Halloween

Yes, we do Halloween...but that just means we get dressed up, carve a pumpkin, go to a party at church and trick or treat to friends' houses. One year we went with friends to a neighborhood in Wichita that goes ALL OUT. Every house was elaborately decorated with VERY SCARY stuff that jumped out, had sounds, one even had a guillotine with mock execution every half hour. It turned my stomach, and the kids did not enjoy it. I don't get how people enjoy being scared. To me, it feels unnatural, just makes me want to flee. So, we don't go out for the spooky. We play it light.

Some in history may have tried to make Halloween into a celebration of evil. We're not helping them out, we're reclaiming it for God, fun, for a night celebrating dressing up, being child-like playing games and eating lots of SUGAR!!

This year, we went homemade in the costume department, for which I was grateful to not spend the money!! We are at a missionary center where they have a "boutique", which is like a thrift store, that's really just a giant missionary barrel. You get what you need, it's free. We got the clothes, mask, jewelry we needed for all three kids there. We bought Olivia's dress at Goodwill and she added on to it with fabric paint and made her own crown.

 Olivia was Queen Elizabeth I, since we have been reading about her in history. Isaiah was Darth Vader (he even does the heavy breathing thing, very funny!) and Grace was Princess Leia... which she loved except for me putting her hair in the signature Leia style (the pouty photo above is her sulking because I had just done her hair)...but I insisted she needed it!! We love Star Wars and the kids love playing "Lego Star Wars" on the play station. On a side note, on our honeymoon in Costa Rica, we were at the beach, but on Christmas day, watched the WHOLE Star Wars series (All 6!)