This Halloween we learned that warm weather makes a big difference on what our young family can do in October. We were able to do ALL the Halloween things and did not get over-worked in the process. We had a blast!!
Our first night carving pumpkins went well! We worked on Dallin’s pumpkin.
A couple weeks later, we worked on Tanner’s pumpkin!
Dallin showing off another missing tooth! He was up to three lost teeth at this point, getting ahead of his big brother in the count. Tanner handled it much better than I thought he would.
We enjoyed and evening at the zoo called Hal-GLOW-een. This event occurrs several times in October and was so much fun!! Costumes were encouraged, so the boys and I dressed up like animals. We got to explore the park after dark, which means that many of the nocturnal animals were awake. There were lots of festive black lights, jack-o-lanterns and semi-spooky decorations everywhere. We got to see an acrobat show, which alone made the visit worth it. The boys loved Dr. Doolittle’s jokes and were a little put-off by the man playing a creepy organ. We all enjoyed the Big Bubble Dance party by the Panda Hut before going home.
I turned 36!! For dinner, we went to IKEA as a family and filled our faces with meatballs, salads and chocolate cake. It was a really fun evening. For my birthday service project, I sponsored a local family so that they could shop for their toddler whose clothes got damaged/stolen while moving to a new home. I was excited to help him get new clothes instead of just hand-me downs and later heard that the mom was able to get everything he needed.
It was a great day to celebrate the gift of living. This past year, I lived some big ups and downs. In the process, I learned a lot. I learned… a little more about myself with all my different teaching and leadership positions. Puerto Rico taught me how to better manage emotional energy and foster peace. I learned how to start making healthy boundaries and priorities in various relationships. Moving to San Diego taught me how to accept change, accept my limitations and let go of fear. I also learned how to rely on the Savior’s healing power as I participated in acupuncture, meditation, and church. I also learned more about faith in my Heavenly Father as I pressed forward to pursue an unsure path in my teaching career.
Thirty-six and lookin’ slick!
Jeremy turned 36!! Tanner made a special gift display for him.
His birthday was on a Sunday this year, so the boys went for a bike ride in the afternoon while I made dinner and cake.
Our beef stew dinner was very yummy. But the big talk of the evening was the pumpkin cake I had made! Everyone hated it. I mean, the actual cake that I made from scratch was delicious, but the cream cheese frosting didn’t turn out so great because I thought it wouldn’t need any sugar. 😬 I think everyone learned their lesson: Jeremy should make his own birthday cakes!
The boys made some nice cards and gifts for Jeremy. For Jeremy’s birthday service project, he tried to volunteer with the city’s native vegetation restoration project, but the event was canceled. So he spent a lot of time maintaing the trails in our canyon.
Thirty-six and lookin slick!
We got back into the swing of me teaching Tanner and Dallin piano lessons. One evening I showed them a hidden talent of mine.
Our church had a Trunk-or-Treat activity that we all got dressed up for! Like most years, we decided on costume ideas in August and then spent the next month gathering all the items needed. It was exciting to use a lot of face paint this year, which played a key role in our costumes, especially Dallin’s.
All ready to go to the party! Can you guess what Dallin is?
One the way, the boys and I were really excited.
We were the Kings Combo!!!
Jeremy was the coach, complete with a whistle and clipboard. Every item for his costume was already owned!
I was the cheerleader!! In order to get all suited up with the proper gear, I had to do a lot of shopping, but I was really intentional in getting pieces that I could wear again and again for other purposes. The Kings t-shirt fit me great and will be fun to wear to real Kings games. The purple skirt is something I looked specifically for on amazon, and it is something I’ve been able to wear with everyday outfits. The accessories are things I pieced together from trips to party city and seaches on amazon. My regular shoes just happened to have purple and black stripes, which really popped with the mini pom poms that I made for the tops of my shoes. I was really happy with how it all turned out!
Tanner was the basketball player. The player he dressed up as: Tanner Zavoral, future NBA Kings player.
Tanner’s basketball is a pumpkin candy bucket for trick-or-treating. We covered up the jack-o-lantern face with orange foam and used black electrical tape to make the basketball lines.
Jeremy painted the tatoos on him with our face paints.
Tanner made himself these stockings because I guess it’s something certain players wear. He took a pair of Jeremy’s old socks, cut the feet off, and used permanent marker to put designs on them.
I was able to personalize a generic jersey with a seller on amazon for a decent price. The number 4 is Tanner’s basketball number from his last league.
Tanner with his ball and hoop!
He shoots! He scores!!
Dallin was the basketball hoop!! When we brainstormed what everyone could be if we did a King’s theme, Dallin joked that it would be funny if he was the hoop. I loved the idea and ran with it! We had fun trying to make it look like his head was a ball going through the hoop.
I used a thin cardboard box for the backboard and wrapped it up with two layers of wrapping paper, letting the white side of the wrapping show. The boys decorated it with cheers and logos. I hot-glued a sweat gaurd headband to the backboard and hoped it would be strong enough to stay on his head. It was really unstable, so I created a base out of dowel sticks that were glued to the base of the backboard and extended down into Dallin’s shirt at the back of his neck. I then tied a piece of long fabric around the sticks and his chest so that the sticks were secured against his body. This kept the hoop from wobbling as Dallin walked and turned his head.
I died his hair and painted his face to look like his entire head was the ball going through the hoop. The headband acted as the rim to the hoop and I did a sweet job painting the lacing of the hoop on his face. We gave him a simple shirt and shorts so his body would look like the post holding everything up. The wrist bands helped him look a bit more athletic and just brought a good completion to his look. He also had a candy bucket like Tanner’s that we made into a basketball.
Dallin’s costume wasn’t very comfortable, but he was able to go 45 minutes with it on!! He was the talk of the party and got a lot of laughs, amazed faces and even people asking to get pictures with him! It was so fun to do a family themed costume!
The trunks for getting treats were all very clever!
Jeremy handed out candy at our car. Instead of candy, our treats were musical kazoos!! By the end of the night, every kid was buzzing around with their kazoo. They sounded like a choir of bumble bees!
Our friends from summer basketball were able to join us for the last part of the evening. The boys had fun going around to every trunk with them.
When we got home and took off Dallin’s sweatband, it looked like he was some kind of insect.
In Tanner’s class I did a presentation called Sing Me a Story. I read the book “My Rotten Red-Headed Older Brother” by Patricia Polacco. As I read, I sang various songs and played sound effects with various instruments to enhance the story. I chose this book because the students were doing a writing unit on personal narratives. I read the story a second time through so that the students could help me sing and play the instruments. It was so fun!
At the suggestion of their teacher, Mrs. Honma, I came back a few days later to teach the kids how to make their own personal narratives into Sing Me a Story. Every student used the tune “skip to my lou” with words from their project, and they had 3 instruments to use for sound effects. It was such a neat project. After a couple weeks, the students that wanted to gave a performance of their stories for their classmates and parents.
I went into Dallin’s class twice in October. The first lesson was to reinforce a unit they were doing on emotional regulation. We explored emotions with Pumpkin Pumpkin, 5 Little Pumpkins, I’ve Got Peace Like a River, Sing with Me and maybe one other but I forget. On Halloween day, I was able to do an hour long lesson with the class!! I came dressed as the song Mary Had a Little Lamb. I taught several singing games including Stirring the Brew and Haunted House on Halloween Night. We played Rig a Jig Jig as if we were different Halloween creatures going trick-or-treating (monsters with low voices, fairies with high voices, etc) and explored high and low Halloween sounds with the flannel board characters that I brought.
The boys found a few more activities they can do outside in our driveway area. This time they started a game of kickball. They also have enjoyed football, baseball, basketball, fort playing, bike riding and scootering.
Dallin got way too tall for this bike. So we finally faced reality that it was time to move up bike sizes. Jeremy sold Dallin’s two wheeler and gave Tanner’s bike to Dallin. Then Jeremy bought a new bike for Tanner.
Goodbye Old Bike!
Hello new bike for Tanner and hand-me-down bike for Dallin!
On Halloween day, it was Thursday, so the boys got out of school early. We enjoyed taking things easy before our big night.
For dinner, we had mummy dogs!!
Then, it was time for real trick-or-treating on Halloween night!! I did my hair a little differently and did eye make-up this time!
After getting everyone ready, our bathroom was a fun, big mess!
Jeremy’s free-style tatoos for Tanner looked so good!!
All ready to go out in the neighborhood!! Dallin wore his backboard after we got out of the car at the top of the hill.
We headed toward some streets just up our hill because we heard those would be a good place to try for candy. We really had no idea what to expect, just hoping for a few good rows of homes that would be prepared to give out candy to our kids. Well, everything we saw and experienced exceeded far beyond our expectations!
First of all, the weather was warm. I’m not talking mildly chilly that some people pretend is warm. It was actually warm! It was warm enough that I didn’t even need a jacket OR a scarf, which says a lot. I was not expecting that!
Second, we learned that the culture in this neighborhood is different from traditional doorbell ringing. At first we thought that some families were extra social and just wanted to give out candy from their porch so they could enjoy the warm weather. But after knocking on a few doors and ringing bells with houses that had porch lights on, we soon figured out that “lights on” was not the standard indicator for candy here. Every single family handing out candy was sitting on the front porch or in their front yard! This meant that neighbors were waving and chatting to each other. Music was playing and kids were outside watching movies projected onto their house walls. Since every home is just inches from each other, there was just this amazing feeling of togetherness in the air!
Third, our kids knew people! Within the first 5 minutes, Tanner and Dallin both recognized a handful of friends from their classes! It was really adorable to hear them discover that they lived close to each other. I didn’t realize there were so many homes on these streets with children that my kids know!
Fourth, the streets were PACKED with trick-or-treaters. Especially near the school, it was heal to toe traffic on the sidewalks. It felt like a parade or festival! Really amazing, especially since none of our neighbors or friends told us about this.
And finally, we were not expecting so many houses to be festively decorated. People had Halloween and Christmas lights, zombie displays, clown and graveyard decor, and haunted houses. One couple built a giant castle display extended from their home to look like Dr. Frankentsien’s lab. There was music playing and couldrons bubbling. I got spooked several times throughout the night by the pranks and displays in people’s yards.
It was probably the neatest trick-or-treat run I’ve ever been on. Although the boys were a little overwhelmed at times by the crowds, they had a blast. From the friendly spirit to familiar faces to the well decorated festivities, it felt like we were at an amusement park–and it was all in our own neighborhood!! What a fun evening!
When we got home, the boys laid out their candy in our bedroom and started chomping away. They were pretty good about going to bed and finished their candy over the course of the next two weeks. We liked that they didn’t have nearly as much as past years.
Two days later, we attended a festival in Old San Diego for Dia de Muertos. Matt and Johanna came with us! I had so much fun doing face make up on the family earlier that week, that I decided to try decorating my face for this fun event. I copied some ideas from online and was really happy with the way it turned out!
I put roses on the sides of my cheeks, on my chin and forehead, all turquoise of course. I grabbed som flower from our vase in the kitchen.
Johanna took this pic of me.
It looked really wierd when I smiled with my teeth showing!
We signed the book, where you can write a message to your ancestors. Tanner wrote a message to Gpa Lee and I wrote one to Gma Higgins.
There were lots of offerings on display! The boys recognized a lot of the traditions from the movie Coco.
We let the boys make some candles at the candle shop.
We made little quilt patches to be used for a community quilt at the quilting house.
I had the idea for us to make two patches, one with something about ourselves and one about an ancestor. Here is the one I made for Grandma Bernice.
Here is all the patches that our family made!
Outdoor concerts and little parades were fun to watch. We got some fresca from one of the many food stands.
We all had a fun time together!! I especially loved how Tanner and Dallin were really thinking about their namesakes and many of their great-grandparents while we celebrated. It was a neat way to feel the spirit of the holiday! Can’t wait for the Halloween season next year!
