Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Reformation Day/Halloween/Dress-up Day and the Herman House

“The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him for he cannot bear scorn.” -Martin Luther

I get a little bit of flack from some of my more conservative Brethren about our family's decision to go ahead with Halloween. I'm not going to go into it here, really, but if you are at all concerned about my decision to dress my daughters up as an Elephant and a Peanut on October 31, allow them to hang out with other similarly dressed children during their Mommy and Me preschool class and get candy from people in the Adults with Disabilities class and have their grandparents over for dinner so that they could be there when we trotted all over the neighborhood, giving everyone a huge grin that saw Claire in her Pink Elephant costume, rest assured that I took the matter up with God, several history books and scripture.  I did not make this decision without some thought and prayer.  Limited, non-gory or evil-glorifying participation won out in the end.  If you want to know more and read a REALLY fabulous, comprehensive history of the holiday, pull up a chair, get comfortable and click here.   Christian and I read it together and thought it was fantastic.  We'd like to add some Reformation Day activities to our day in the future, as well.  

So now that that disclaimer is out of the way, here are a few pictures of our Halloween Week :-)  
Claire loves Elephants.  Oh, and monkeys.  But I found a super cute Pink Elephant costume and decided the girls were going to dress up at an Elephant and a Peanut (which is perfect since we call Ashlyn "Peanut").  
Claire got to wear her costume early.  During the last 15 min of her Tap/Ballet Class, they had a Halloween Party and the girls could dress up, bring snacks and treats to share.  Claire was so, so excited to wear her costume.  So. Excited. Here she is, the little pink elephant sitting among the other little girls.  
But on actual Halloween, I took the day off from work so I could take the girls to their Parent and Me Music and Art Class at The Wilshire Center in Fullerton.  The kids could come dressed up and they had a little party with snacks, crafts and Trick or Treating around the buildings.  The disabled adults who take classes at the same time in the same building as the preschool class passed out candy to the little kids as did the people working in the administration office in the next building over.  After Trick or Treating was over, we attempted to get a group picture of all the kids.  Getting costumed toddlers and preschoolers to sit together for a picture is, obviously, not easy but it turned out cute anyway.







That evening Greg and Lori came out to have dinner with us and joined us for Trick or Treating in the neighborhood.  Claire shared in my "lets conquer the neighborhood" attitude.  After every house she said, "I go ANOTHER house!!!"  Several times, someone would open the door and tell Claire how cute she looked, hand her a handful of candy and then say, "Oh gosh, you're so cute!  Here's more." Oh, boy.  Ashlyn, on the other hand, really wanted no part in the festivities.  She was happy to be carried by me or by her Grammy and really didn't want to be put down, so when we passed our street a second time, we grabbed the stroller out of the garage and she was fine the rest of the evening.  


Claire brought in QUITE the candy haul.  Right now, the candy is hidden in the back of the pantry.  She hasn't asked for any of it yet and has seemed to have totally forgotten about it.   But she will tell you all about her night of Trick of Treating.  I'm well aware that this is probably the last year I can "candy hide" before she gets wise to mamma.  :-)

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