Sooo...a full year has actually passed since we moved into our home in Louisville, KY. That is shocking to me in a few ways...my heart still aches for our friend-family in Virginia, as if we just left a month ago, but our house and neighborhood felt like home from day one, as if we'd been here for years! There are still many things to catch up on from the past year, but I'll save those posts for a year end wrap-up (or decade wrap up...my record shows it may take that long to update :). For now, we'll stick to some Crazy Crew Halloween news!
We moved into our house one week before Halloween last year, so we didn't know anyone in our neighborhood (except, in true KY style, we did have about 5 neighbors stop by with baked goodies, "welcomes" to the 'hood, and even party invites). Of course, I did get to meet a few others as I roamed the community on Halloween afternoon searching for our dog...who had run out of the house after a deer racing down our driveway (1st & final time I've EVER seen a deer on our street)...and I was dressed as a clown, carrying our screaming 1 yr old dressed as a cat....while the other 3 kiddos stood in the driveway in their costumes crying that their dog was lost forever. The cursed dog was found and we headed off to our college buddy's house about 20 minutes away for an awesome party and trick or treating in their neighborhood.
While we didn't trick or treat here last year, it was VERY evident that our community LOVES Halloween and neighborhood camaraderie!! We chose to stick close to home this year and meet a few more folks in our area. All I can say is...WOW! As one neighbor stated, it is basically "Halloween on steroids"! The month kicks off with everyone starting to "Boo" each other (secretly leaving plastic pumpkins full of goodies on someone else's doorstep...you hang your pumpkin on your mailbox, and then leave a Boo treat & instructions for 2 other families to pass along the fun). Three doors down is a MAJOR Haunted driveway/garage attraction. They collect canned goods for a local food bank as admission and provide 3 options: kinda scary, 3-D very scary, and an all-out-get-trapped-in-a-coffin-while-others-watch-your-reaction-on-the-big-screen version. The attraction runs the 2 weekends before Halloween and the days leading up to the "big" night. We were out of town and had to miss TWO parties that we were invited to attend the last weekend in October. There are "pre-trick or treat" driveway parties after school, groups of 30+ kids traveling door-to-door together, and the yard decorations? Again, WOW! So we left our buckets of goodies for other kiddos on the porch with our pumpkins, took some pics, and headed out into the windy, freezing evening for our own loot. I have never seen so many running children, smiling & chatting neighbors, and CANDY!! The kids had a blast, and to say we had fun watching them would be a drastic understatement! Below are a few pics from the evening...not very many, because the lure of the waiting candy was waaay too promising :) Oh, and you'll notice that you never see Daddy in the Halloween pics. Yeah...he's the same "character" every year...a Daddy. Only this year, he informed the kids he was actually changing it up and going as "a cold Daddy."
I know folks have all different views about Halloween...to each his own and what they choose to make of it. However, we absolutely LOVE the fall season and all the festivals and opportunities to teach our children to practice their own creativity, manners, and interaction with neighbors. I LOVE the community spirit, seeing the excitement & pride of my own children and neighborhood kids when adults compliment their costumes, and seeing the smiles on older neighbors' faces as they hand out candy and hear those sweet little voices say "trick or treat" and "thank you"! And now...the Crazy Crew has already begun planning their costumes for next year...thank goodness they usually don't mind wearing their big sibs' hand-me-downs...with a story theme, of course! (see the caption from the kids' group shot ;)
We moved into our house one week before Halloween last year, so we didn't know anyone in our neighborhood (except, in true KY style, we did have about 5 neighbors stop by with baked goodies, "welcomes" to the 'hood, and even party invites). Of course, I did get to meet a few others as I roamed the community on Halloween afternoon searching for our dog...who had run out of the house after a deer racing down our driveway (1st & final time I've EVER seen a deer on our street)...and I was dressed as a clown, carrying our screaming 1 yr old dressed as a cat....while the other 3 kiddos stood in the driveway in their costumes crying that their dog was lost forever. The cursed dog was found and we headed off to our college buddy's house about 20 minutes away for an awesome party and trick or treating in their neighborhood.
While we didn't trick or treat here last year, it was VERY evident that our community LOVES Halloween and neighborhood camaraderie!! We chose to stick close to home this year and meet a few more folks in our area. All I can say is...WOW! As one neighbor stated, it is basically "Halloween on steroids"! The month kicks off with everyone starting to "Boo" each other (secretly leaving plastic pumpkins full of goodies on someone else's doorstep...you hang your pumpkin on your mailbox, and then leave a Boo treat & instructions for 2 other families to pass along the fun). Three doors down is a MAJOR Haunted driveway/garage attraction. They collect canned goods for a local food bank as admission and provide 3 options: kinda scary, 3-D very scary, and an all-out-get-trapped-in-a-coffin-while-others-watch-your-reaction-on-the-big-screen version. The attraction runs the 2 weekends before Halloween and the days leading up to the "big" night. We were out of town and had to miss TWO parties that we were invited to attend the last weekend in October. There are "pre-trick or treat" driveway parties after school, groups of 30+ kids traveling door-to-door together, and the yard decorations? Again, WOW! So we left our buckets of goodies for other kiddos on the porch with our pumpkins, took some pics, and headed out into the windy, freezing evening for our own loot. I have never seen so many running children, smiling & chatting neighbors, and CANDY!! The kids had a blast, and to say we had fun watching them would be a drastic understatement! Below are a few pics from the evening...not very many, because the lure of the waiting candy was waaay too promising :) Oh, and you'll notice that you never see Daddy in the Halloween pics. Yeah...he's the same "character" every year...a Daddy. Only this year, he informed the kids he was actually changing it up and going as "a cold Daddy."
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| We got warmed up a couple weeks before Halloween with Trick or Treating at the Louisville Zoo. SUPER fun with all kinds of characters, and of course...candy! |
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| Pumpkin, anyone?!?! NO! WE WANT CANDY!!! |
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| RIGHT to LEFT: Mollie the Itsy Bitsy Spider who bit Spider Man Joey, an all new superhero, Captain A (for Captain Anna), and her superhero sidekick Dinosaur, Evie! |
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| Quick on the snap & actually caught Mollie blue eyes in her festive seasonal attire :) |
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| Baby Punkin #5!!! Momma was beyond exhausted by this time...up at 6 to prep the day and run 3 miles, Moms' Group meeting in the AM, help with Joey's school party, regular after school activity shuttle vanning, getting 4 pumped up kids ready for one of their fave nights of the year, and walking for 2 hrs around the 'hood having a blast! |
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| 2010 when I was 2 weeks away from having Miss Mollie...Hoops! There she is!! |
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