Happy Halloween--Woche 38

I think that it goes without saying that we spent most of the week preparing for Halloween.  I had finished most of the costumes before our trip, but still had Dane's to finish.  We also had signed up to do the Trunk or Treat at the school.  We had to get some supplies ready for the car.  We were also able to squeeze in a soccer game from Dane.  His team won.  He just has one more final tournament and the school soccer season is over.

We had a hard time finding carving pumpkins here.  We could buy them from the school for 10 euros a pumpkin, but we felt like that was a bit pricey.  We thought we would take our chances with what the stores had to offer.  Well, after searching 3 different stores, we had an array of smallish and smaller pumpkins to carve, but we got the whole pile of 7 for under 15 euro. 


 "Sweet Relish" condiment packet

Dane decided to do Gandolf.  It turned out pretty well, though the pictures don't do it justice.  Dyllan and Deagan went for the more traditional pumpkins.  I went for the hungry pumpkin, and Dan ended up just doing a decorative pumpkin.

The kids got to wear their costumes to school.  They had a costume parade and some fun parties.  We decorated our trunk for the trunk-or-treat.  Dane really wanted to scare kids again this year.  He decided to be a chained up scary guy.  When kids would reach in a grab the candy, he would jump and say "Rahhhh".  He had a pretty successful night.  We gaged it by the number of candy pieces we found on the ground from all the kids jumping and dropping their candy.  The kids enjoyed the carnival type set up for the party in the school gym.  Dan and I dressed up in our "Stoic the Vast" and "Tough Nut" costumes.  No one recognized us.  Several people had to take pictures of us.  Some would ask permission and others would just try to take them very slyly.  Unfortunately, we didn't take a picture of us.

Danyon absolutely hated his costume.  He cried every time I put it on him.  So, we waited until the last possible second to get him in his costume.  He cried again when I put it on him.  However, it took just one piece of candy (a tootsie roll) to get him to stop crying.  He learned really fast that if he got candy while he wore the costume then, it wasn't so bad after all.  He wore the costume the rest of the entire night.  He kept it on after we got home.  He even watched a movie in his costume.  When it was past time for bed, Dan started to take the costume off and Danyon cried and cried. 

It is still pretty weird to not go Trick or Treating, so it was nice to get to go to the school.  Although the Austrians really have a hard time with the whole Halloween concept.  Of all the people to come through the line, the Austrians were the ones who didn't like Dane scaring their kids as much.  There were only 1 or 2 people upset at us this year, but a few people remembered our car as the "vampire from last year".  That made our day.  This year, they sent out a website of different ideas to do to your car to decorate.  They had a better turn out than last year.  However, one lady was trying to hand out apples and carrots to the kids.  I think that despite her effort, she left with full baskets of both.

It seems like Fall is the time that we like to take pictures.  While we were on the cruise, we were able to get some family pictures done.  These are the first professional pictures that we've had done since Danyon was born.  Several of them turned out well.  We're excited to get to put new pictures of the family in the hallway.  You'll probably all see them in the Christmas cards if I get them sent out this year.  As we are not heading home for the holidays, we might not get them sent.  Postage from Austria can be pricey!  So, just in case, enjoy them now!