Halloween 2019!

October flew by and was busy for all of us--hence the lack of blog posts! But it wasn't for lack of activities and autumnal traditions!

We made our annual trip to Irons Fruit Farms and had it to ourselves that day!

 The kids found a lot of good pumpkins...it was hard to choose!

Before we left the house, Sebastian made a scavenger hunt for the farm. He remembered from years past all of the fun things you can search for at Irons Fruit (apparently, lots of stuff...14 total)!

As always, we enjoyed our neighborhood Halloween party. The weather was fabulous--nearly 70 and sunny! This year, Brie was a Minecraft YouTuber, Samuel was a soldier again (Gammy saved the day by sewing last year's patches on a new set of fatigues because he had outgrown last year's!) and Sebastian (who was supposed to be Spiderman) spontaneously put together a costume similar to his big brother's. 💚

Love those fall colors!

 I made this sausage and white bean chili recipe...it was delicious!!

You can't have a party without party games. Here's Brie going after a donut!

Other fun last week? I read some Halloween-themed books to Sebastian's kindergarten class and then stayed for lunch. He and his classmates could not be cuter or sweeter!

Halloween goodies and cookies from Nonna!

And the Maple Dale Halloween Parade. They kept it outdoors this year...it didn't rain, but it was chilly!!

Brie and Paige were Pat and Jen (in these photos, Jen and Pat), the Minecraft YouTube duo. They did a great job making their own costumes!

We carved several pumpkins this year, including one for the Nationals, whose World Series win made our week!! Go Nats!!

Then it was Trick-or-Treat time!

Our first stop is always Mr. Kevin! He gives out full-size candy bars for the kids and wine for the parents (yeah!)...and this year bought popcorn balls for the whole neighborhood. 😋 He had knee surgery recently, so we picked a pumpkin for him and carved his sweet dog Roxie on it. Can you tell??

Ready for candy!! Samuel was an awesome big brother...let Sebastian tag along for (sprinting-from- house-to-house) treats time!

After a very long Indian Summer, it was a brisk and blustery 40 degrees on Halloween night. Brrrr! We bundled up and moved quickly. The kids didn't seem to mind the low temps too much. The parents, on the other hand...

Our neighbor creates a haunted house in his driveway each year. The kids thought it was very cool...not too spooky.

And then we headed home for sorting...

And classifying...

What a great Halloween. We're so glad the kids are still so enthusiastic about it...like we are as adults! We even decorated our front porch this year! 🍬 Hope everyone had a sweet holiday!!