Friday, November 2, 2018

Halloween.

The family that slays together stays together. (“The family that practices nonviolence together” just didn’t have the same ring to it.)

This year our costumes were directed by Everett. He wanted to be a red dragon. Cambria then wanted to be a dragon, too. At the last minute, Matt and I joined in on the fun. 

We have yet to make it further than our street while trick or treating, but Everett loves to hand out candy as much as he loves to go door to door. 

The morning after Halloween we all woke up a little sad that it's over. I feel like with the way Halloween encourages family bonding, getting to know your neighborhood, and making adults act like kids, it’s something that should happen at least twice a year.

Luckily, we try to drag our holidays out as long as possible, so it felt like we have been celebrating Halloween for awhile now. 

Leading up to Halloween, we checked out piles of library books and spent lots of time making decorations. I have never been one for decorating for each holiday, but somehow I’m raising two kids who LOVE making decorations.

Some traditions stayed the same like carving pumpkins (thank goodness Matt enjoys it), going to the pumpkin patch, and making art. We added a new tradition this year: going on a hike in our costumes the week of Halloween.

Now, it's time to move onto Thanksgiving.

(I already posted most of these photos on Instagram, but I wanted to journal here anyway. Just not ready to quit the blog yet.)
Confession: this might be blasphemous, but I actually don’t like carving pumpkins (Matt does though, so our kids will still have a decent childhood). It’s messy and time-consuming, and then you have a masterpiece that only lasts for a few days.
⠀⠀
I’m always looking for other things to do with pumpkins, and this is a fun one that has become a tradition for us.
⠀⠀
For the past two years, we’ve attempted to grow our own pumpkins. Each year, we’ve taken a pumpkin we’ve grown and made this weird spider web with a spider on it. ⠀

The best part is Everett did it almost all by himself, and he even let Cambria help a little. He named his spider Big Girl, after Cambria, because that’s what she calls herself.⠀
She moved this chair by her bookshelf to read her “bookies.” Upon finishing her pumpkin art, she stood on the chair and repeatedly yelled, “I love my pumpkin!” She definitely has a healthy self-esteem. This girl is so proud of her art every time. ⠀⠀

This boy is in a phase where he wants to write letters and draw and paint all day, and it’s fun to see what he creates.
⠀⠀
This is his painting of a pumpkin patch and he’s explaining to me how “some of the pumpkins have little baby pumpkins in their tummies.”

I took these dragons on a hike. I’m thinking this may just become a new Halloween week tradition for us. ⠀⠀

I’m not the mom who will spend hours hand crafting a beautiful homemade costume, but I am the mom who will excitedly take my costumed kids on an adventure.

As a mom, I’m learning to embrace what makes me happy, and let go of the rest. Let’s spend more time feeling good about what makes us who we are and less time feeling guilty about the things we’re not.





Because even dragons get tired and need to rest on a hike:
Until next year...

No comments:

Post a Comment