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.
As a family living in a modern world, I make every attempt
to keep our electronic calendar up to date. It's the best way to keep
Daniel and I on the same page, especially as our lives get busier.
October was a extra busy month. At the beginning of the month Daniel
texted me, pointing out that every weekend was booked and that if
possible he wanted to keep our November free.
The last weekend of the month was especially busy. On Saturday Jack had a soccer game in the morning, followed by a friend's birthday party at lunch.
At the party, the kids were picked up by a school bus and taken to the local gymnastics gym for an afternoon of play (a ride on the school bus is a perk of living in a small town). Jack was over the moon about his first bus ride.
Then Saturday evening we attended our neighborhood block party, and finally Sunday was a Friends and Family Day at our church.
The Friends and Family Day was jam packed full of fun things. There was a potluck for lunch, then we came back that evening
for a petting zoo with pony rides (a first for Isaac), face painting, kickball for the big
kids, a hay ride, a family devotional, and then we ended the night with an
outdoor movie. It is one of my favorite events with our church family.
I wish I could say that November will be more relaxed, but we are already busy. Last weekend we celebrated my birthday and this weekend is Jack's 5th Birthday. How is our baby already turning five! And before we know it Thanksgiving will be here.
Even though this is an incredibly busy season of life (and I know if
will get busier as our kids get older), I am grateful for the times we
are spending together. I hope we are instilling kindness in our children
and that they are learning to treat every person they encounter with
love and respect.
October was a busy month for the Moore family and the last weekend of the month about did us in. I'm still getting my bearings!
Jack dressed up as Spider-Man for his preschool party. He was pumped because his best friend from preschool was also Spider-Man.
Saturday night we went to a neighborhood party. The kids were supposed to wear costumes, but it was just too hot. Jack settled for his fireman jacket and helmet, paired with shorts and boots. Isaac wore Jack's Ninja Turtle helmet and TMNT t-shirt.
Sunday we had Friends and Family Day at our church. No costumes for this event, but we did enjoy sweating on the annual hayride (more on Friends and Family Day in a separate post).
Halloween fell on a Monday this year. The whole month of October had record highs for this area of the country. We had a scheduled dentist appointment that afternoon and we all had on shorts and sandals!
That evening, we met up with friends for what has become our annual trick-or-treating experience. This is our third year to do this, and we continue to love this tradition. Our first time trick-or-treating, it snowed. Last year it rained. This year we sweated. I guess you never know what you are going to get in the south!
Jack was Spider-Man and Isaac was a version of a Ninja Turtle (we had a cow costume for him, but it was too hot). Our friend's kids were the Dr. Pepper guy, and the Signal Mountain Cheerleaders.
We walked a little over two miles (the kids did more than that running back and forth between houses). This was the first year we didn't walk up to the doors with Jack – how is he already big enough to do this without us holding his hand?!?!?
Isaac walked up to the first two houses with Daniel's help, and then spent the rest of the night in the stroller. We thought he would fall asleep, but that was not the case!
About halfway through our evening, Jack told me his feet hurt. I asked if he wanted to ride in the stroller and go home. To which he emphatically told me "No!" So we continued, with him walking the entire way.
We finished our night at the witch's house. This is the scariest house in our friend's neighborhood. The little girls refused to get close. Jack marched right up with the big kids, and told the witch he was not scared of her as we walked away. Last year he actually negotiated with this witch about which piece of candy he wanted. He cracks us up!
This year Isaac stayed awake until we got in the car, and then he passed out. He slept all the way home and stayed asleep when I carried him inside and changed him into pajamas!
I'm sure that next year Isaac will be marching up to all of the houses too.
*Be sure to watch the video all the way to the end to get Jack's reaction to the witch.
