lids.

Emily said, "This was a really nice stress-free holiday."  I would have to agree.

Braden liked that his shirt matched the pumpkins.  

Emily carved this special pumpkin as a tribute to dad.