With every new holiday, we have had to develop new traditions -- Halloween and Thanksgiving are no different. Our first Halloween activity was to carve pumpkins at the home of some new friends from Golden whose daughter, Dylan, is in Jill's 1st grade class.
Time to get carving!
Making faces.
Lucky Danny also got to play with pumpkins at school. I'm not sure what he's doing to his pumpkin -- looks more like stabbing than carving -- but he sure looks cute doing it.
The kids each had class Halloween parties too, although unfortunately Danny was home sick the day of his party so he had to settle for a take-home goody bag.
Starting the Halloween parade (which had to be indoors due to inclement weather).
Guess who else I saw in the parade! I'll give you three clues: (1) He was dressed as a minecraft creeper; (2) he's in second grade; and (3) he's my other favorite kid who goes to Mitchell Elementary.
In Chicago, the actual night of Halloween was always kind of anti-climactic because there were so many pre-Halloween events to go to. Golden, it seems, is different. We tried one pre-Halloween event at the Mines Museum...
...but it was pretty boring and there was no candy. Just a lot of rocks....
...so we all just went back to our house where the kids"trick-or-treated" in the living room and then put on a movie.
But the trade-off was that the actual night of Halloween was definitely not anti-climactic. The kids got tons of candy in the neighborhoods around our house (so much that next year they plan to bring pillowcases to hold all of it) while Chris and I enjoyed wine and spiked cider with the grownups (all of whom were trailing around after their kids holding solo cups). I think we could get used to this!
The dark side...
...versus the light side...
...versus the crazy side.
Just a few weeks after Halloween, it was time to pack our bags and drive back East for Thanksgiving. The kids got the whole week off of school, so Chris and I took the week off as well and turned it into a 10-day homecoming trip. It was so nice to revisit old stomping grounds, see old friends, and spend time with family.
It was a long drive though.
We spent one day in the city, where we saw Chicago through the eyes of tourists for the first time.
Breathing in that "city" air.
Hello again, Bean!
Peek-a-boo!
Chicago was all decked-out for Christmas.
We also stopped by the kids' old school and spent time with some Chicago BFFs.
Apart from our day-trip to Chicago, we spent most of the rest of our time with family. The first half of the week was in South Bend with the Vander Griends and Burgesses.
Snuggles with Aunt Marie...
...who appears to be shrinking.
Back into the old routines.
Sweet cousins.
Quick day trip to the lake.
This growing girl captured everyone's hearts.
I continued my tradition of utterly failing to take pictures of Thanksgiving dinner. I did manage to get a shot of the kids' table though...
...and our pre-dinner prayer.
And since we won't be back for Christmas, we had to do a photo shoot of all the kids in their Christmas outfits (pretty sure this actually took place before dinner given the lack of stains and dirty faces).
This one's a keeper.
This one too.
These, not so much.
The second half of the week was spent with Chris's family, but of course we had to stop by and see a very important person on the way:
We have missed our Dora dearly.
She greeted us with Christmas presents...
...and a full Thanksgiving spread! She is truly the best.
Classic Midwestern entertainment.
Actually, maybe this is classic Midwestern entertainment.
I remember these grey skies!
Christmas came early in Glenview too!
And in Northbrook, at Nana and Papa's new house.
Looking pretty cuddly in her new jammies.
Daddy thought so too.
More Christmas jammies, and cousin time!
And on our way back to the mountains, we stopped in to see the Iranis and Saylors, who we haven't seen since last Thanksgiving. This brood of kids just continues to grow (in height, numbers, and cuteness).
At the end of the week, we were thankful for the memories, friends, family...and the sight of home after a 15 hour drive. This might become an annual tradition!
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