Halloween Countdown Day 5

For Day 5 of our Halloween Countdown Bryce had school all day and then worked at night sadly, so it was just Claire, Rory, and me celebrating the eve of Halloween.  We played with Claire's Haunted House, played in the leaves outside, took Rory for a walk, and then made mummy pizzas and watched Hocus Pocus before Claire had to go to bed.  Even though it was just us girls, it was still lots of fun and we were all excited and ready for Halloween to finally get here.  The only picture I took was of our mummy pizzas but I realized I never posted pictures of our Halloween decorations this year so I thought I'd include them in this post. 

I love all the chalkboard prints from the Caravan Shoppe and hang one for almost every holiday.  

I added a few new decorations this year thanks to the dollar aisle at Target (the cobweb garland & white pumpkin pail) and I framed that cute little Halloween card from Rifle Paper Co.

My paper bats are still going strong in their 4th year of use!  Halloween decorations are so fun I get so excited to put them up every year but then I'm always a little sad when I have to take them down :(.  Oh well, at least Christmas ones come soon after so I don't have feel sad for too long!

Halloween Countdown Day 4

For day 4 of our Halloween countdown we made a Haunted House out of some extra cardboard boxes we had.  I found the tutorial here.  I drew the house pieces while Claire was awake and let her color on one of the other boxes.  I cut out all the house pieces and put it together while Claire was napping.  I didn't decorate the inside of the house because I wasn't sure how long it would hold up to busy little toddler hands.  Claire was so excited when I showed it to her after she woke up.  She has been playing with it non-stop ever since!

Halloween Countdown Day 2 & 3

This is the only picture I got from Day 2 of our Halloween Countdown.  The first thing we did was head to the library in the morning for discovery time.  We try to go every Tuesday morning and this week they did an autumn themed one, which was really fun.  Claire loves going to the library and starts asking for the "kids?" as soon as we walk in the building.  After discovery time we always go pick out some new books so we found a few Halloween ones we haven't read yet.  We went home and while Claire took a nap I started reading "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman which was an appropriately spooky novel for Halloween week.  After Claire woke up we ate lunch, and then spent the rest of the day playing with her toys, we took Rory on a walk, and cleaned up the house until Bryce got home.  Bryce had the night off of work so we all went to see Inside Out at the dollar theater as an early birthday celebration for me.  We had a good supply of treats and popcorn to keep Claire occupied.  She loved the movie and sat through the whole thing snuggled up on my lap.  After the movie we were all exhausted and went to bed as soon as we got home.

For day 3 of our countdown we made Halloween sugar cookies.  We baked the cookies in the morning before Claire's nap.  She was an excellent helper and made sure our whole kitchen got a good dusting of flour.  While Claire was napping I made the frosting while the cookies were cooling.  Claire was really tired from staying up late at the movies the night before so she napped for 3 hours.  I was able to get the frosting made, clean the kitchen, and finish reading The Graveyard Book before she woke up.  After Claire woke up we ate lunch and then decorated cookies!  Claire was a little ambivalent about the whole cookie decorating process.  She loved eating the candy and sprinkles but did NOT like getting any of the frosting on her hands.  She decorated one cookie and then watched me decorate the rest while she munched on (too much) candy corn.  I always make sugar cookies again around Christmas time so maybe she'll enjoy it more the second time :).   

After decorating cookies we spent a few hours outside raking leaves and cleaning up the yard.  We stayed outside for a couple hours and then headed inside when it started getting too cold.  I turned on Room on the Broom for Claire to watch while I made a big pot of Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner.  Bryce had to work that night so Claire and I kept each other company by reading our stack of Halloween books and playing hide and seek until it was time for bed.  I love doing a Halloween countdown and I am getting even more excited to celebrate Halloween the closer it gets!  

Halloween Countdown Day 1

I decided to stick to our new tradition that I started last year of doing a Halloween countdown the week leading up to Halloween.  For day 1 of our countdown on Monday I finished sewing Claire's Halloween costume (pictured above) in the morning just in time for our activity for the day.  Claire's costume is Goldilocks and Bryce, Rory, and I are dressing up as the 3 bears.  Later in the afternoon Claire and I went to the Enchanted Treehouse event at the Treehouse Museum with my friend and her two girls.  It was a little Halloween event where all of the kids dressed up and got to play at all of the different exhibits freely.  It was our first time going to the Treehouse Museum and we loved it!  
Claire found this giant bear and wouldn't stop hugging it!  It was pretty cute and quite fitting with her costume ;).

Making pretend cookies with her friend Brielle.

Claire made sure to crawl through every tunnel she could find several times each.

Trying to get a picture with all three toddlers looking at the camera at the same time is near impossible haha!

Playing in the pretend classroom.

Creating food chains in the dinosaur room.

Playing some life size chess.

Claire loves puppies and would not stop hugging and playing with the dalmatian. 
Feeding a baby in the nursery.

Our little budding scientist examining slides.

Exploring the USA.

And one more attempt at a shot of all three girls....haha.

On our way out they handed out a little treat bag with fruit snacks, a granola bar, a halloween cup & mini coloring book to each of the kids.  Claire was getting tired and hungry at this point so she was ecstatic about the treats haha.  We had so much fun!  We will for sure be going back again.  There is so much to do there, its a place you could spend all day in!