Halloween 2015 (Part 2)

With the work we're having done on our front entrance, we weren't sure if we'd even have steps for Halloween this year.  As many of you know, Halloween is my favourite holiday (yes, I consider it a holiday) and I was disappointed at the thought of missing it.  I'm actually a little crazy for Halloween and Corey often compares me to Claire Dunphy from Modern Family.  Figuring we had nothing to lose, we asked our contractors to make a big push so we could greet kids at the door.

We really didn't know if they'd be able to finish and we were totally unprepared.  We hadn't even bought a pumpkin this year and had planned to just leave a bowl of treats on the driveway with some glow sticks around it and a little sign!  We arrived home from visiting friends at 6:00 and were pleasantly surprised to find steps leading up to our new door!  We're still waiting in the railings but this was enough to give us a proper Halloween.

We hastily threw up some spiderwebs (Which we got from friends last minute) and dug out our strobe light, some scary music, a black light and our fog machine.  I almost teared up when Corey even found Maurice (our skeleton) in the basement.  It's not Halloween without Maurice!

It wasn't bad for a quick last-minute job.  Next year, we're turning the mudroom into a haunted house!

We sat outside so that kids didn't have to go up the steps because I was nervous about the railing.  Once again, we were one of the scary houses and I loved hearing the kids working up the nerve to walk up the driveway through all the fog!  I love being the scary house because I always feel like when people make Halloween too tame for the little ones, we take away some of the magic from the older kids.  When really young kids hesitate at the bottom of our driveway, I usually call out to them "Don't worry.  We're not scary" and usually, they walk up to us looking so brave and proud of themselves!  We also make sure to give out good treats to make their efforts worthwhile.  ;)

Although we didn't get a teal pumpkin this year (Check out the Teal Pumpkin Project if you're not familiar with it), I'm a big fan of handing out non-food treats.  This year, we gave out play-dough, glow sticks, stickers, temporary tattoos and nut-free treats.  This was the first Halloween in years that hasn't been freezing cold and raining hard and we thoroughly enjoyed it!  Rudy was pooped after visiting friends so she didn't visit any houses.  We'll see... Maybe next year.  I know lots of people take babies out but Rudy really needs to be in bed early or she gets cranky!  There were a couple of babies her age who came to the door and I even managed not to laugh when a mom asked me if she could take a couple of treats for a VERY young baby in a stroller.  ;)

I really enjoyed seeing all the kids in costumes and even the teens in regular clothes who collected treats in backpacks.  I always remind Corey that if I can love Halloween this much at 33, it is perfectly reasonable for a teen to want some free treats!  What a fun night!  What did you do?

Halloween 2015

Are you doing anything special for Halloween?  Rudy's daycare has been celebrating all week with theme days (Everyone wore black on Monday and the walls are filled with Halloween crafts.) and today there's a costume party and small gift exchange.  Tomorrow, we have friends visiting from out of town, then a friend's daughter's birthday.  Rudy's on a strict bedtime schedule so we'll definitely be home in time to give out candy but we haven't decorated or even carved a pumpkin.

Our porch is under construction and we've encountered a couple of delays due to redesigns so I'm sad to say that it's not going to be ready for us to have our usual strobe lights and scary music for the neighbourhood kids.  We've purchased lots of playdough, stickers, glow sticks and nut free candy but I worry that the neighbourhood kids have come to look forward to our spooky house and I'm disappointed to be taking a year off.

As for Rudy's first Halloween, I must say that I always assumed I'd make a Pinterest worthy costume for her but work and life have been so busy that I was relieved to just find a comfy looking costume at Walmart that looked like she wouldn't overheat if I sent her in it to daycare.  Priorities certainly change.  In the month since we purchased her costume, Rudy's grown... a lot.  Now she's sort of bursting out of her Ninja Turtle costume so we had to send a change of clothes for daycare.  We had wanted to send her with a glittery purse and call her Donatello Versace but we thought it was too much and people would think we were insane.

In terms of trick-or-treating, I've been chatting with people about it all week and I've noticed that the parenting forums are filled with similar conversations.  Do you take a baby trick-or-treating?

On Tuesday, the receptionist at my office reminded me that if I take Rudy door to door, people will know the candy is just for me.  Fair enough.  I agree, although when I see parents with babies at my own door, I just assume it's their first child and they're super excited to do fun family stuff together.  If it were just about the candy, they could save time and just buy it on November 1st on clearance, right?

I have friends who take their babies to a couple of houses and other friends who refuse to subject their kids to late nights and inevitable bad Toronto weather until they're old enough to enjoy it.

My mother recalls my younger brother walking around with us for Halloween when he was 2 1/2 and I was about 5.  It was his first time joining us and, when we got to the first house, he seemed nervous and reluctant to come walk up to the door with me.  Then, he saw me come back with candy.  After that, he was all in.  Smart guy!

I think we may take Rudy to the neighbour's door in her costume.  Their first grandson is a few months younger than Rudy so we're always sharing baby stories.  I think one house is enough for this year.  Then we'll put her to bed so we can both greet the kids together.

Whatever you end up doing, I wish you a dry and safe Halloween.  I'll leave you with the best costumes I've seen on the internet this year:

Another Halloween

I can't take credit for our pumpkin this year.  We've been so preoccupied with renos and work that we were happy to take one that my brother carved.  Frankly, I think he did a better job than I would have.

How was your Halloween?  Some of you may remember our excitement last year as we prepped and decorated for our first Halloween in a house.  We went all out with a strobe light, scary music and a smoke machine and so many of the neighbourhood kiddies commented that we were the "best house ever" that we felt compelled to do it again.

I was also insistent on having some non-food treats available for kids with allergies and a good friend told me I was "ahead of my time" when the Teal Pumpkin Initiative became popular this year.

Like last year, we had an assortment of stickers and chocolates.  I'm still always surprised at how quickly the non-food items disappear.  :)

We laughed at ourselves at the end of the night though.  We were sorting through the "leftovers" when we realized that, in addition to chocolates and stickers, we had been handing our condiments and salad dressing from Swiss Chalet.

Here's our little setup before it got too dark.

It's hard to capture the ambiance but it was pretty spooky with the music, strobe light and fog machine.  A few kids skipped us because the house was too scary... We were a little bit proud of that!

We also dressed up as much as time allowed.  One woman said I looked like Marilyn Monroe.  Obviously the fog and strobe light were distorting her vision but I'll take it!

We were a little saddened to see so few houses participating in Halloween this year.  I feel like it's sort of our duty to keep it going, since we enjoyed it as children.  If you're curious, there's a great list, which ranks the best neighbouhoods to visit.  I'm hoping to see our neighbourhood on the list in a few years!

Halloween Recap

 

Today's post is short, but Corey and I have some fun posts planned for the next week.  Stay tuned... I've been busy with clients and I've managed to injure myself (it's only minor) yet again!

 

We hope you all had a great Halloween!  We enjoyed our first Halloween in our new/old house and the kids seemed to love the candy and toys... Especially the toys!

 

It was a miserable night, so we gave out coffee to the parents.  We figure one day, we'll have kids and people will do the same for us.    :)

 

It was hard to get good video because it was so dark, but here's a brief clip.  You can see the strobe light and a bit of the fog... Unfortunately, you can barely see Maurice!  Still, the kids loved it and kept trying to scoop up the fog!

 



We're going to try to do a little more each year, but this is a good start.  Most people in our neighbourhood seem to be pretty moderate or minimal Halloween decorators, so we still stood out.  We just think it's so much more fun for the kids if there are a couple of really awesome houses.  One little boy told me our house was the best he'd ever seen.  It totally made our night!

We were also smart enough to clean up right away, so we're enjoying a holiday decorating reprieve until after Remembrance Day... Which is when I think it's appropriate to begin decorating for Christmas. 

How was your Halloween?

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Ready for Halloween!

 

Are you ready for Halloween?  As I mentioned when I first posted about Halloween in SEPTEMBER, it is one of our favourite nights of the year!  Halloween seems to combine most of our favourite things: kids, scary music, decorating, candy and make believe!  What's not to love?

We have been too busy this month for much DIY Halloween planning, but we were determined to celebrate our first Halloween in our new/old house despite our busy schedules.  We rushed home from work today and Corey began by removing the ugly old satellite dish that we inherited with the house.  I'll admit that this part wasn't 100% necessary, but it was a great excuse to do it!

Then we hung Maurice (our skeleton) along with tons of spider webs and a giant spider that descends from his web when the motion sensor is activated.

We also cut eyes out of toilet paper rolls and will use glow sticks to illuminate them tomorrow night.

Corey has tons of scary music, which we'll play on a loop and we also have a strobe light and fog machine to set the mood. 

We're going to have to assess the age of the neighbourhood kids so that we can tone down the spooky factor for the little ones.  We may not bust out the music and fog machine until a little later in the evening. :)

Corey expertly carved our pumpkin.

... And I added the finishing touch with a tomato from our neighbour's plant, which rolled into our yard.  Waste not!

All in all, we are ready for an exciting Halloween and it looks like I probably won't have to work!  I always hate driving on Halloween because of all the kids who are out.  I feel like it's safer for them if people try to stay home.

Do you remember going out on Halloween as a child?  I always loved going to the houses with special lighting and music and I looked forward to specific houses each year.  There was one house that always had eerie green spotlights and faux tombstones and I remember thinking I was so brave when I walked up to their door!  This is what we're trying to recreate in our new neighbourhood. 

As for candy, we're doing the traditional nut free chocolate bars, but we're adding something extra.  Corey and I have a few friends who have children with severe allergies, so we made a point of buying non-edible items like stickers, finger puppets and kaleidoscopes to add to our Halloween goodies!

Trick-or-treat, everyone!

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Wait, I Have a Blog?

Hello and thanks for not giving up on me this week.  You're probably wondering where I've been but it has just been one of those crazy weeks that I sometimes have when the real estate market is busy in the spring and fall.  For the past few days, each time I sat down to compose a post, I wouldn't know where to begin and I would end up working instead.

Luckily, the writer's block is over and I am back and ready to update you (if any of you are still reading) on our news over the past week.

First of all, Corey has just started working for a new electrical company on a pretty high-profile site.  He's excited and he's doing some really cool stuff but any change is tiring, so he's been wiped by the time he gets home at the end of the day.

Friendly has left us to live with an amazing "forever" family.  They have a cat and a little girl and, while it was hard to say goodbye, we think Friendly is being lavished with attention!  As for Barkley: Let's just say, he liked Friendly but he seems pretty happy to be an "only child" once again.  He loves not having to share his toys or his treats. 

We Okay, Corey installed our sliding closet doors!  Now that there's a little space, we have moved the tub (top photo) into the future nursery (Is it weird that we call it that?) so we can prep for our bathroom demolition extravaganza.  BATHROOM DEMOLITION EXTRAVAGANZA... Imagine that I said that in a booming monster truck announcer voice.  Or don't... you could also just forget I said that.... Which is probably the better option.  Anyway, we'd like to paint the tub at some point, but it weighs over 200lbs so I'll probably have to spray paint it where it is.  Corey and my brother have made it pretty clear that they're not going to be carrying it up and down the stairs a million times, so I'm trying to keep the moving to a minimum.  I think I'm going to have to "Dexter" the room (If you don't watch the show, I mean that I'll cover it in plastic.) and just paint it right where it sits.

 

We enjoyed our annual Halloween date night at Canada's Wonderland for Halloween Haunt.  ...Unfortunately, it wasn't up to snuff this year and two of the three new attractions were not yet open.  It was disappointing.  We had to explain the situation to a teenage manager when we politely asked for our money back.  It was pretty awkward explaining how serious we are about both Fun-derland AND Halloween, and having to flash our seasons passes like we were some sort of dorky VIPs.  I actually began with the line "We're not angry, just disappointed."  He looked at us skeptically (probably because we were the only adults there) before refunding our money and having us escorted off the premises.  Talk about a walk of shame!

And finally, the real reason this blog has been silent: I fell down the stairs!  Yup, I knew this would happen eventually and I totally missed the top step and tumbled the whole way down.  I dropped my cell phone near the top so I couldn't even call anyone for help.  Luckily, I wasn't seriously hurt... but I'm very sore and had to stay in bed the next day, so I've been catching up on work.  I'm still limping around a little but I'm just telling people that I sprained my back twerking. 

Oh well, we're adding a new banister to our list of things to do in the new/old house.  It was a painful but relatively harmless lesson.

I'll post pics of our new closet soon and we're pumped to start the real work on the bathroom!

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Prepping for Halloween

Warning: Those of you who think Corey and I are normal, may want to stop reading.  If our other antics haven't tipped you off already, this post will convince you that we're super duper weirdos.  You have been warned.

I have a confession: I am OBSESSED with Halloween.  When we lived in the condo, I dreamed of owning a house, not only for the freedom and equity, but so we could decorate for Halloween!  Corey and I both love children (we met at camp) and for ages we have dreamed of having the best Halloween house on the block!

Part of it is also selfish... I love horror movies and scary stories and we love Halloween haunted houses and Corey sometimes compares me to Julie Bowen's character on Modern Family, who also loves Halloween more than is socially acceptable or even appropriate for a grown woman.

Finally, we have our house of dreams... and next month, we get to transform the front porch into the stuff of nightmares!

We hit up the party store and bought a cheap strobe light, some fake spider webs and a $40 fog machine.  Short on space, and tight on budget, I justified the smoke machine because everyone should have one and I'm sure we'll use it all the time... right?  RIIGGHHHTTT???  Seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if we did.  It would add a special mood to regular celebrations like Christmas, Chanukah and even date night!

The cute little guy in the top photo also sort of followed us home.  We've taken to calling him Maurice... and each time we say it, we start singing The Joker by Steve Miller Band, as one does.  Here's another picture of him in our family room in all his 7ft glory. 

I'm not sure which is scarier: Maurice, or those salmon walls.  Probably the walls.  I refuse to put him in storage until Halloween (My mom convinced me that it's too early to decorate and insists that I wait at least a month.) so we've taken to posing him around the house or sometimes, just chasing each other around the house with him.

I'm thinking of waking up early one morning and tucking him into my side of the bed.  Then I'll go outside and call Corey's cell to tell him that I've left for work... and listen for the screams!  Mwahahaha!

You enjoy that Scotch, Maurice.  You've worked yourself to the bone.  Hey-O! 

Okay, let's move on to our other Halloween ideas before my BFFs tell me again that I'm getting crazier in my old age.  We obviously won't try all of these this year, but here are a few of the better DIY Halloween ideas from around the web.

Trust Martha Stewart to put all other Halloween crafts to shame with her cheesecloth ghosts.  If it hadn't been love at first fright with Maurice, I think I would have made these.  I had already sourced cheap cheesecloth in Toronto.

Thrifty Craft Girl blogs about a great "hack" for a fog machine, which cools the fog so it creeps along the ground.  I'm seriously considering this one!

Another craft from Thrifty Craft Girl (This girl must be my spirit animal or something.) suggests saving toilet paper rolls, cutting eyes out of them and inserting glow sticks.  Done and done!

This last craft from Fulcrum Sites is best left to the technically inclined... Which means it would probably be a piece of cake for Corey!  It teaches you how to make a zombie torso that actually crawls.  I think I would want to hook it up to a motion sensor.  We probably have our hands too full for a project like this at the moment, but I'm bookmarking it for next year!

Honestly, my first choice was to dress up as a scarecrow and pretend I was just a stuffed statue until the kids get close enough to see me move... and maybe I'd chase them a little.  Maybe not if that's a bad idea.  Corey thinks it's probably a bad idea.  I'm thinking that may be too scary so we're going to get a feel for the crowd this year and see about next year.  It depends on the ages and how the kids react to other scary houses. 

What are you doing for Halloween?  Are you as excited as we are?!  Have you decided on the candy you'll give out?  I wanted to buy some stickers to mix in with our candy dish because... stickers are awesome.  Corey think's they're lame.  Anyone want to weigh in?

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