Madeline Rose: All Things Halloween

Our Little Elsa

Halloween lasted a couple months this year at the Faust House. Maddy and I decorated in September with a Candy Corn decorative banner craft project to boot! We also made Halloween Jello Jigglers (a couple times) and Steve and Maddy carved a pumpkin. The Friday before Halloween I had a Halloween potluck at work so Maddy helped me make a "Ghoulish Cheese Dip". Also, Grandma and Grandpa Faust and Grandmom and Granddad Sebastian both sent Halloween packages filled with Halloween activities and treats - fun for all of us!

We had a total of four costumed events as well, starting with the ChildRoots Lantern Walk on September 23, 2015. Since Kieran Flynn also attends ChildRoots now, we met up with the Flynn family for dinner at the Kennedy School before heading to Fernhill Park. There the kids collected their lanterns and we set off through the woods, stopping at each of the 17 stations where fully costumed ChildRoots staff handed out "treasures" such as feathers, rocks and stickers. At the end there were dancers with glow sticks and glow-hula-hoops. Kieran was dressed as a Pirate, Maddy as Elsa from Frozen, and Riley a Football Player.

The next evening we had "Halloween Fest" at Joe, Angie and Olivia Rock's home. Maddy dressed as a fairy for that party to mix things up a bit. Lots of our friends came as well, with the kiddos all dressed up. It was a fun evening! That night Maddy headed home with the Sweanys for a sleepover, as Steve and I had some friends in town from Minnesota (Joe and Heather Krengel) so we met up with them for the later night hours.

Halloween fell on a Saturday this year, making for a fun-filled day! In the late afternoon we went to a One Year Old costume birthday party for Henry Caudill and his buddy Bea at Laurelwood Brewery. It was great to see all the kiddos dressed up (Maddy was Elsa again for Halloween Day/Night). We hung out and enjoyed some appetizers and dinner before the big night. Straight from Laurelwood we headed to Shana Daby's Halloween Party. Shana lives in the BEST Halloween neighborhood in Portland: the houses are decorated in full Halloween spookiness and most of the homeowners dress up as well. It's an excellent place to trick-or-treat and hordes of people travel to this neighborhood to do so. Even though it was pouring rain, we gathered our umbrellas and hit the streets with the kids to stock up on goodies. Once the kids had enough we headed back to Shana's and the adults chatted while the kids ate as much candy as they get away with before their parents cut them off.

All in all, a fun start to the autumn holidays!