The girls are always excited for Halloween. Last year, we surprised the family by arriving in California for a week of fun. This year, we will be in Shanghai. The girls decorated early – October 14. They have fun with our small supplies of Halloween. Living in an apartment creates storage challenges.
Part of the storage challenge is things/stuff get shoved in overstuffed closets. We can’t find one of our Halloween bins. We have spider webs, but no spiders.
We do have many cobwebs throughout the house.
Eleri started the Halloween fun off early with a sleep over at Lili’s. Lili’s compound, Vizcaya, had their trick-or-treating on Saturday. Eleri had two costumes picked out for Halloween. A witch and a gyspy – both costumes we already had at the house in the dress-up bin (love that). We had decided she would pick based on the weather as it can be unpredictable in late October.
It was beautiful weather on Saturday night so Eleri had fun being a gyspy. Emersyn helped her get ready with make-up and all. Emerysn put the raven tattoo on her back which Eleri loved. I sent her to Lili’s house all dressed and ready for the fun.
Eleri had a fun night with Lili. Bindi, Lili’s Mom, said they came back to sort candy, take long baths and enjoyed the night together. Eleri was all smiles when we picked her up on Sunday.
To continue the Halloween fun, we had a pumpkin carving party from 2-6 at Ruth’s house, Emersyn’s freind. The entire family was invited to the open house pumpkin carving. It was BYOP – bring your own pumpkin. I had just purchased a pumpkin at Carrefour. Pumpkins are marked up for the silly Westerns cutting them up. I looked through the sad stack of pumpkins. I found a smaller one that was a good shape for cutting – it was a little green, but a good shape. The pumpkins had price tags on them which is not the normal processes. But, of course, the pumpkin I wanted did not. I would have to take it across the store to the fruits and vegetables area to be weighted and tagged. This is common in China that you need to get your veggies and fruits weighted and tagged before you check-out. There is a lady at a weight counter waiting to put a price tag on your items. There is no weighing at the checkout counter as in America. When we first arrived in China, I would forget to get my fruits/veggies tagged before check-out. it would cause all kinds of problems! But, now it seems normal. When I took it across the store for weighting and tagging, the women put a price tag of 14.89rmb ($3) on it. The going cost for a pumpkin is no lower than 120rmb ($20) because only the Westerns are buying them. I took my cheap pumpkin and ran!
We picked Eleri up at Lili’s to grab a bite to eat at Pistoleria’s in Jinqiao. It was a beautiful day to enjoy outside seating on the deck with some tasty Mexican food before Ruth’s party.
Emersyn has a big Religion project due on Monday so we need to keep our pumpkin carving fun short. We arrived at 2pm – to be the first ones there! It was nice to catch-up with Ruth’s parents, Meg and Matt, before we began the carving fun.
Eleri and Jim began cutting our ONE pumpkin while Emersyn worked on a small pumpkin of Ruth’s. Jim cut the pumpkin open as pumpkins in China have a very thick skin. They have very little insides compared to American pumpkins. After Jim and Elle cleaned the pumpkin, Eleri was ready to cut a face. Eleri made two faces on our pumpkin and Emersyn made the third for a well rounded pumpkin.
At about 4pm, it was time to go home. Emersyn needed to get back to her project and Jim needed to get back to prop making.
Since Emersyn knows her Dad can make anything, she put him to work making two guns for her Halloween costume. Emersyn decided she was going to be a CIA spy. She has been watching the tv series, “Chuck”. While at the airport in Xian on our Silk Road adventures, she came up with the idea. Jim’s biggest complaint of “making” here in China is lack of tools and materials. He started with a block of foam from work. Eleri was more than eager to help make Emersyn’s props. When Jim needed something, he would ask Eleri if she had anything that might work. Of course, Eleri would go running off to her supplies (the “don’t throw it away, I can make something out of it” supplies). She would come back with something Jim could generally use. We laughed that in a few years, Elle will be making the props.
The guns looked great when Jim finished! He also made her two knives to complete the spy gear.
On Tuesday, Soe, a Yanlord Mom, organized a trick-or-treat which included Eleri since Naddy was her friend. Trick-or treating in Yanlord is difficult as you need card keys to enter the building and get up the elevator. Soe organized about 15 families to meet and tick-or-treat at 10 homes. Eleri went as a good witch – a cute one at that! No make-up tonight as it was a school night.
Emersyn did a dress check to verify she had everything she needed for tomorrow night. We were going to a friend’s house after school. It also gave me a chance to take photos. Emersyn had wanted to go to the fabric market to get a dress made. However, the fabric market is no longer a bargain and I didn’t want to pay a lot for a one time wear dress. We went to H&M to find a cute little black dress for 100rmb ($15). Other girls would wear this dress, but it is a little too tight and short for Emersyn’s taste.
Eleri and i met the group of trick-or-treaters at 6:30pm. Eleri had fun with Naddy. It was good we had card keys as we generally needed 2 or 3 elevators with parents and kids. Since it was organized by Soe, everyone gave out good candy, not little unwanted candy. Some of the homes had decorated the lobby for the night. We finished around 7:30pm to go home and climb into bed.
On Wednesday, Halloween, the girls were all excited for the night’s events. I had spent a day in the kitchen to make a double batch of cupcakes for both classes and for Halloween night. The girls were thrilled to take their treats to school for Halloween. I used the last of my American supplies.
On Halloween, we went to a friend’s house after school. Veronica invites us, the Bishops and the Jenkins to her compound in Jinqiao. She ordered pizza for the kids and they had fun getting ready together. Faith was the make-up artist. She turned Eleri into the bad witch this night.
Emersyn and Avery went in one direction while the younger sisters with Dan went in another direction. Emersyn and Avery wanted to be on their own – party of becoming a teen. Jim did not join us for Halloween night as he was busy with work. Faith, Jennifer and I stayed at the house with Veronica to help with candy. We really didn’t help, but we had fun chatting and seeing all the kids.
Emersyn and Avery did the candy sort/trade on Halloween night. Emersyn gave away all the candy she didn’t like.
The girls didn’t have school on Thursday and Friday for conferences. The girls’ conferences were scheduled for Friday afternoon – perfect for a sleep-in after a late night of fun. Eleri and I spent Thursday morning sorting her candy. For the fist time, she had more candy than Emersyn…it did take 3 turns at trick-or-treating to earn this status.
Next, we did the final sort. All the candy Eleri didn’t like we put in a bag for Ayi to take home to kids in her neighborhood. Both girls picked out their 15 pieces they did not want to share. The remainder of the candy went into a share basket. We should have candy well past Christmas in the house.
Another fun Halloween shared with my girls! Life is good!!