Happy Halloween!

Since the first of October, these little girls have been counting down until Halloween. Elliana is just now really understanding months of the year, and the concept of a holiday being at the END of the month...well, that just meant we got to countdown all month :) 

We enjoyed searching for the perfect pumpkin outside of Chicago with Aunt Jenna, Jackson and Nolan.

 

A few weeks later, we cut open that perfect pumpkin and roasted up the yummy pumpkin seeds. Maya was less than impressed by the pumpkin innards, but she sure did LOVE to eat those roasted salty seeds. 

 At last, Halloween day arrived. Up at 6:00 am, I was able to hold them off from putting on their costumes until 8:00 am...when Elliana and Maya disappeared and transformed into the popular sister duo of Elsa and Anna from the Frozen movie. The girls even got into character and have been calling each other Elsa and Anna all weekend long.

We spent the day running errands and basically stalling until school time, as they were so very excited! We even duplicated the hairdos of the famous sisters. :)

Nana came down so I could join Elliana at her school party. And what a party it was! Just look at all those snacks! 

I never did snag a good photo of the girls trick-or-treating. It was cold, and they were on a mission to get as much candy as quickly as possible. That's okay though, I have the smiles permanently etched in my memory, as it was priceless!

The day after Halloween, a light covering of frost/snow covered the rooftops when we awoke. The girls immediately switched out of Halloween mode and into Christmas mode. Let the countdown to Christmas begin! 

Happy Halloween!

What a fun and busy day we had! We began with Elliana waking at 6:15 asking if it was Halloween yet. Given I have the philosophy that it's not a new day until I'm awake for the day, I muttered that in a few hours it would be Halloween, and stumbled back to bed. The distraction lasted only 20-30 minutes and we were up for the day, and it was officially Halloween! 

Elliana quickly put on her costume to wear to school, wig and all. Elli was thrilled about all the details! To make it a bit more special, I made her peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a pumpkin shape, drew a jack-o-lantern face on her cup of peaches and just happened to catch a glimpse of Elliana holding her long "magic" hair up to Maya and sing her healing song to make Maya feel better (who has been suffering Croup and an ear infection, not to mention serious lack of sleep), while I finished packing her lunch. 

 Nana came down to allow me to go to Elliana's first school party! What a special treat to watch my girlie girl bowl with a pumpkin, shuck corn, make a craft and eat her with hat cookie with a grin ear to ear. 

Showing off her witch hat cookie before devouring it

removed every kernel from that ear of corn!

Class picture! 

Rapunzel and I at her school party

Nana cuddled up with the girls waiting for trick or treat time!

Daddy and I took Rapunzel trick or treating while the grandparents stayed home to pass out candy. We didn't stay out long as it was bitter cold. Maya (our magic flower which matched Rapunzel's costume) was too sick to join us on our adventure so she stayed home. We made the most of the few streets nearest our house and Elliana just kept smiling, laughing and running from house to house. At one point, Elliana said, "This halloween is not like last year. The weather is not as good as it was last year. Let's order it to be like the weather last year, okay?" Oh, how I love this little girl's thinking!

Grabbing "one" piece of candy per bucket. 

Big girl trick or treating by herself as we waited at the street. She even thanked the buckets when no one was there to distribute candy!

And because Maya was too sick to join us for trick or treating, we played dress up again yesterday to get a few photos of the girls for Maya's first Halloween. She was a trooper and even smiled for a few photos between the pain. 

LOVE these little girls!

Prettiest flower I've ever seen!

Halloween Festivities

Halloween has come and gone. Almost two weeks into November and I think we have all recovered from the fun of the holiday.

We carved our first pumpkin with Elliana this year as we felt she was too young last year to "get it." Elliana was interested in the process until she reached her hand into the gooey, squishy pumpkin and the seeds and mush stuck to her hand. That was when the interest was lost. But, we did have fun with our friends during the Pumpkin Carving Party and Elliana had a blast with her new friend Ella.

Nana and Grandpa Perk (or "yo-yo" and "Papa Perk" to Elliana) were gracious enough to join us on Halloween for dinner. They passed out candy and helped Elliana practice gathering candy. Then we hit the streets!

Snuggling with Nana after a long, cold night of fun!

For the actual Halloween night, our little princess dressed up as a pirate. She quickly mastered the "argh" though never got the hang of "trick-or-treat." Once she realized that candy was passed out at each house, Elliana quickly got into the spirit of going door to door. "thank-you" was always used, along with phrases like "this house, now" "more candy" and many "hellos" to the many familiar characters she saw dressed up throughout the neighborhood.

Our Family after a night of trick-or-treating...