Halloween 2015

My friend Elissa invited us to her house for Halloween. She thought her son, Grant, and Carter would enjoy trick-or-treating together. It was Grant's first time trick-or-treating and Carter had the experience from last year so she was hoping Grant would follow Carter's lead. We ran the Hearts and Halloween 5k in the morning, more on it to come later, and got home in time for naps. Carter took a nice long nap and woke up just in time to head to their house. He woke up crying and didn't want to put his costume on but after some snuggles and reading books he was ready to go. Mom, Jeremy, and Thomas all left a little before us to pick my dad up at the airport because he had been at a conference in Texas.

Carter and Grant playing before dinner.

Carter was so excited to see Grant when we arrived and they played for quite a while. Elissa had ordered pizza for dinner and had some grapes and a veggie tray to go with it. The food was delicious and then she pulled out an adorable Halloween themed dessert plate. As we were finishing dinner they started getting trick-or-treaters at their house so we decided it was time to head out. The boys got in their costumes, Grant was adorable in his duck costume and Carter got in his pirate costume. It was nearing 7:00 so we decided against putting Elise in her costume and I wore her in the carrier so she could sleep as we walked and, amazingly, she did just that! Carter was so excited. He was running to each house and Grant was moving much slower as he just turned 2 so I'd have Carter run out past us and then run back. He was getting in quite a bit of mileage! He loved ringing the doorbells and knocking on the doors. He did such a great job saying "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" although occasionally he'd accidentally say "you're welcome" instead of "thank you". He was even brave enough to walk up to houses by himself!

Grant and Carter ready for trick-or-treating.

We had decided to go ahead and outfit the stroller as a pirate ship one last time and it got a lot of attention. While we were out we saw a wagon that had been made into a train which was really cute but was no comparison to Ty's creation from last year. After about an hour of trick-or-treating Carter told me he was sore. When I asked where he said, "My body. My body is sore!" All the running had caught up to him and he was getting worn out. I convinced him to get in the stroller and he rode for a while between houses. Around that time Oma, Opa, Uncie J, and Uncie Taco met up with us and walked with us for the last few houses.

Elise ready to trick-or-treat, or just ride along!

They thought this house was super cool and Carter kept wanting to go back.

When we got back to Elissa's house the boys ate a couple pieces of candy and then we packed up and headed out. It was an awesome night and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Carter even more so than the rest of us I'd say! I'm already looking forward to Halloween next year with Elise toddling along after Carter as we trick-or-treat. The stroller idea and our costumes are already in the works. I enjoyed being a part of the costume so much this year we are planning out a whole family costume again. I've always loved Halloween but now with the kids to watch enjoy it and the excitement of Ty's costume creations it is becoming a favorite holiday for me. Not sure it can surpass Valentine's Day as my favorite, but we'll see! Until next year, much love from the family of pirates!

This is how Elise enjoyed trick-or-treating.

Carter took a break to sit on his pumpkin. Thanks to my mom for the last 2 pictures!

Twilight Thriller 5k

The Twilight Thriller 5k is one of the most highly anticipated races in our household. The race is Halloween themed and encourages runners to wear costumes. The first year we ran it Ty realized there was a costume contest and got serious about his costume for the following year. He won it that following year (2012) as a gnome with a giant hat. The next year he decided to incorporate the stroller and he and Carter won as pilots with an airplane stroller. Last year he and Carter were engineers with the stroller made into a train. Check out pictures from each year in the post I wrote about last year's race here. This year Ty was excited to tackle the challenge of outfitting the double stroller and decided on a pirate ship. He and Carter were both pirates and Elise was a mermaid. I rummaged through my Halloween tote, pulling out an old pirate costume I had from college. We entered the contest as 3 pirates and a mermaid. Ty again impressed, winning the contest for the 4th year in a row. Our prize was 3 caramel apples which, although I can attest were delicious, Ty does not like and a bag of popcorn coated in white chocolate which Carter immediately grabbed.

Walking toward the race area and seeing the reactions the stroller was receiving was so much fun. Then we were greeted by spooky Halloween themed music including songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas and the theme from The X-Files. I started getting really excited for the race and was pumped up. At the zoo run a few weeks ago I had pulled out 6:56 pace good for 21:55 on a slightly long course that equated to around a 21:30 on an exact course, but when are the courses ever exact?! Going into this race my goal was to run faster than the zoo run. We've run lots of races on this course so I knew it was slightly short at around 3.05 miles. I figured with a really good race I could sneak under 21 minutes for my race time and then finish out to the full 3.1 miles to see what I could run for the correct distance.

Carter ready to leave for the race.

My mom crocheted Elise's entire costume.

We lined up farther back than we should have but it worked out okay because everyone went out really quickly right off the start. I felt really strong and checked my pace a few times in the first mile. I was reminded that my Garmin struggles a little bit on the trail since it's in a highly wooded area. At one point I looked and it said I was running 6:20 pace. When I looked again it said 7:20 pace. I was then forced to run more on feel than pace that first mile which may have been a good thing as my goal was to hit 6:55 pace for the first mile but I went through it in 6:49 and felt great. Had I held back to 6:55 pace it may have been too slow.

Thomas ready for the race.

Jeremy in costume before the race.

By the turn around point I had worked my way up to 5th overall female and could see a pack of 4 girls a ways ahead of me. My plan was to hold the pace as steady as I could, not slowing down from the pace of my first mile if I could help it. My bandana had loosened and was starting to slide around so I pulled it off and planned to toss it to Ty when I passed them going in the other direction. I got really excited when I could see the giant mast coming toward me in the distance. I cheered for Ty and Carter as I tossed my bandana to Carter who was excited to see me. Then I got down to business and started focusing on the pack of girls ahead of me. I could tell I was slowly closing the gap and catching up to them. I went through the 2nd mile in 6:55 and felt like I could definitely pick up the pace. I was excited knowing I would for sure beat my zoo run time.

Going into the last half mile I caught up to  the pack of girls who at this point had fallen back to 3 with one girl ahead of them and looking much stronger than the rest. I pulled up next to the first girl with about a quarter of a mile to go and she went with me. When we turned the corner to where we could see the finishing arch with glowing lights in the distance I kicked it up a notch and hit mile 3 in 6:51. We came off the gravel trail onto the paved parking lot and I was really kicking it in. The girl pulled up beside me again so I took off in high gear and pushed past her to the finish. I had planned to finish out to 3.1 miles but the sprint to the finish left me tired so I decelerated and finished out the 5k slower than I could have. My official finishing time was 20:44 with my full 5k at 21:16. I was extremely happy with my time. My goal has been to run under 21 minutes in the spring and having run a 21:16 already I'd say that should be easily attainable!

Crossing the finish line.

Jeremy led our group with a 9th place overall finish. He was dressed as a knight and ran the entire race with his sword in one hand while holding his cape in the other because it was so long it was getting caught up in his feet. He finished in 19:30 which put him first in his age group. I finished in 20:44, first female and 15th overall. Dad was next running 22:51 which was good for 3rd in his age group and 38th overall. Thomas finished in 23:07, running with a club in his hand and taking 40th overall and 3rd in his age group. Ty started all the way at the back and spent the entire race weaving the ship through runners. He finished in 31:00, 7th in his age group and 146th overall. When I was finished I jogged a cool down out to Ty and finished the last half mile with him. Carter wanted to get out and run so he finished the race running, holding Ty's hand. Mom walked the race in 54:45, 255th overall and 21st in her age group. 

Jeremy finishing, he carried his sword the entire way.

Dad was a ghoul.

Thomas ran the whole way with his hammer.

Carter was so adorable running through the finish!

Mom walked the race.

It was cute because Carter remembered doing the summer race series at this course and was telling me he wanted chocolate ice cream when he finished. Since it's usually a chilly race they have hot chocolate rather than ice cream which appeased him. He also enjoyed a cookie and some cheese puffs after the race. Another fun race and after party in the books! Now we're looking forward to our next 5k on Halloween morning which also has a costume contest, followed by trick-or-treating in the evening!

Enjoying his hot chocolate.

Our group after winning the costume contest.

Carter wanted to go up with me to get my award and was so sure the trophy was his.

Weekly Learning Theme: Halloween

With Halloween on Friday I decided a week with learning activities created from the Halloween theme would be a lot of fun.  I didn't do a whole lot of planning and just winged a lot of it.  On Tuesday we went to the library to return some books and pick up a book I had on reserve.  As we were walking in I saw a sign for a Halloween-themed story time that evening.  How crazy that we just happened to go to the library that day!  All in all we had a wonderful week!

Listed below are the objectives I am focusing on for the themed weeks.  The highlighted objectives are ones Carter received exposure to during our theme this week:

1. Know the names of and be able to point out body parts.
2. Know names of objects and be able to point to them when asked.
3. Sort objects based on size or color/Match like objects together, for example match a circle with a circle. 
4. Play make believe.
5. Speak in short phrases and 2-4 word sentences. (He's done some 2 word sentences already!)
6. Follow simple instructions.

Activities/Movement:

• We went to a Halloween-themed story time at the library.  Costumes were encouraged so Carter and Ty wore their engineer costumes and we loaded Carter into his train stroller and walked to the library.  The librarian read Halloween books and sang some Halloween songs with the kids.  Then there was some time at the end for kids to carve apples, paint a picture, or draw.  Carter and I drew and he mostly just dumped crayons out all over the table.  We had never been to story time at this library and Carter was in awe of the decorations in the room.

Ty and Carter at the library for story time.

• We practiced trick or treating.  First I showed Carter how to trick or treat by going up to a door, knocking, and saying trick or treat.  Then I gave Carter an empty pumpkin bucket and I filled mine with dinosaur toys.  We started with his Live and Learn Play Home.  I was on one side of the door and had him come up and knock on the other side.  When I opened the door I told him to say trick or treat.  When he did, I gave him a dinosaur in his bucket.  Then I went to different rooms and shut the door to practice.  He did it twice more before getting upset that I was on one side of the door and he was on the other so we stopped.

Checking out the dinosaur he got while trick or treating.

• One year my room mom wrote numbers on paper pumpkins and did a musical chairs game with the students at our fall party.  After the party she was going to throw them away so I kept them because I can be a bit of a hoarder and hate to see things get wasted.  I pulled them out and made a circle on the ground.  I went through and just used numbers 1-10.  I made the numbers 1-10 on little slips of paper and put them in a basket.  Then I turned on music, stopped it, and showed Carter how to sit down on a number.  I had him pull out a number and we celebrated the number he grabbed.  I modeled for him once and then I just reminded him what to do each time.  I was shocked by how much fun he had!  He would run around the circle and laugh so hard.  Then he'd get so excited no matter what number he pulled out of the basket.  We probably played 10 rounds before he lost interest and just started dancing to the music.

Listening for the music and ready to run.

Running around the circle.

• After trick or treating I pulled out 4 each of the following candy: Kit Kats, M&M's, Reese's cups, and 3 Musketeers.  I put one of each candy in a different spot and had Carter sort them based on color.  We talked about what color the wrapper was for each candy bar.  Silver was a new word for him and it was so cute to hear him say it!  Each time we sort based on color, he changes things up a bit.  This time he stacked the candy bars on top of each other.  Then he made different piles closer to him and moved the candy bars I had set out to lay in the correct pile.  Next time we sort based on color I'm going to ask him to do it without starting the piles for him since he seems ready for that.  When we were done I let him pick one candy bar to eat and he chose a Kit Kat.  It's what he chose to eat on Halloween night too and it works well because I can break off just one of the slivers and give it to him, therefore getting 2 treats out of one miniature candy bar! 

Craft:

• Last year I saw this really cute post on pinterest and made the ghost footprint.  So I decided to make the spider this year.  We didn't have black paint so I mixed paints and ended up with a little bit of a purple hue to the paint which I thought looked really cool and Halloween-esque, but when it dried it was much lighter and just looked gray.  They still turned out pretty cute!  Carter was desperate to smack his hands on the paper and make a mess so I let him do some free style painting when we finished making the spiders to send out to his family.

 

Special Snack:

• I had planned to do the cute little banana ghost where you stick a couple chocolate chips on a banana for eyes and they look like a ghost.  But I forgot to buy chocolate chips and figured I'd use raisins, but wasn't thinking and Carter ate all the bananas before we did it.  Lucky for me Thursday evening I checked my e-mail and I'd gotten a message from IHOP saying they were giving away free scary face pancakes to kids all day on Friday for Halloween!  I had an IHOP gift card my parents gave me for Mother's Day so Carter and I went there for lunch.  He loved his scary face pancake and ate off the mini Oreo and strawberry before starting on the pancake.  I normally don't let him eat stuff like that but I figured it was free and it was Halloween, so what the heck!

He was very excited for his pancake!

Eating a candy corn off the pancake's mouth.

Make Believe:

• We pretended to trick or treat in order to prepare Carter for actual trick or treating.  I  considered dressing up in costume and pretending his stroller was a train to also be make believe.

Songs:

• We had a lot of fun with the songs and found some really good ones on youtube.  When we listened to the skeleton song we pointed to our body parts.  Much to Carter's dismay I always pull the music up on my phone and we just listen to the song, we don't watch the video.  I also had a tape of Wee Sing Halloween one of my co-workers gave me about 6 years ago.  We listened to it during our pumpkin game and also left it on after we finished playing so Carter could dance to it. 

The Skeleton Dance:

Five Creepy Spiders:

Monster Mash:

Ghostbusters Theme Song:

Field Trip/Interactive Experience:

• Trick or treating was our field trip.  Since we had practiced Carter had all the words down and ready.  He could say trick or treat and he knew to say thank you before we had even practiced.  He was so cute going up to the doors and saying trick or treat.  When people let him pick his own candy he would grab some and then put it back in their basket so they'd end up putting candy in his bucket themselves.  They always thought it was so cute how he'd say thank you as we walked away.  He wore his engineer outfit and Ty wore his while pushing the train stroller.  Everyone was very impressed with the train.  Ty even tried out putting a smoke bomb in the smoke stack.  He got it for the race but decided against using it because no one would want to run through the smoke.  Jeremy and Thomas ended up coming trick or treating with us.  Carter had so much fun going down our street that we drove out to one of my friends' neighborhoods to do some trick or treating.  By the time we got there Carter was tired enough he was sucking his thumb rather than saying trick or treat so we hit up one street and headed home.  It was so much fun and I know he'll love it even more next year!

Ready for trick or treating.

He insisted on carrying his empty bucket as well as his bucket full of dinosaurs!

Using his pumpkin flashlight our neighbor gave him.

Ty and Thomas with the smoking train engine!

Knocking on a door during trick or treating.

Getting some candy!

Books:

I didn't even bother putting any Halloween books on hold because I figured they would be extremely popular.  Instead I just used all the Halloween books I had for my classroom, which was quite a few!  When we went to the library we went to the Halloween section of the nonfiction section and pulled a couple books that looked good.  We also had a couple books I'd picked up ahead of time as well as a new book from my parents.

• My First Halloween by Tomie dePaola
• Hoodwinked by Arthur Howard
• Biscuit Visits the Pumpkin Patch by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
• The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
• Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
• Say Boo! by Lynda Graham-Barber
• Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex
• Fright Night Flight by Laura Krauss Melmed
• Boo to You! by Lois Ehlert
• The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis
• Arthur's Halloween by Marc Brown
• Halloween at Creepy Castle by Alison Inches
• Clifford's Halloween by Norman Bridwell
• A Very Scary Haunted House by Joanne Barkan
• The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat by Stan & Jan Berenstain
• Franklin's Halloween by Paulette Bourgeois
• Who Said Boo? by Nancy White Carlstrom
• Halloween Hoots and Howls by Joann Adinolfi
• The Vanishing Pumpkin by Tony Johnston
• Angelina's Halloween by Katharine Holabird
• Visit a Haunted House by Joseph R. Ritchie
• The Teeny Tiny Ghost by Kay Winters
• Little Witch's Big Night by Deborah Hautzig
• Skeleton's Bones & Goblin Groans by Amy E. Sklansky
• A Very Brave Witch by Alison McGhee
• Turtle and Snake's Spooky Halloween by Kate Spohn
• I Spy A Scary Monster by Jean Marzollo
• The Candy Witch by Steven Kroll
• Halloween Songs and Poems by Phoebe Phillips
• Space Witch by Don Freeman
• The Witch Next Door by Normal Bridwell
• How Spider Saved Halloween by Robert Kraus
• Babar and the Ghost by Laurent de Brunhoff
• Ghosts and Crows and things with O's by Leonard Kessler
• Dinosaur Halloween by Liza Donnelly 
• Where's Boo? by Salina Yoon
• That Terrible Halloween Night by James Stevenson
• Sheep Trick or Treat by Nancy Shaw
• Halloween by Josie Keoogh
• Ragged Shadows by Lee Bennett Hopkins
• Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley
• I Love You, Little Monster by Ellen Weiss
• The Crow by Alison Paul

Twilight Thriller 5k

Saturday was such an exciting day.  My mom and I went to a baby shower for one of my best friends in the morning, we found out we're having a GIRL in the afternoon, and then we ran our annual Halloween race in the evening.  We've run the race the past 4 years.  I missed out last year because one of my best friends got married in San Diego that weekend, but I've run every other year.  The first year we ran the race Ty dressed as Batman, I was Robin, and Thomas was The Joker.  At the race we realized there were costume awards and Ty decided he wanted to win the next year and he did exactly that, dressing as a gnome with a 2 foot tall hat.  The next year he decided to run with Carter in the stroller and turn the stroller into a plane with them both dressed as pilots.  We all knew there was no way he wouldn't win again and he did.  This year he went with a train for the stroller and engineers for both his and Carter's costumes.  His train costume was complete with a train whistle to blow.  There was no way anyone was going to beat him.  When it came time for the costume contest they called a guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a mustache as the male winner and I was mad.  I knew how much time and effort Ty put into his costume and everyone could see his costume was far superior.  There was no way he shouldn't have won.  I was very vocal about my disappointment and planned to complain about the injustice to the race director after all awards were passed out.  Then they announced the group costume winners and it was Ty and Carter.  Last year he won as the male costume and this year he won as a group instead.  That made more sense.  Everyone in the crowd erupted in cheers.  It was almost as though they all felt Ty had gotten gyped as well and were relieved that was not the case.

A group shot before the race in 2011.

Our group costume in 2011.

A group shot in 2012.  My best friend, Ang, also did the race.

Ty's winning gnome costume.

Group shot from last year.  I was in San Diego for one of my best friends' weddings.

Ty and Carter with the winning plane/fighter pilot costume.

Group shot from this year.  It was so awesome to have everyone there!  Each other year we were missing at least someone.

Ty and Carter in the winning train/engineers costume.

Going into the race I'd had a rough week of training.  I had a migraine that lasted for 2 days so I didn't run either of those days.  My first day back was Friday and I struggled at 11 minute pace and stopped to throw up during the run.  Things weren't looking promising for Saturday's race.  Friday evening we stayed up until 1 am and woke up with Carter at 7 am.  Then I missed my nap because Carter woke up right as I laid down.  So by the time we headed out for the race I was exhausted.  I had hoped to take off at around 7:30 pace and try to run a similar time to the 23:11 I ran at the Zoo Run when I was 13 weeks pregnant.  But by the time race day came around I was just hoping to be able to run without being completely miserable.  I took off at a decent pace and ran the first mile in 7:41.  I slowed down during the second mile and kept my pace consistent going into the last mile.  I finished in 24:03 an average of 7:45 pace, about 1 minute slower than my Zoo Run time.  That put me 5th overall female, 2nd in my age group, and 16th out of 151 overall.  The race went better than I expected.  We have another race coming up this weekend.  I have a feeling I'll be able to run a little bit better with a more restful day and my head holding out throughout the week for me.

Crossing the finish line.

Jeremy ran the race dressed as Heisenberg wearing a hat and sunglasses.  He kept both the hat and sunglasses on for the entire race, even when it got dark.  Thomas asked him how he could see once the sun went down and he said he couldn't really.  When I saw him at the turn-around he was 5th overall and ended up winning the race in 18:57!  Dad ran a post-surgery PR in 22:56, winning his age group by 5 minutes and placing 9th overall.  Thomas was 26th overall with a time of 25:21 and placed 3rd in his age group.  Ty ran an impressive 32:53 while pushing the stroller and wearing a long-sleeved shirt and overalls!  He started at the very back of the race to stay out of everyone's way since he had the stroller and passed 75 runners during the race!  He was 4th in his age group and would have placed had it not been for Thomas!  Mom started at the very back with Ty and planned to run/walk but got excited and ran the entire race, finishing in 34:26 and passing 65 competitors during the race, finishing 7th in her age group.

Jeremy finishing with sunglasses on and all!

Ty and Carter accepting their group costume award.