Halloween Town

 We found our army of pumpkin cans!  

This past Sunday, I came up with the brilliant distractionary tactic of inviting Ethan to help me plan out what to do with our basement.   It has been a a wasteland of boxes (both packed and unpacked) and messes, ever since we moved in over a year ago.  No one EVER really wants to play down there these days, thanks to the aforesaid messes and the fact that it is dimly lit and unfinished. 

I decided a couple of weeks ago that SOMETHING needs to happen down there and contemplated paying the kids a giant sum of money just to get it cleaned up and organized.  However, it's the organizing that is probably the hardest thing about it. Part of the problem is that there are no storage shelves, and as I thought about this conundrum, I realized that building shelves in the basement would pretty much be a dream come true for Ethan.  I told him my plan on Sunday afternoon and, after grabbing the whiteboard, he drew out a diagram and went down with a tape measure to get the exact dimensions of everything.  Hahaha.  After he had finished labeling everything on the board, the girls wandered in and decided to jump in on the action as well.  They went to town adding all the "finishing touches," and the next thing I knew, they were ALL in the basement cleaning it up without me having to say a word about how much I was willing to pay them to get it done!

The end result of their labor for the day {and Scott and I did end up going down to help for a bit as well}, was 4 or 5 garbage bags full of trash and a half cleaned out basement.  It will definitely take some time to get it COMPLETELY cleaned out and up.  

The happiest discovery of the day, though, was when I found the box of long, lost Pumpkin Cans that we made a few years ago in St. Louis!   I was so sad last year when we couldn't find them to decorate with for Halloween, and had chalked it up to one more thing that was lost in the move.  The kids were ecstatic as well, and we went right to work decorating the mantle as soon as we opened the box.  :)

Other than our pumpkins, our main Halloween decorations this year have been courtesy of Jane.  She is VERY into creating paper cut-outs this season, and I have to say that they're kind of really hilarious and cute.  Not to mention creative.  :)

Unfortunately, Alex is VERY into ripping up paper these days, and as a result, most of her decorations have bitten the dust before the day is out.  She's made bats and pumpkins and -- most recently -- this witch.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!  Hahaha.

 She's riding on a broom!  Hahaha.

 I found the witch glued to the front door later that day.  And then NOT glued to the door a little after that.  :(

In keeping with the countdown for the actual day of Halloween, Alex had a class party today at preschool and was so excited when he found the mask to his costume this morning!  As excited as he was to wear it to school today, he must have been equal parts self-conscious -- or perhaps "over it" -- because when I picked him up at the end of the day, his teacher informed me that he had taken off his costume early on and couldn't be persuaded to put it back on.  Hahaha.   Oh Wolverine Boy!

 Putting his name on the door to take attendance.

And sitting to decorate his treat bag.

Oh well!  Hopefully, he won't be sick of it when it's time to really go trick-or-treating.  The Halloween Countdown continues tomorrow, with one more fun-tivity for the older kids {Ethan and Grace get to wear their costumes for Running Club after school}, and then -- come Friday -- we'll be ready for the big day!  Now if only we can find time to carve some pumpkins before then, Jane will be one happy girl.  Hahahaha.  :)