Monday, November 25, 2013

Tis the Season

I cannot believe “it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas” and it is not even Thanksgiving.  Everywhere I look it is red and twinkling.  I hope Southern California can keep the spirit alive for us this year as we will not be able to travel home for a white Christmas this year.  So far it does not seem to faze Brynn as she runs towards the Christmas trees and twinkling lights. 




Friday, November 1, 2013

Halloween 2013

Halloween was an improvement from last year (see our post from Halloween 2012).  We spaced out all of the activities over multiple days to help Brynn ease into the holiday.  It all started with Trick or Treat Mickey a week and a half ago.  She got used to wearing a costume and identifying all of the creepy Halloween decorations.  This year we did pumpkins in stages.  Day 1 – she painted a pumpkins.  This was a huge hit.  Brynn was hard at work making her pumpkins look perfect!  Day 2 – was carving a pumpkin.  Daddy had to assist and we kept the carving very simple so we were not carving for hours while Brynn played in the other room. 
Needs to be just right.

Jack-o-lantern

We also broke the Halloween treat making for school up and the cookie decorating into different days.  Once again, it worked like a dream.  Brynn was excited to help each time and I was not getting pulled into 500 directions while trying to hurry up and finish.     

By the time Halloween day came around she was ready.  They had a pajama party at school where they watched a movie and Brynn got to bring in treats for her friends.  She loves sharing with her friends, especially when she helped make them.  After school we headed home to eat and get her costume on.  The anticipation by then was killing her.  She ate all of her dinner as quickly as possible and got her costume on.  Ears and all.  Next on the list was trick or treating.  A neighbor stopped by and made Brynn a huge treat bag full of goodies she was excited.  But unfortunately for us, Brynn was then ready to hang out at home.  She thought we were done trick or treating.  She did not understand that you can go to multiple houses.  We thought the next best step was to go to her school Harvest Festival.  Here they had games, treats and bounce houses for the kids.  She had a blast.  The last stops of the evening were to a couple of friends’ homes where Brynn was happy to get a treat and play and have fun in familiar places.  Maybe by next year she will understand the amount of candy you can get by trick or treating all over the neighborhood.

Happy Halloween!