The Doll Sweet Journal.: Halloween 2015

I got this "Trick or Treat" banner from Target this fall. I love it! Banners like these make a fireplace mantel look so festive. I recently got a Thanksgiving one from Pier 1 and it adds instant cheer to the room.

I always burn seasonal candles and I have a fun collection of seasonal jar holders to go with them.

Sam did this all on his own and I thought it was so cute. He colored in five mini pumpkins with a black Sharpie and then put them out on our front porch railing like the Five Little Pumpkins from the story and the song. That boy is a little Martha Stewart in the making, I'm telling you!

The pumpkins are still out there, although one of them blew away last week. I guess it was "ready for some fun."

I kept the front stoop simple (as usual) and decorated only with pumpkins of various sizes. I officially gave up on having a pot of mums this fall, and probably for every fall in the foreseeable future. No matter what I do, they always wither and die too quickly. So I give up! The black solar lanterns will have to do.

Here are the boys dressed up before we headed to the church for Trunk or Treat.

I like John's football poses, and Sam the snake man was cute showing off his cobras.

Nice hand-off! (Is that what it's called?)

Photo booth at the Trunk or Treat.

Thanks for your great big animated smiles, boys! Ha ha.

Sam was in for a treat (get it?) at Trunk or Treat. One of his best friends from preschool was there, even though their family aren't members of the church--but they're good friends with a family who is. Sam and Julian had just gotten together to play the previous Saturday, and they were excited to see each other again so soon!

I have to include this picture of the cutest little Dorothy I've ever seen!

I took Sam to a Halloween party at a local rec center that he really enjoyed last year.

How cute is this picture, taken by a professional photographer who was there?

He loved this costume and played up its snaky nature as much as he could!

He enjoyed getting his face painted, and I bet you'll never guess what it was he had painted on his face...

This was my first time at the school's Halloween parade where I was by myself, since both of the boys were in the parade this year--finally! Sam was excited to be in it after years of watching from the sidelines with me.
(I however felt a little lonely without him there to keep me company!)

Can you find him?
Halloween costume parades are so fun.

I had told John that morning that if he didn't acknowledge my presence with a little wave that I would call his name and blow him kisses in front of his class. My threat worked!

On the morning of Halloween, I took the boys to see Goosebumps, which was fun and festive.

That afternoon, Sam painted some of the pumpkins from the front stoop.

I like to sprinkle orange glitter on the front stoop and walkway before the Trick-or-Treaters start arriving. It glimmers in the darkness and it looks really cool! I took these pictures a few days later after much of it had blown away, but you get the idea.

The three-headed cobra was ready to go trick-or-treating!

And so was the New England Patriot!

I think these pictures are cute, and they came out better than these types of photos usually come out for us! (Thanks to my threatening them with consequences if they didn't cooperate! Ha ha.)

Post-trick-or-treating, surveying the bounteous goodness of all the junk they got.

I had decided to give up Laffy Taffies after the Trunk or Treat earlier that week (if you want to know why, see last week's Top 5 list), but then I saw this. Hot Cocoa Laffy Taffy!? This I need to try.