Book Character Day and Halloween

 I feel very lucky that my kids go to an old-school kind of school. Don't get me wrong, it is not quite like my elementary days. They still have to play shadow-tag (no actual contact allowed) and wait on the school bus before being heralded inside to begin their day (no mingling of grades on the playground with little supervision). But, they still do some fun, traditional things. Like, Book Character Day. Which is really just an excuse to let the kids wear their Halloween costumes to school and parade around. This year, I tried to get the kids to actually be book characters.  The girls were all for it, Jack had no interest in such pretense.  It was Thomas' off Friday, so we were able to go and enjoy the costume parade:

Anna was fittingly "Little Miss Chatterbox"

Jack grabbed a Star Wars book (that may or may not have featured Captain Rex) and wore his Halloween Costume.

Kara dressed all in yellow and was a sweet Little Miss Sunshine.

I made these monster cake pops for Kara's class.

Such happy faces for a school day.

We had a fun Halloween.  I finally got everyone to be part of the same theme: Star Wars!  For years, we have been trying to accomplish this fete. But, no one ever agrees. Or, they agree and then when it becomes time for costumes, someone backs out and the whole thing unravels. We were almost the Wizard of Oz last year. We have almost been a few other things. But, it just never quite works out. This year, Luke was the tie that binds. I said he was going to be R2D2, and everyone wanted to be a part of his troupe. And, I got smart and purchased costumes before they could change their minds. Jack was Captain Rex (not just any storm trooper!), Anna was Princess Leia, Kara was Padme, Thomas was a Jedi and I wore a Chewbacca sweatshirt.

We put out a bowl of candy and left it on the front porch so that we could all watch Luke on his first trick-or-treating experience. He did go out last year, but he was 7 months old and I don't think he went up to any houses.  Although, he did enjoy being out in the stroller and enjoying the sites and sounds of the evening. This year was a completely different story. When we got to the first house, he wasn't sure what to expect and was not happy as we forced him to the door. However, as soon as the lady offered him a candy bar, he was all in! From there, he was unstoppable, he walked from house to house (except when we forced him into the stroller) and loved knocking and holding out his bag. When people would offer the bowl for him to choose, he would solemnly look through the bowl, choose a piece, and then usually hand it to the person trying to give it away. He absolutely loved it!

I'm sure it didn't hurt that the first house was offering full-sized candy bars! His first chosen treat? Skittles.

Our neighborhood is a perfect size for trick-or-treating. There are about 60 houses and we were able to take a fairly leisurely pace and still hit every house in about 90 minutes.  When we finished with our neighborhood, Anna really wanted to go to her teacher's house.  Her teacher lives less than 2 miles away, but they are not really walkable miles (especially in the dark), so we drove over and let her trick-or-treat there. Anna felt very special meeting her teacher's dog and seeing her outside the classroom.

We got home and let the kids begin the great candy sort. Jack can't have anything with peanuts, so the trading/negotiating began immediately. It was a very successful Halloween!  Some bonus photos:

This is my favorite picture.  Is he not the cutest little R2D2 there ever was?

Don't be fooled--he needed no encouragement.

Kara handing candy out to Jacob, who joined us (along with Jennifer and Chris) on our trick-or-treating.