Happy Halloween

Halloween week was a lot of fun for us. The girls decided to be Dora and a Policewoman (and luckily we owned both costumes already!).

Fiona had her Halloween party at school on Wednesday and all the kids dressed up in their costumes for a parade and performed a few songs. Fiona dressed as Dora the Explorer.

Luli had her Halloween party on Friday and dressed as a Policewoman again this year. Whenever she was in costume she said "I am not Lourdes anymore, I am now Officer Santiago." Her class also did a parade and performed some songs. It's amazing how much more interactive the Pre-k class was. It was a lot of fun to watch them and see their adorable costumes.

On Halloween day we carved our pumpkins and got ready for our first trick or treating in the new neighborhood. This year both girls were ready to draw their faces all by themselves, so they worked very hard at creating just the right face. A dry erase marker worked great for them because they were able to wipe off and fix whatever they wanted. Luli decided to create a "spooky" pumpkin and Fiona went for a "happy" pumpkin. (In the picture from left to right, Oscar's pumpkin, Luli's, and Fiona's)

Trick or Treating was a lot of fun in the new neighborhood, it's a nice quiet area so there aren't any strangers wandering the area and there are lots of children. Luli received a UNICEF box from school and the neighbors were very generous. I was very impressed with Luli's willingness to ask for change also. At each door she said "please would you give some change for my UNICEF box, it is to help children around the world." So cute. Both girls had a great time going around to the houses. At home they were very good about Mommy going through their candy and pulling out the things we just couldn't allow them to eat.

We took a lot of pictures, you can visit the Halloween album to the left of the blog.

Happy Halloween

Our Halloween festivities started early, with Luli's preschool party. All the kids dressed in their costumes for the day at school and then prepared for the party with all their parents attending. They started with a costume parade around the school house and then inside for the show. The kids performed three songs and then it was time to party. Luli sang and danced the last song, which this year it was surprising that she didn't do the other two. Her teachers say she is the loudest singer in the class! Not surprising, she's a loud singer at home too. You'll remember this is a huge change from who Luli was last year, the shyest in the class.

Fiona also had class on Halloween and continued refusing to wear her costume, instead she carried duck everywhere. Oh well, at least I got it cheap on Ebay! Fiona and I left her class early in order to attend the party, which just required us walking across the hallway. And daddy arrived from work for the festivities.

Then in the evening we waited for Daddy to get home early then ate dinner and got our costumes on...ok well Luli got her costume on and Fiona put on a sweater while she carried duck around. Then we were off to trick or treat! We started at our next door neighbors house, who had a lil pirate and a k9 police officer. We had both police pose for pictures, then a pic of the pirate and his police dog. So cute! We went to all of the neighbors we knew and then a few right in our closer area of houses. The girls had a great time yelling "HAPPY HALLOWEEN TRICK OR TREAT." Fiona would yell her version of "TRICK OR TREAT, DUCK DUCK DUCK!" The girls had a great time and Mommy and Daddy scaled back the treats considerably.

At home for handing out candy we had only a handful of visitors so I'm left with an enormous bowl of candy which is now stashed in the freezer! Some years we have lots of visitors and some we have none, bummer. Luli and Fiona really enjoyed handing out treats so it would have been a lot of fun to have more visitors...maybe next year we'll have a new neighborhood and lots more goblins and princesses to visit us!

A policeman, a duck and a mommy go to Family Fun Night

Luli and Fiona's school hosted a few family fun night Halloween events this week. We went tonight and had a great time. However, getting homework done, dinner fed and out the door by 5:30pm was no easy task! We got there and picked out our pumpkins and started in the pumpkin painting room, which is when Daddy met up with us. We saw many of our preschool friends there, though they were disguised as transformers, firemen, Minny Mouse, Princesses, and Superman. The girls did great jobs painting their pumpkins and Miss Cindy said it right, they looked more like porcelain than pumpkins! Needless to say these didn't dry by the time we were departing, so they'll come home tomorrow.

After pumpkin painting we made bats, and their wings are the shape of our hands! Luli and Fiona both did a great job with this! With two crafts under our belt we headed into the snack room. We found apple cider and lots of sweets! After an energy boost we tried to get on a hayride but it was full...so on to the final craft. This one was to create pumpkins on a fence. The craft corresponds to a song that Luli and Fiona have learned in their classes at the farm. I helped Fiona with her's and I would call it more of a collage than pumpkins on a fence, though I really like it! Luli and Oscar worked on one and it also came out lovely. Attempt number two at the hayride, again no such luck. It was getting late so we chatted with Miss Cindy and Miss Fran for a few moments and then were on our way home for bedtime.

Miss Cindy said tomorrow they're voting for Blue's Clues vs. Elmo, I'll let you know who wins!

Halloween Preview

Ok, I couldn't resist putting this up now!