October weekends may have been some of my favorite this year. The weekend before Halloween and the weekend of were full of fun, homeschool, surprises, cooking and baking, sibling sleepovers, and scary movies (the sibling sleepovers were the effect of the scary movies they watched!). I wasn't sure how Halloween's would look as the minis grew, but I might love them more now than when they were smaller!
The dog "helped" build their fort. All three kids and the dog slept in the fort on Max's full size bed. All weekend long.
Making pancakes, pot roast, soup, and brownies.
The kids requested to learn and celebrate Dia de los Muertos. I bought this art project at Michael's back in September. It took them a couple of hours to complete. We wound up using it on our ofrenda November 1st and 2nd.
Since they were already doing art class, Elizabeth decided to do some math and reading. Voluntarily. This may be my favorite thing about homeschooling--the self-directed learning they decide to do for fun.
Kid ON the table.
The CBS Sunday night movie was Scream. Not only was this only the second true horror film the minis have seen (the first being the original Halloween), but they got to stay up until almost 11 p.m. watching it! They loved the movie so much that they watched Scream 2 and 3 throughout the week.
We made the decision to not have the minis go trick or treating and do something new on Halloween. While beggars night was going strong (here in Des Moines, kids go trick or treating on the 30th for two hours instead of on Halloween), the oldest was hanging with a friend and the rest of us ordered Mexican food and finished decorating Halloween cookies. When the oldest returned home, he finished off the rest of our food and ate cookies instead of decorating.
By October 31st, we hadn't seen most family since June (or January!). We decided to whip up cookies, decorate them, and do surprise deliveries on Halloween. We had a fantastic afternoon visiting with family in a Covid safe way! This might have been my favorite Halloween to date. All of it was fun, enjoyable, and sooo needed. When we returned home from our deliveries, we hid the minis pumpkin buckets in the backyard. Filled with candies, toys, and other odds and ends, the minis used flashlights to help them find their goodies.
Masks, outside, and socially distanced are now signs of successful visits with people outside of our home.
Z-man came with us too, of course. He doesn't like to miss out on things.
As we stood in Grandma and Grandpa Sheaffer's driveway, Harrison and Elizabeth kept going in and out of the car to play.....it was only when H threw on his Harry Potter glasses that I realized they were re-enacting Harry Potter! It made me laugh.
Hubs and I went outside and hid the pumpkin buckets. Dog and kids stayed inside, in a front of the house bedroom so no one would see us. Of course, the dog somehow took Max right to his bucket! We cracked up (as shown in the picture) because this dog will do anything for Max, including finding his candy apparently!
Normally we would do slow down Sunday's and we did. Kind of. We celebrated the much anticipated Dia de los Muertos with our ofrenda, Mexican food, stories of those passed (in this case, my Grandma and Grandpa Murillo), and added things throughout the day to the alter. Then we went about our usual Sunday business: prepping for the week ahead, cooking, football, and relaxing. The minis watched Coco while I did the not so fun cleaning.
The dog helped get the alter ready.
Chocolate covered Oreos for breakfast.
This year has not been easy. I've spent more days with headaches than I have in the last 10 years! However, I'm really enjoying coming up with new ways to celebrate things. Most days I feel successful in that accomplishment. 2020 will certainly be memorable for us.