HALLOWEEN

We had quite an eventful week. On Monday, Samu, Sofia, Marko, and David came to pick Hanna up from her evening class. What a treat!

 We all enjoyed the last days of David's visit. Especially these two.

 With Halloween around the corner, our dress-up box was even more popular than usual and almost every evening was spent in costumes. Fire fighter Samu was very eager to get his homework done.

 He can write our address!

 For a long time, Samu could not decide what to wear for the big day. Even though he loves the princess costume, he finally decided to be a fire fighter at school.

 And finally, the big Halloween day was here. The conditions were perfect: A warm and sunny fall day, with daylight savings time giving us an extra hour and Halloween falling on a Saturday. Party preparations consisted of Samu coloring everybody's hair and the parents scrambling to find costumes. Unfortunately the stores were sold out, so we resorted to pink hair and wearing "crazy colors".

 

 

And off we went to Providence to see our lovely French friends. The plan was to go trick-or-treating first and have a dinner party afterwards. Samu was not quite comfortable with the idea of going outside to look at people in costumes, so the guys stayed home at first.

Here is the girl team. It was Sofia's and Hanna's first time to go trick-or-treating, and we were both quite curious what to expect.

 

Long story short, it was really great! We found a Halloween-crazy community that had surrendered the roads completely to the festivities. Almost all houses were lit and decorated, and most people were having cosy parties in their front yards, greeting us with candy and compliments. There were crazy cool decorations, music, and a fire thrower. Some people even turned their whole house into a haunted house. Everyone was super friendly and tried not to scare our kids.

 

 Sofia did so well. She was taking everything in with giant eyes and ears and after a few houses she insisted on getting her own candy. She watched what Alice and Margo were doing and did exactly the same (minus the talking). Every time she was rewarded with a piece of chocolate. No wonder she loved it! (And everyone loved her.)

Look at her go!

 

 

When we got back to Karyn and Nico's house and Samu heard our reports, his curiosity was bigger than his fear, so the boy team (Marko and Nico) went to accompany him on his first trick-or-treating trip. Just like Sofia, he was enjoying it a lot, even though some decorations and costumes were a bit scary. Overall, he had a really good time (and he doesn't even care for chocolate!).

After all that excitement, we had a delicious dinner and the kids started winding down with a bath and a bedtime story. Needless to say they fell asleep right away on the way out/home.

We were so pleased with our first real Halloween. Growing up in Halloween-skeptic Europe has not always helped us see the appeal of this holiday, but we are starting to get some aspects of it now: A whole community coming together to have a big street fest, decorating houses, dressing up, and welcoming kids to roam their streets - that's kind of awesome! THANK YOU Karyn, Nico, Margo, and Alice, for a fantastic evening!

Halloween in daycare was a 2-day event: First, there was a parade. Fire fighter Samu and chef Sofia had a great time walking around the neighborhood with their friends and showing off their costumes. Reports about the second day with the actual party were rather sparse, but judging from their smiles, the kids enjoyed it.

 Halloween crafts in the Pre-K classroom.

 And in the toddler room.

 To everyone's surprise, Olaf also came to visit Samu's class this week. Unfortunately Samu (second from left) is not too excited about giant snowmen.

 We spent the rest of our weekend recovering from all this excitement. Recovery activities included yard work and drinking pumpkin spice latte (from Dunkin' Donuts, of course) in the park, watching the kids play with leaves and trying to keep them from chasing the geese that rest there. With some fall decorations at one of the Dedham malls, we wish you all Happy Halloween and a great new week!