Spook-tacular Weekend

I think the general sentiment amongst my friends with kids the same age as Jake and Jadyn is that this is a super fun age for holidays. They really "get" that something special is happening and they get so excited about it, which is why this whole past weekend was jammed packed with anticipation and fun. My only complaint is that I wish our community would spread things out a little - there was literally too many activities to choose from!

Friday was Jadyn's preschool party at school. After 2 years with Jake and now the second and final year with Jadyn, every event at her preschool this year is going to be a little bittersweet because it will be the last for us - I have spent the last 4 years making goodies and volunteering for the class parties and once they get to elementary school, the holidays just are not quite the same. Jake's school barely even acknowledged Halloween. At any rate, here is kitty Jadyn with a few of her friends from school:

Friday evening Jake had soccer practice but we were still able to make it over to the community's annual Flashlight scramble. I think this is such a cool and unique event. They scatter candy and treats all over the ball field and promptly at 7 p.m. they turn off all the lights and the kids use their flashlights to hunt for candy. The kids loved it. It goes by super fast. We were back in the car to go home at 7:08 p.m.

Here they are before the start of the scramble (courtesy of my phone camera):

Saturday the kids had soccer games but Jake's coach had the wonderful idea of getting into the team spirit since it was Halloween weekend so all the boys put temporary color in their hair and some of them even had their faces painted. It was a good way to stay in high spirits too because their game was at 8 a.m. and the weather had turned quite chilly and windy. Initially Jake was relunctant to let me put green in his hair, but he eventually embraced it.

With teammate Zach:


I must be feeling particularly nostalgic right now because like with Jadyn's preschool, I have mixed feelings about the kids soccer season coming to an end. Yes I am ready for a break from the 3 hours of a week of sitting on the field during practices and having every Saturday committed to games. But at the same time we have made some wonderful friends and enjoyed the season so much, I know I will be sad when they play their last game in 2 weeks.

Sunday Joe made chili and the Beyer family came over for dinner before heading out to their church's Harvest Festival for some fun games. We then went trick-or-treating around the neighboring development before heading home to have a few trick-or-treaters ourselves. I honestly think having someone ring OUR doorbell might have been the highlight of the night for Jake and Jadyn. We never had anyone come to our door at the old house so this was definitely something new. Scottie and Ali came over to see all the kids in their costumes and the kids put on quite a little show while I tried to take some pictures. I have to mention that Gavin's homemade robot costume won two local contests.

In the church parking lot:

Daddy and Jadyn enjoying the festivities:

The boys:


Trick or treating (seriously it takes a lot to scare my kids):

Back at home putting on a show:

In front of the house (our Jack O' lanterns made it through the week):


So in closing, Halloween weekend was a blast. Jadyn in particular was so over the top excited about dressing up and trick-or-treating this year, it really was the cutest thing. Now it's time to get ready for Thanksgiving, which happens to be my favorite holiday, not to mention that since we are in the new house we are starting a new tradition this year - we are hosting Joe's family Thanksgiving gathering. I guess I better get to work.