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Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Working Mommy Wednesday

Welcome to another week of Working Mommy Wednesday! Today's prompts are:

How was your Halloween?

Show photos of autumn in your area.


Halloween:
Last year I noticed many of the children in our neighborhood did not have costumes or bags to collect treats. They would use backpacks and shameless run around the condo buildings asking for candy. My perception was they didn't belong because they were not following the rules.

This year my heart for these children changed. I found them hanging around my porch constantly, wanting to pet my dog, spend time with my children. I finally realized these kids are just looking for something to do, they are friendly, they wave at me when I drive by, they like my kids. I finally warmed up to them (kinda sounds like a Grinch story huh?). I got to know their names and finally asked what they had planned for Halloween.

Our mom's don't let us dress up for Halloween, they say it's bad. Oh, well I grew up in a church that didn't celebrate Halloween so I can understand this - but the girls did not go to church. Maybe their parents can't justify spending money on another holiday.

An idea formed. What if set up an arts and crafts table and let them make a Masquerade mask, it's not a mask that has anything to do with the dark side of Halloween, just a simple decorated mask to hold up to one's face while gallivanting around the neighborhood participating in Trick or Treat.

It worked! I had 8 kids in my home, some already had masks but just wanted to participate in the arts and crafts table. They happily worked on their masks while Charlotte commanded a chair and painted hers. I cut faces and opened craft jars until everyone was satisfied. Noticing some were using backpacks to collect candy we found paper bags to hand out.

Of course we still needed to do our own trick or treat rounds! Charlotte, in her Princess dress insisted it was her turn to knock and say trick or treat. I absolutely adore the smile in her first picture below.


And Sam (shown here with Mema) was so tired by the time we made it out the door, but he still managed to walk almost as much as big sister!


Overall it was a great night and our kids seemed thrilled with the entire evening.

I'm looking forward to reading your stories! Please use the link up below and I'll be sure to come around your place later today.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great story! You made such special memories for those 8 kids. I'm sure they will never forget making masks and look forward to it each year!

Emily said...

Love the idea, and also I love your new blog look!

Susan DiMickele said...

Sorry I'm late to the party and already had my Weds post lined up, but I still love linking up! Thanks!

Miss. C said...

What a great idea!!! Sorry I didn't get to post this week, but I did share some Halloween pics earlier in the week!!!

R. Molder said...

Hi Steph - thanks, I hope to do the same again for Thanksgiving.

Hi Emily - thanks! I love the new header too!

Hi Susan - better late then never I say!

Hi there Miss C! Thanks for stopping by. I'll be sure to check out your blog later today.

Nicole Morgan said...

What a great story - love that you opened your heart and your home to these children and made happy memories for them!
Thank you so much for linking up to Howlerific halloween #BOO, so far behind over here with a week in DC and then a conference that had no internet (yes, a social media conference with no internet lol)
Thank you ...loving trick or treating today with a big bag of candy by my side ;)