Wrapping up October

The Saturday before Halloween, we had a wonderful visit with our Aunts and Uncle. They drove up from the Chicago area and spent the day with us.

The first thing on our agenda was to go to the Farmer's Market. The Farmer's Market had only one more week outside and it was a very nice Saturday considering how late in the season it was.

And of course the produce, cheese, and bakery was divine! Ryan was in town celebrating homecoming, so he actually met up with us on the square and enjoyed all the yummy goodness with us.

We bought two loaves of Stella's Spicy Cheese Bread (to last us through the winter.. Of course they really only lasted us until mid-November--but it was a nice idea.) And then some other produce like spinach and garlic.  If you have never been to the Madison Farmer's Market--there really is no other market that is better.  Give me a call and we will schedule a visit.  I KNOW you will find it all worthwhile.

Ky and Alaina enjoyed the extra attention from all the relatives--though Alaina was being a little standoffish with Ryan--which was weird.  Towards the end Ky had fun playing in the leaves and putting them on everyone's head--well actually only Uncle Ryan and Aunt Linda's heads!  HA! 

From there we returned home and had a nice dinner with Uncle Tom, Aunt Sue, Aunt Janice, and Aunt Linda.  At some point during the visit, Ky brought up the new baby and pointed out the ultrasound on the fridge.  We were planning to tell everyone at dinner---but hey--that worked too--and I think he was getting used to telling everyone.  :)  We all had a wonderful day and look forward to getting together again.

The next day was Halloween.  I have been having personal battles with the "holiday" myself and feeling really torn about the whole thing.  Up to this point, we had not ever gone trick or treating--and honestly I think calling it trick or treating is somewhat wrong in itself.  If you don't know my history, I grew up never trick or treating.  We were taught that it was a bad holiday and that the whole concept was wrong.  This year was the year we needed to decide what to do with the kids and trick or treating since Ky was now 4 and had heard from everyone else what happens.

Rob and I talked about it and I looked into the history of the holiday.  We also spoke with our church group about it.  Here is what I learned and what I decided about the holiday...

Pumpkin Carving--in England it was to represent the souls captured in purgatory. In America it was developed as a separate tradition during the reaping of the harvest NOT Halloween originally...I have no problem with pumpkin carving assuming my children are not making things that look demonic and such...and well we don't believe in purgatory, but hey I grew pumpkins this year, so let's celebrate the harvest!

Trick or Treating--can in fact be dated way back to Christmastime in England when people dressed up and went door to door caroling and then received treats.  It can also be taken back to All Saints Day when the poor would go door to door and pray for lost loved ones to receive food.  And in Ireland people would dress up and perform tricks for money and food.  It is actually difficult to see the true roots of trick or treating--much like the true roots of Halloween in general (there are so many different countries that have done different things.) While I don't think any menacing tricks should be played on people--the fact is, they rarely are (or it is teenagers who would do it any other night..)  And who hasn't paid to go see circus clowns perform--this is pretty much the same idea--payment in exchange for entertainment?  Anyway, I guess I pretty much was able to come to the conclusion that I was okay with the kids trick or treating as long as they weren't going to dress up wearing ghoulish things.  So right now that is where my thoughts lay with it all.  There was no DIRECT connection with evil or pagans--much of that has come in the last century through horror films and such.  So for now we will treat it like another fun day such as Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day.  We will not go overboard with it -but enjoy the day when it comes and make sure to keep everything else in perspective. WHEW!--so there you go.

So the kids did go trick or treating for the first time ever this year.  We went with our church group which was nice.  Ky was Diego and Alaina was Boots from Dora the Explorer.  We made homemade costumes (which I would love to do every year--but at the same time, I may not put forth the effort if I can find a second hand costume for a few dollars and save myself the stress.) 

We had a nice potluck with our church group and then we went out.  A friend brought an extra duck costume which was warmer than Alaina's Boot's costume so we put that over hers.  It was getting pretty chilly.  We put Ky in pants.  Alaina started off in a pretty crabby mood (make sure you see the video---it is a hilarious duck screaming!)  Once she realized that she was getting candy for knocking on doors--she quickly changed her mood.  (Go figure.)  The kids had a good time and Rob and I had fun sorting through their candy and taking a small "chaperon/costume making" fee.  :)