Halloween!

Ok, I'm doing something a little different this time with the ole' blog. I actually have 2 other blogs coming- one about our first visitors here, Doug and Alyscia Popeney, and another on Sophie's class trip to the zoo.
However, I want to get our Halloween pics out there now so people can experience it in realtime. :)

So, I was actually surprised to learn how many countries celebrate Halloween and the differing ways they celebrate it. For instance, the UK will dress up on the day and trick-or-treat, but people don't decorate their houses or make a thing of it. China doesn't celebrate it outside of where the expats live.
I, on the other hand, love Halloween. :) I pay no mind at all to the dark side of this holiday and instead choose to see it as a fun, family-oriented time with pumpkins and dressing up and candy. :)
I was even able to find a mini pumpkin patch and scraped together a few costumes for us- well, most of us. They simply don't make costumes Ben's size here. :)

We found our pumpkins at an international school fair. The Shanghai American School held a fair on the Saturday, Oct. 20th and we had heard rumors that there would be a small pumpkin patch. So, it gave us a fun day of kiddie games and blow-up jumpy things and, pumpkins!

Here's Soph in the pumpkin patch. I think these are actually pie pumpkins as they were very small, very hard, weird seeds (couldn't roast them), and they rotted in about 5 days. :) That could just be the humidity and heat here, though.

So, the day after we got our pumpkins we invited a bunch of friends over for an All-American pumpkin carving party. I think we blew the minds of our Aussie and English friends! A first-time experience for many of them. :)

Here is Sophia and Mia planning out what their pumpkins will look like. The thing on Soph's cheek is a butterfly temporary tattoo that she had received at the school fair the day before. I thought I'd put that in here bc I know all the grandmas would be wondering...

Anywho, here's what Sophie wanted hers to look like-

While Ben was cleaning out pumpkins, I got some Riley Lawler snuggle time (our newest addition to the group!)

Everyone working feverishly on their children's pumpkins. This is what happens when you have 4 families with 10 kids under age 9 and no safety pumpkin-carving knife thingys. :)

Our friend, Laura, took this great pic of our beauty. Oh, she is just too cute!! (That would be what Grandma Donna is saying as she looks at this picture- guarantee it!!)

Here's the lovely Hattie Stirling and her beautiful kitty pumpkin-

Ta da!! Sophie's pumpkin is done! Well done, daddy, looks just like the picture she drew. :)

Ollie Stirling and Mia Lawler with their masterpieces-

Isaac Lawler with his pumpkin, and a great face! He is our resident cheeky monkey. :)

The kids with their pumpkins on our balcony. Great fun!! (Just wanted to point out that we're all pretty much in shorts and t-shirts. Just sayin'... :)

The VPs. Coop was NOT impressed. :)

After pizza and pop the kids hunkered down to watch the classic Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin, a Halloween tradition in our family. Some of our friends from other countries had seen it, some had never even heard of it. :) I should have done the donut-eatting contest... shoot!

The pumpkins all lit up and pretty (and small!)

Earlier in the day, while Coop was napping, Sophie decided she wanted to make daddy a Halloween card for some reason. Gotta love spelling phonetically. :)

And the inside!! On the left is a house where 3 of us are asleep in our beds and Cooper is outside playing. Hmm... hope this isn't a premonition... :)

 

 

Ok, on to the big night. The Shanghai Racquet Club held a big extravaganza on Sunday the 28th to celebrate Halloween for all foreign families. Don't get excited- it wasn't free- it was actually super expensive, but worth it for the one-time experience. :)

 

They started the afternoon off with games and crafts for all the kids. They made mummy-pops, glued construction paper onto mandarin oranges to make them pumpkins, made bat bracelets and more.

 

Here's a shot of the family at the beginning of the night. I'm a fairy godmother, Soph's a witch, Coop's a giraffe (he would NOT wear the head piece- can't blame him :), and Ben, well, Ben has  pumpkin hat. Soph decided all the dads should have pumpkin hats bc none of them had costumes. :)

Sophie with Aubrey- our little witches. :)

We were actually able to do a few crafts with Cooper. He seemed fairly interested in most of it and really not overwhelmed at all. Here Ben is helping him make a pumpkin necklace out of felt and beads. Patrick is next to him helping his son, Quinny. Aubrey's next to them and Soph next to her.

Ben and Coop checking out the scene-

Here Sophie is making a cat out of a sucker with her friend, Carys.

 

 Before the glue was even dry she asked if she could eat it. :)

Soph's day was made perfect by the discovery of a cotton candy machine. :)

A view of the craft/game room-

Soph with the orange she transformed into a pumpkin :)

The nice thing about the pumpkin hats was that it made the guys really easy to find! Here's Ben Lawler and Matt Stirling being good sports. :)

Following in the footsteps of his big sister, Coop wanted to eat his sucker before I had even helped him fully mummify it. :)

Ben helping Soph make her bat bracelet-

Ta da! She loved it!

Here's Carys with one of her cutie pie little brothers, Lucas. Boy, the Scottish make cute kids! :)

The Winkler family- Aubrey was a witch, Colin a firefighter, and Quentin a pirate. They all have whistles in their mouth. Yes, they seriously gave every kid a whistle. Seriously. Every. Kid.

Sophie and Isaac working hard on their ghosts-

Soph and her bud, Hattie-

Momma and Sophia-

Me and Ben-

I wish this picture was a bit closer so you can see all the great costumes! Pirates and witches and SpiderMan and BatMan and more. Great fun!

Hats off to the boys ;) Patrick, Matt, Ben, Ben and Theo

Sally has this amazing effect on babies...

A bit of dinner before trick-or-treating. Pizza, fruit and soda. They tried to give the kids regular Coke and I almost threw the pitcher back at the woman. Seriously...

And we're off! There were groups of 10 kids created and 1 parent could go with each child, if desired. Each group was led by a person from the racquet club. There needed to be quite a bit of organization as there are 24 buildings with no less than 5 floors in each and not everyone was handing out candy. People had signed up in advance to hand out candy and each group was assigned to certain buildings and apartments. Quite the process! In the end I bet we only went to about 10-15 apartments but it took us 45 minutes!

Trick-or-treating, Shanghai style!

Another view- the lady in the red was our guide. She actually had the nerve to ask each place for candy for herself as well!

The end of the night, back home, candy assessed (only took about 3 minutes as there isn't much!), a quick family pic and it's off for baths and bed.

Even though we dearly missed being with our friends and family back home, I think we managed to put together a pretty fun holiday. :)