Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas: A Ridiculously Overdue Update

Pumpkin carving...

He drew a sketch of what he wanted his pumpkin to look like and I did my best to carve it for him.  He was pleased with the results.  :)

Costumes...

I made this working railroad crossing costumer for Monkey when he was little, and I was so excited to dig it out again for Bug!

Found the shirt, hat, and gloves with glow-in-the-dark bones at Walmart.  I painted the arm bones on the sleeves, and leg bones on black sweatpants, also with glow-in-the-dark paint.

Trick or Treat...

We went with a couple of their buddies, N. and M.

During the week leading up to Thanksgiving, we worked on this Thankful Tree, an idea I came across on Pinterest.  I made a bunch of leaves out of construction paper and we wrote something we were thankful for on each one.  All week long, whenever we'd think of something, we'd add it to our tree, which was just a branch I clipped from a bush in our yard.  It was a fun exercise to get the kids thinking about what the holiday meant, and it made some good writing practice for Monkey (usually a VERY reluctant writer) as well.

In early December, we went on a Santa Claus train ride with the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society.  The boys loved it!

When we got home that day, I took a couple pictures for our Christmas cards:

We also observed a bunch of our regular annual traditions.  We made ornaments with friends (using a combination of ideas from this pin and this pin)...

 

Photo courtesy:  Stacy.  I did not think to get any pics of her to prove she was there because I'm a jerk.  (Thanks Stacy!)

Photo courtesy:  Stacy.  I LOVE this shot of A. & Monkey snuggled up watching cartoons afterward.

...we baked cookies with family...

...we attended our second Tuba Christmas (500+ Tubas playing Christmas carols!)...

...we visited Archie the Snowman.  This was actually a renewal of an old tradition.  When I was little, we would go to see Archie (the 20-foot tall) Snowman at Chapel Hill Mall in Akron, Ohio.  You could talk to him via a hidden man with a microphone in a nearby shed, Wizard-of-Oz-style.  Sounds creepy but it was magical, I swear!  Eventually, the mall did away with him, but some people in the community found a way to bring him back, and he was at Lock 3 Park in downtown Akron this year.  I was SO excited to take my boys to see him.

Talking to Archie

After visiting Archie, there was lots more fun stuff to do in the Lock 3 Park area:

We walked over to the Marble and Toy Museum and the boys played with various marble-dropping toys there for quite awhile.

Marble Drop

Photo op with a real Soap Box Derby car!

Mini train ride around the Lock 3 park area.

Sled riding!

Another great tradition - and my favorite - is our annual Christmas Lights tour.  Grandma & Grandpa joined us for dinner at Swenson's, a locally famous drive-in restaurant with AMAZING burgers.  Once our tummies were full, we headed out to see some local light displays.

Photo courtesy: Monkey

Photo courtesy: Monkey

 

YUM!

Monkey was SO thrilled that we found a couple houses in our area with music/light shows like the ones he'd been watching on youtube for weeks.  This one was REALLY impressive!

And this is our favorite house, always the last stop on our tour.  Yes, that *is* a WORKING ROLLER COASTER in their yard!

"Penguin Park"

I actually got almost zero pics from Christmas Day.  I was too busy enjoying it to worry about documenting it!