Halloween 2017

One final post about Halloween (October is a crazy month!). See my posts about pumpkin carving here and church activities here.

Isaac had a Halloween Party at preschool, so he got to wear his Batman costume to the celebration. Jack had Homeschool PE at the Y, with no party, so we stopped for Halloween donuts on the way to the Y.

After I dropped him off, I headed back to preschool to celebrate Halloween with Isaac's class. Halloween is the first party of the year and Isaac had so much fun celebrating with his classmates.

He was very proud of his Halloween cookie and showed me how they line up in the hallway. At the end of the party the kids played on the playground and Isaac showed off his bike skills by riding all of the riding toys at school.

Last year we hit our sweet spot with Trick-or-Treating: Jack was big enough to run up to all of the houses without us following close behind, and Isaac was stuck in a stroller...

This year, Isaac insisted on running up to EVERY house with the bigger kids. This meant Daniel and I had to take turns walking up with him.

Which is totally exhausting.

Isaac kind of kept up at first, but eventually we were carrying him to the doors. Then we were skipping houses and making him ride in the stroller.

As a two-year-old he was not impressed because he wants to be a part and do everything himself.

But we all survived and had another fun year of trick-or-treating with our close friends.

It's hard to believe this was our fourth year to trick-or-treat together!

We met up for dinner before and then our friends bigger kids ended up splitting off and going on their own. It wasn't a particularly cold year this year, but it also wasn't hot like last year.

Halloween with friends is one of my favorite holidays! I'm not sure how it will look as the kids get older, but it is fun right now. And next year, Isaac should be able to do most of the houses while the adults trail behind and chat in the street!

The best quote of the night was from Isaac: We walked up to a house with skull lights and he told them, "Don't bite me!" Very matter-of-factly. He also told someone in a life-size T-Rex costume, "Don't eat me!" and ran away.

A Look Back at Halloween's Past: 
Cow in 2012 ⎮  Cow Part 2 in 2013 ⎮ Optimus Prime in 2014 ⎮ Iron Man and Stay Puft/Fire Fighters 2015 ⎮ SpiderMan and Ninja Turtle 2016 

Halloween Festivities 2017

Starting in the month of October our months get pretty busy. Besides trick-or-treating, our church has a Costume Parade at church and a Family Fun Day that we always enjoy attending.

For the Costume Parade, the kids dress up for church and get to parade through the hallways, showing off their costumes. At the end, we all meet up in the gym for cookies and fellowship.

The Family Day at our church always includes a hayride and ends with a movie (normally on the lawn). This year it was cold, so they moved the movie to the gym.

Last year they had a petting zoo, this year there were bouncy houses. It's always a fun time and we look forward to this experience every year.

Our small group also tries to visit a retirement home and reverse trick-or-treat every year around the time of Halloween.

This means our kids dress up in the costumes and load up their bags with candy, but instead of receiving candy, we visit everyone in the retirement home and pass out candy to them.

The people how live there always love it. They apologize for not having candy to give our kids, but we explain that we are there to give them candy and bring a little joy to their day.

The kids get to interact with different people and we spread a little sunshine.

Charlotte's Web

If you know me in real life, or have been following this blog for any amount of time, you know that I love to read. Part of my goal in homeschooling is to pass along that love of reading to my children.

*all photos of the play via the Youth Theatre at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre Facebook page

As I prepared for this school year, I looked through the piles of books that Daniel and I still have from when we were kids, and made a list of books I thought would be appropriate to read aloud with Jack throughout the school year.

That preliminary list included: Charlotte's Web, Winnie the Pooh, and Frog and Toad. So imagine my delight when my good friend informed me that the Youth Theatre at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre would be performing all three of these as plays during the 2017-2018 school year. They also performed Beauty and the Beast, but we opted to skip that play due to it's two-hour length.

So our very first experience attending a play for school was a local production of Charlotte's Web. During the two months leading up to the play, I read the book aloud to Jack. Often stopping to make sure he was grasping the story and could tell it back to me (narration) or answer my specific questions.

We finished the last chapter on the morning of the play, then headed downtown to meet our friends for our Friend Friday outing. 

The play only lasted 60 minutes, but hit all the highlights. I only had to step out for a few minutes with Isaac because he was hungry, but even he sat a watched most of the production.

Jack's favorite part was the scene where Wilbur was attempting to run away and he ran wildly across the stage leaving mayhem in his wake. I was really impressed with the set and how closely they stuck to the book, even though they had to leave parts out to fit the allotted time.

My kids surprised me with their ability to sit quietly through a play, and enjoy and understand what was happening on stage. 

Afterward we walked to a Mexican restaurant with our friends. The kids all sat together and the moms sat together and discussed the play and life in general. It was a perfect Friday afternoon.

When we went our separate ways, Jack asked to go to a playground he likes that is downtown. Since it was so beautiful out, we drove across the river to the park. The kids briefly played on the playground equipment before they found some discarded cardboard boxes and took up cardboard sledding instead.

It was the second time for Jack, and this time I rode down with Isaac before he attempted on his own. We had a lot of fun, and are grateful for all that our city has to offer, right down to the grassy hills by a river front that you can sled on year round!

The next play we hope to attend is The House At Pooh Corner. We have started reading that book aloud in anticipation of the play. 

Check back on Fridays to see our weekly outings.
If you're following along, here are our previous Friend Friday adventures this school year: August: Coolidge Park
September: Creative Discovery Museum ⎮ Greenway Farms Picnic ⎮ Chattanooga Zoo ⎮ Big Soddy Gulf Picnic
October: Reflection Riding Center

Update: A couple of months after the play, we noticed that Charlotte's Web was on Netflix, so we watched it for a family movie night. I later quizzed Jack about the story. We discussed the differences in the book, play, and movie. I was surprised at how much he remembered – even obscure things after so much time had passed. I am grateful to be on this learning journey with him and to see first-hand all of the connections he makes and things he remembers.