Halloween seemed to be an extra busy time for us this year because we filled it with lots of fun activities.
Avery didn’t have very many ideas for her costume. But when my mom showed her a pattern for a Little Bo Peep outfit, Avery was on board.
My mom made the outfit complete by covering her grandmother’s cane and turning it into a shepherd’s staff. The sheep used to belong to Karen and me when we were little. Now it’s Avery’s sheep.
She looked adorable, if I do say so myself. But I instructed my mom that future costumes should not have so many accessories. Chris and I ended up carrying the sheep and the shepherd’s staff at all of our activities!
Mommaw and Poppaw helped Avery choose these two adorable pumpkins on a trip to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch. Since these pumpkins weren’t big enough to carve, Daddy and Avery painted them together.
Avery and I went with Mommaw to her church’s fall party. I can tell the pastor really enjoys doing this for the kids, because he goes all out to make it a fun party.
There were several fun carnival-type games. Avery’s favorite was this one. A sticker was hidden on the bottom of one of the objects. After they were moved around, Avery had to find the sticker.
I think she only missed once! And she played this game several times.
After she won a game, she got a ticket which she used to “buy” something at the prize table. She came home with so many treats, and almost none of them was candy. Fun things like a DVD, a new pair of sunglasses and a tiny toy tea set.
The kids also participated in a few group games. This was Avery’s first official sack race, even though she briefly tried it out with Daddy last Halloween.
I was so proud of her for trying something new. And she led the pack for most of the race!
Avery definitely doesn’t mind getting dirty. It’s hard to believe she’s my child because I never liked doing this part!
Our last Halloween celebration was the Fall Fun Fest at our church. Our church used to host a similar event but hasn’t done one for several years. This year’s festivities included food, boucehouses, games and lots of candy. We were so glad that we ran into our friends the Berkemeiers.
We had planned on doing just this event on Halloween night and skipping the trick-or-treating. But the severe weather in our area caused every local city to postpone trick-or-treating to the next night. That meant that every family in Johnson County was at our church! We had to stand in some long lines, but Avery got to play all of the games she wanted to. I hope a lot of these families are guests and will start coming to our church!
By far, Mike Ditka was my favorite costume (photo courtesy of The Daily Journal)!