Halloween 2021

As a mom who doesn't really think Halloween is a holiday worth devoting too much time and money to, I ended up with a bunch of kids who LOVE IT. They start planning next year's costumes on November 1. I don't get it, but here we are.

This year, Halloween fell on a Sunday. Amiee decided to come over to Durham for the weekend, and we had all manner of Halloween-y fun.

But first, church.

We didn't spend any money on costumes this year but used things we had in the dress-up bin. We ended up with a grouping of Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, and Pascal from Tangled (we've done this one 3 times, I think):

We had Aurora and Merriweather from Sleeping Beauty (my costume came into existence about 10 minutes before trick-or-treating. I wasn't originally going to dress up, but Brynnie didn't have a partner and was very sad.):

And we also had Boo and Sully from Monsters, Inc:

We have the only kids in our neighborhood, so our neighbors literally only buy candy for these four. Some give them full-sized candy bars. Some put together full candy bags for them. Some give actual presents. It's a little out of control. 

These are some of our favorites.

And this was Lily's face after looking in her bag at her haul.

It ended up being a really fun Halloween, and it was especially fun having Amiee there to dress up and trick-or-treat with us. BOO.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is just not a holiday that I care much about at all. I hate gross/creepy decorations, and I always feel like I'm being pressured to spend money on a holiday I don't even like.

That said-

Our girls really love it. They love to dress up, and they pretend to like spoooooky things (even though they are very jumpy and not at all suited for spookiness). 

So, I tried really hard to make it especially fun for them this year. I made our costumes, acquired the candy, figured out how we were going to trick-or-treat, and did it with a *mostly* good attitude.

On Halloween morning, some out-of-town friends were passing through, and we ended up eating lunch and playing at the playground across the street together for a few hours.

At trick-or-treating time, we got dressed up, and Brad took them outside to see if any of our neighbors had porch lights on. No one did, although we learned later that several of them had candy for the girls, despite the lack of lighting. What we did instead: Brad brought them to our front door several times, and I answered in a different hat/mask/cape (we have a well-stocked dress-ups bin) with candy for their bags. They thought it was so fun and funny! They drove a couple of streets over to pick up some candy at a friend's house (who had sent a message to a bunch of us from church who live in the area to make sure we knew they were putting out candy) and then came back home to bob for apples. We wrapped up our evening by eating candy by the fire and watching the Curious George Halloween movie. 

Our best Ukrainian smiles

It was such a great day, and we made some great 2020 memories!

Halloween, year 2

Since November 1st last year, Claire has been asking about when we can go trick-or-treating again. To say she loved it is a massive understatement. Interestingly, her first time trick-or-treating was also my first time, as we always did fall festivals at church when I was growing up. There aren't as many churches around here that do festivals, including our church. Last year, we just did our neighborhood, but this year, we joined up with some friends in their (much larger) neighborhood.

And boy, did Claire have the time of her life.

We went around with about 5 other families (several of which had little girls about Claire's age!), got lots and lots of candy, and were dressed up as her favorites: characters from Tangled.

Pascal, Flynn Rider, and Rapunzel

(well, technically, I wasn't really dressed up. I was fighting a wretched cold, felt lousy, and couldn't pull anything together for myself. So, I wore Lily.)

How cute is she as a chameleon? I worked really hard on this costume, as you can see.

She was very excited about about this Rapunzel dress. Also, those door handles are placed so that they look like some sort of hairpiece (as my mom pointed out), but they're just handles to the laundry room.

Three princesses in our group: Anna, Rapunzel, and Elsa. Elsa's family also dressed thematically, and it was so cute.

Claire's haul. We're hardcore rationing, much to her frustration.

Halloween isn't really a big deal around the Boswell house, but it sure is fun to watch Claire have such a blast dressing up and being SO EXCITED after each house she visits. And yes, I've already fielded questions about when she can go trick-or-treating again.

Going back a few weeks: Twick or Tweat!

Small fact about myself: I never went trick-or-treating growing up. We always went to the big events that our churches put on for the community, which I thought were awesome. Games, prizes, candy, friends. Who wouldn't want to do that?

Well, the church we've been going to in Durham doesn't have a Halloween event, so we decided to take Claire trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. And, boy. She fell in love. She asks me almost daily if we can go again. Apparently, two-year-olds don't get the whole Halloween-is-once-a-year concept. Bless. Here's her costume:

To make things more fun, my parents, sister, and brother-in-law were all here with us! Mom and Dad had already scheduled a trip for that weekend, Amiee decided to come for her (super quick) fall break, and Tim was staying with us while doing medical residency interviews in North Carolina. So much fun going on at the Boswell house. This should also tell you how many folks we can accommodate at one time, so please come visit!

I would also like to note that we only went to houses that had porch lights on or candy bowls on the porch. Thus, we didn't knock on one of our neighbors' door. The next day, she stopped by the house with the treats that she had intended for Claire: a children's book about North Carolina and a plate of homemade pumpkin cookies. How sweet was that?? In return, Claire made a thank you card, dressed up again, and hand delivered it. 

Amiee can always be counted on to dress up.

Claire was SO mesmerized by Amiee being a cat. She just kept looking at Amiee and meowing.

I don't know what it is about it, but I LOVE this picture.

Here's one of the few pregnancy shots you'll see of me. This was during the block of time where I would get motion sick from watching TV. That was super fun. Also, those are leopard ears/fur on my head. Just FYI.

Tim, Brad and Claire. By the way, Claire calls Tim "Takia." We're not sure where that came from, but he rolls with it.

Brassart family shot. I'm dealing with my issues of pride and vanity by not cropping myself out. Baby steps, y'all.

We also invited our buddies to join us in the trick-or-treating. After acquiring our loot, we played on the playground across the street from our neighborhood, in hopes of burning off some sugar before bedtime. Didn't really work, but it was a good idea.

Claire came away from the experience with the idea that trick-or-treating is the BEST THING EVER and that chocolate is an acceptable substitute for any food I put on her plate at mealtime. She also occasionally refers to herself as Super Claire. Oh boy...