Halloween

Halloween this year consisted of pumpkin carving (complete with song):

And several costume changes. For the first celebration with Gabriela's group, Elsa was a ballerina. She put on a dress out of her dress-up collection, and I put her hair up, high on top of her head. And that was that. For the playgroup celebration, we were at a neighbor's house, who happens to have a fairly large piece of property, set back from the road. We were able to set up the little nursery rhyme stations, and we sent two groups through, stopping to hear each nursery rhyme (and pick up a treat) along the way, just like in years past. This year, I was in charge of pulling it together and, in the end, I think it turned out alright. It is always so fun seeing the children so enchanted.

On Halloween itself, Elsa was Ariel, from The Little Mermaid. She put on the Ariel costume she got for her birthday, and this time I put her hair in what we call the "fishtail ponytail" -- seemed fitting. We teamed up with neighborhood friends, and in the end ended up with a huge group of parents and children, traveling in swarm from house to house. It felt awesome to be among everyone and truly realizing how many little ones are actually in the neighborhood. Aveline the Butterfly (she kept one costume for all Halloween-related activities, but had a hard time actually keeping it on) seemed to catch on to the trick-or-treating thing pretty quickly, and had a lot of fun going door to door. She was wiped out by the end, though.

The candy only lasted so long around here before I said enough was enough and got rid of most of it... but I did allow the girls to indulge a little. ;)

Oh, and might I add that Elsa had originally decided she was going to be Cinderella for Halloween. Thank goodness for a collection of cheap, consignment-sale-find dress-up clothes!