Happy (covid) Halloween

We love Halloween around here.  And even though this was was definitely different, we tried our best to make it a fun one anyway.  
 

Leo decided he wanted to be Slash from Guns and Roses.  He had the hat leftover from his steampunk costume and the glasses were in our Halloween box.  He borrowed my leather jacket and then we added a wig.  He looked great.  He dressed up for school on Wednesday for their special virtual assembly.  

Attending school in costume.  

Serafina decided to skip an elaborate homemade costume this year for the comfort of a onesie.  She looked super cute. 

Here she is at school in costume.  

Today they put back on their costumes for a special Halloween Hunt.  

Serafina added makeup for this event. 

Covid safe.  

At the beginning of the month, I went outside my comfort zone and emailed about 30 people inviting them to participate in a daytime Halloween "Hunt".  The premise was simple.  Participating houses would put on treats between 3pm - 5pm in a way that kids only had to touch the treat they were picking and anyone on the hunt would agree to practice social distancing.  I opted for a daytime event so everyone could easily see each other to stay six feet apart.  I had tons of people sign up and the email was passed to people that weren't on my original list.  I created a map of all the houses and sent it out.  We had 30 houses on the hunt spread around the neighborhood and 75 kids participating.  

Here's my treat table complete with hand sanitizer.  

Fred was ready to greet the kids. 

Serafina walked the Hunt route with her friend Alissa.  

In the evening, we decorated our dining room table and lit candles for a festive dinner. Then we settled in for a Halloween movie.  Traditional trick-or-treating isn't safe enough so I'm glad we did the hunt and stayed in tonight.  It was a low-key Halloween, but it was fun and just what we needed to feel in the spirit.  I got several emails and texts thanking me for organizing.  I'm just glad so many kids still got to have Halloween even with the world falling to crap around us. 

Pumpkin Carving

We carved some pumpkins today.  

Nana and Mousse supervised. 

Mousse snacked on some pumpkin guts

Glowing nicely.  

Another Corona cut

Leo got way shaggy but he's got a wig as part of his Halloween costume so he needed to reduce this mop so it could fit under it.  

After

Tom the barber

Mousse looks a little worried he might be next. 

 

Colonial Apple Cider

Leo had the opportunity to earn some extra credit by doing a colonial craft.  He could have made a tri-corner hat or whittled some soap, but he opted to make apple cider.  We were allowed to used the food processor to grate the apples thankfully because I don't know if I would have given this project the green light if we had to hand-grate the apples.  

We took pictures of every step that he complied into a slideshow for the class and did a short write up about the process.  

Here he is with the apples ready to get started.  

We came across a bad apple.  Leo made sure to be extra expressive about this discovery.  

The dog performed some tricks to get some apple scraps.  

Delicious apple gratings in the cheese cloth.  

Hung up for gravity to do the work.  

After a while of dripping and squeezing, the result was some pretty delicious juice.  

 

BFFs

 

We have a teenager!

I can't believe Leo is 13.  He's a hilarious, complicated kid, and I wouldn't change it for the world. 

Here he is walking the dog yesterday.  

This morning, he started the day with our favorite donuts.  

Serafina gave him some special Baby Yoda cereal that doesn't look very tasty but the packaging is super cute.  

Serafina and I created a fun balloon background for Leo to log into distance learning.  

After school, Nana came over for birthday cake.  

Never too old for a birthday kiss from Nana! 

Leo's specially requested cake. 

Chocolate cake with fudge filling with whipped vanilla butter cream and strawberries. 

Leo has been getting more into guitar and decided he wanted an electric guitar for Christmas.  We decided to surprise him and get it for his birthday.  Here's his face when his dad come out of the office with it.  

Nice carrying case. 

Happy kid!

Mousse is less impressed.  

Ready to rock.  

All in all, he had a good birthday.  This is our third quarantine birthday so we have it down - donut breakfast, homemade cake, favorite restaurant take-out and over-the-top present.  It helps ease the sting of not being able to party with others or go out like normal.