Halloween is over and we had a very exciting time. I think, this was the biggest year for Marlene so far. She could not stop talking about it. Amelia got in the spirit, too. "Hat", "Boo", and "Bumbin" (Pumpkin) are solid parts of her vocabulary now. She even helped carving the Pumpkins; well, she stuck her hand in the pumpkin once and was thoroughly disgusted by the feeling.
It all started last week, when we began pulling out the decorations and making more. We have been feasting on pumpkin in all its varieties, as pie, bread, pancakes, cookies, and muffins. On Saturday we went to the Pumpkin Prowl at the zoo. Every year they carve hundreds of pumpkins and light them at night. It draws huge crowds. They have scary displays and various stations where they show scary science, a hunted house, jugglers, magicians etc. Let's not forget the spiders, bats and snakes. The weather was perfect. It was still warm in the afternoon and even the cold on the weekend was not as cold and frosty as for the actual Halloween.
After the zoo, we went to a Halloween Party at a neighbors house. The kids ran wild. That made the time change transition easier, because they were just so exhausted. After that I went alone to a Party at my friend Nicola's house. I finally got to go as Miss Piggy( I had planned to do that for a while, but certain pregancies prohibited it). It was nice, just to be with adults and not worry about the children.
Sunday was our big clean-up day and we tried to get ready for our party as good as possible. On Monday I started baking cookies, cakes and cupcakes. Marlene helped by cutting out the cookies. Unfortunately my brain only worked half way; I wanted to double a recipe, but I only added the extra flower and spices, not the butter, sugar and eggs. The result was not exactly exciting. On Tuesday morning I put the finishing touches on the decorations before Amelia and I headed to Marlene's school, where her class had a little pot luck party. Then all the kindergarteners paraded through the school. Amelia loved it; she (and I ) made up the end of the parade, that went through every classroom.
After school we had our open house from 3.30 - 5.30. The kids loved running around in their costumes. Everyone was high on sugar. I am proud to say, I did my part. When it was dark, Jason took Marlene Trick-or-Treating. It was not the greatest success, because Marlene was too shy to go to the houses. All the other years we had just been in the Village or in the business district in Wedgewood. Next year we are going to try with a bigger group.
It seems that we all got a new hair style at the same time. My usual haircut got a little shorter than usual and I really like it. Marlene's was long overdue. We just were never able to find the time. And finally Amelia's hair is long enough, that we could move from the "Cindy Lou Who" to the regular pigtails.
The move from fall to winter went really fast this year. We had a few storms, which took care of most of the leafs. Amelia enjoyed it.
As most of you know, Marlene started to go to German Language School on Saturdays. Besides learning and practicing the language, there is a big emphasis on customs. So, last Saturday they had a St. Martins Day parade. First they made lanterns and learned the songs ("Laterne, Laterne" and "Ich geh mit meiner Laterne") and then they Kindergartners, First and Secondgraders paraded through the other classrooms.
