What!? There was a Halloween?...
I seem to have missed it. My family hasn't gotten to see the pictures from this year's events. So the following post is for the benefit of family and friends, and those wonderful grandmothers, who want to see some silly fun. Cute kids in silly costumes follows. And be prepared evil doers, for Word Girl is on duty!
Halloween fun started a few days before All Hallows itself. The city of Cumberland had a special event at a local city park with a kids contest party, a kiddy haunted house, and a hay ride to a pavilion with activities. Ellawyn's Word Girl outfit wasn't ready yet, so she went as a flower fairy. This was great, since she met up with two other friends there and they were fairies too.
I know, super cute.
Its funny, despite everything, all her time at Renaissance Festivals and being on stage, it was during the costume contest that Ell got a little nervous.
Later, a friend and her were playing on a toy in the playground and I asked where they were going. They said, "Neverland" and I took this cute picture.
This was later used for a special graphic design project I did and will post about later.
We had alot of fun and it was like a prologue to the fun to come.
On All Hallows Ever itself, we had planned to Trick or Treat our town of Mount Savage and then return here for a bit of kid party. Mount Savage is well known for being one of those towns for folks really enjoy Halloween. Lots of Trick or Treaters and everyone outside on the porches with candy.
We also enjoy Halloween and put up as many decorations and such as we can. When we lived in Crownsville, our apartment was located on a major road, and over top of restaurant. Every Halloween, we would wrap up our big mask season with pumpkin display, mask gallery open studio, party at the restaurant, and an altar for Día de los Muertos. This is the tradition of the Day of the Dead and we use it to remind our kids to remember our family and friends who have passed away. So its our mantel covered in pictures of loved ones long gone and even some friends recently passed. Here it is.
Here is one of the Mount Savage neighbors in her witchy best standing over her front yard cauldron.
And here is Ellawyn looking a little nervous next to a local in a very creepy clown mask. I don't blame her, I would be too. But they had put up this fun inflatable haunted house.
A couple of dads and a gang of candy hunting kids. I'm the one with the horns..oh, you knew that.
The next day, the city of Cumberland had rescheduled it's downtown trick or treat on the pedestrian mall from the weekend before when it got rained out. Our teen youth group from our church had decide to do some social action and hand out "Fair Trade" chocolate. It's not common knowledge that much of the cocoa beans used in candy is worked by child labor under terrible conditions. Here are a couple of links on the issue:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/24/news/international/chocolate_bittersweet.fortune/index.htm
And
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/2/14/child_labor_the_hidden_ingredient_to
So here is some big kids and little kids working the table and looking great.
Later, Leah and some friends went for a ride on the "Pumpkin Coach". A feature of downtown events, a Cinderella styled set up on a trailer.
Like any Halloween, some folks go all out with costumes. So here is a Venus Flytrap that is a little over the top!
The first image of Ellawyn showed you her costume. She likes to watch "Word Girl" on PBS, a super hero who defeats evil doers and shows off her large vocabulary. I like it for a little girl who is only five and reading at a 2nd grade level. She LOVED her costume. And here is a picture right after her pose above, where she was dancing with a passing Cookie Monster.
We were overjoyed to run into another Word Girl as well. Especially since most folks didn't know who Ell was dressed as. This Word Girl was a bit more shy, but super cute. She was actually the daughter of a fellow church member.
In all, it was a great Halloween, with lots of little kid focused fun, which is how it should be for the parents of a little girl. Jared got to do some teen events as well, goofing off and going to a haunted event with the teen group. And I got to carve my Green Man Pumpkin which I will show off one more time.
Hope you had a good All Hallows Eve yourselves.
Kubiando!
Halloween fun started a few days before All Hallows itself. The city of Cumberland had a special event at a local city park with a kids contest party, a kiddy haunted house, and a hay ride to a pavilion with activities. Ellawyn's Word Girl outfit wasn't ready yet, so she went as a flower fairy. This was great, since she met up with two other friends there and they were fairies too.
I know, super cute.
Its funny, despite everything, all her time at Renaissance Festivals and being on stage, it was during the costume contest that Ell got a little nervous.
Later, a friend and her were playing on a toy in the playground and I asked where they were going. They said, "Neverland" and I took this cute picture.
This was later used for a special graphic design project I did and will post about later.
We had alot of fun and it was like a prologue to the fun to come.
On All Hallows Ever itself, we had planned to Trick or Treat our town of Mount Savage and then return here for a bit of kid party. Mount Savage is well known for being one of those towns for folks really enjoy Halloween. Lots of Trick or Treaters and everyone outside on the porches with candy.
We also enjoy Halloween and put up as many decorations and such as we can. When we lived in Crownsville, our apartment was located on a major road, and over top of restaurant. Every Halloween, we would wrap up our big mask season with pumpkin display, mask gallery open studio, party at the restaurant, and an altar for Día de los Muertos. This is the tradition of the Day of the Dead and we use it to remind our kids to remember our family and friends who have passed away. So its our mantel covered in pictures of loved ones long gone and even some friends recently passed. Here it is.
Here is one of the Mount Savage neighbors in her witchy best standing over her front yard cauldron.
And here is Ellawyn looking a little nervous next to a local in a very creepy clown mask. I don't blame her, I would be too. But they had put up this fun inflatable haunted house.
A couple of dads and a gang of candy hunting kids. I'm the one with the horns..oh, you knew that.
The next day, the city of Cumberland had rescheduled it's downtown trick or treat on the pedestrian mall from the weekend before when it got rained out. Our teen youth group from our church had decide to do some social action and hand out "Fair Trade" chocolate. It's not common knowledge that much of the cocoa beans used in candy is worked by child labor under terrible conditions. Here are a couple of links on the issue:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/24/news/international/chocolate_bittersweet.fortune/index.htm
And
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/2/14/child_labor_the_hidden_ingredient_to
So here is some big kids and little kids working the table and looking great.
Later, Leah and some friends went for a ride on the "Pumpkin Coach". A feature of downtown events, a Cinderella styled set up on a trailer.
Like any Halloween, some folks go all out with costumes. So here is a Venus Flytrap that is a little over the top!
The first image of Ellawyn showed you her costume. She likes to watch "Word Girl" on PBS, a super hero who defeats evil doers and shows off her large vocabulary. I like it for a little girl who is only five and reading at a 2nd grade level. She LOVED her costume. And here is a picture right after her pose above, where she was dancing with a passing Cookie Monster.
We were overjoyed to run into another Word Girl as well. Especially since most folks didn't know who Ell was dressed as. This Word Girl was a bit more shy, but super cute. She was actually the daughter of a fellow church member.
In all, it was a great Halloween, with lots of little kid focused fun, which is how it should be for the parents of a little girl. Jared got to do some teen events as well, goofing off and going to a haunted event with the teen group. And I got to carve my Green Man Pumpkin which I will show off one more time.
Hope you had a good All Hallows Eve yourselves.
Kubiando!