A Not-So-Spooky Holiday

Another of our favorite holidays has come and gone for the year, and this year, we celebrated Halloween in style!

Kyle and I decided several months ago that Grace would be Queen Elsa from Disney's Frozen.  She got the costume last year for Christmas from my parents to wear when we saw Frozen on Ice in February.  Halloween seemed like the perfect opportunity to get some more use from the costume.

Our Queen Elsa!

Since Grace wouldn't be able to walk for trick-or-treating, Kyle and I decided we would somehow transform her stroller into an ice castle.  We had talked about it for weeks, but didn't really get around to working on it until Halloween week rolled around.  Because that's how we roll.

With a big cardboard box, two cans of light blue spray paint and some pictures from the internet, I set about creating Grace's ice castle.  Okay, so I actually only bought one can of spray paint the first time, and had to go back and get another one.  But it worked, and with a little glitter, it really sparkled.

Hanging out with Cousin Izzy and Keith while waiting for the parade to start.

Our first Halloween outing was with Grace's preschool class. She and her classmates walked from the school to the newspaper office, up Main Street and back to school for a Halloween party. The kids even got a ton of fun treats!

Cheesing with Grandma and Grandpa Galer at the paper.

The next marked the annual Trick-or-Treat Trail with area businesses followed by the Hillsboro Rotary Club Halloween parade. For the Trick-or-Treat Trail, more than 30 businesses open their doors to trick-or-treaters and those who participate have a chance to win prizes.  We opted just to pick a few places to stop, including the newspaper office and RehabEdge, where Grace has physical therapy each week.  Mom and I also took her to get her photo taken with Ken Meade and his neat Halloween set.

She won first prize in her age group!

Then it was time for the parade.  Kids line up in different age groups, and the costumes are judged by local volunteers. We participate just for fun every year, and this year, Grace won first place in her age division.  Although I might be biased, she did look beautiful.

Kyle's "BEAT INAD" pumpkin!

We intended to do a bit of trick-or-treating in Hillsboro that night, but Grace was a bit under the weather, so we decided just to eat dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and call it a night.

Grace held the candy bucket for trick-or-treaters and Kyle showed off our pumpkins.

Grace then proceeded to sleep nearly all day on Saturday as she tried to fight off her cold. We did wake her up that evening to greet trick-or-treaters at our house and so we could carve pumpkins.  I used a stencil to create Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc., and Kyle carved the words "BEAT INAD" out of his pumpkin. Pumpkin carving is always one of our favorite traditions, and even though we didn't get to do it until Halloween night this year, we will really enjoyed it.

Grace liked helping to pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters that came by.

The following day, we had planned to trick-or-treat with some of Kyle's family in Raymond, but Grace just wasn't feeling up to it.  So we promised to visit again sometime soon.

Halloween for the Herschelmans

Halloween ends up being a pretty busy holiday for us, but we enjoy the chance to make memories together as a family. And I think Kyle's already planning his pumpkin for next year.

MLH