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Enjoying Fall in California

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We are enjoying crunchy fall leaves and mild weather in California, and getting ready for Halloween. The kids enjoyed carving pumpkins, although Johnny and Lily weren’t quite as into the degunking step as Emma! They also had multiple tea parties and discovered a great public sandbox, complete with water faucet!

We are expecting around 200 kids for Halloween this year, based off of neighbor estimates. I couldn’t bear the thought of buying that much candy, so I bought this Super Sticker Assortment (Amazon Affiliate links)as well as these fancier sticker sheets (Hmm… the price has gone up! Wonder if other people got the same idea). I also would have gotten the fancier “girl” equivalent, but they required two sheets per activity. As a parent of girls AND boys, I really wish manufacturers would make “girl” and “boy” versions equivalent in terms of what kids get. There is really no reason that there couldn’t be dress-up stickers on the boy version, and athlete stickers on girl version! Rant aside, we should have plenty of stickers to give out, and left overs can be used for writing letters, crafts, and rainy day fun!

In school news, I got word Thursday afternoon that Johnny can go to Emma’s school starting Tuesday!!! I’m a little bit sad, because he and I both LOVED his kindergarten teacher, but he was late almost every day, and once a week Emma was left stranded at her school because they got out at the same time, and I can’t get to two places at once! Lily is also now going to preschool two days a week, after deciding that she *had* to go to school, and miraculously getting a spot in an excellent local program that I hadn’t even bothered to apply to initially since I had been told that nobody gets in. So, for one week I had kids in THREE schools. Not a very mom-healthy situation.

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

19 thoughts on “Enjoying Fall in California”

  1. It’s great that the school situation is working out now.

    We get 200-300 kids for Halloween, but my husband insists on handing out candy. I usually buy little packages of Annie’s graham crackers for the littlest trick or treaters. One year I bought a mix of candy and play doh and at the end of the night, I had a basket full of play doh and no candy. No one chose the play doh!

  2. YEAH to being in the same school! Awww to losing a favorite teacher.

    Stickers are a great idea. I’ve found Oriental Trading is a great place to get LARGE numbers of stickers that are the same for crafts for church, so that might be another place to check out.

    1. You know, the mega set we got from Amazon actually had an OTC sticker on it, so they sold it, at some point, but I couldn’t find it on their site (and like Amazon’s guaranteed delivery date).

  3. Elisa | blissfulE

    I’m in awe that you survived a week of taking three kids (plus a baby) around to three schools, and I’m so glad the game of musical schools is over!! Stickers are a GENIUS Halloween handout idea!

    1. It really is! I’m sad that he had to leave a teacher and friends, though. He was fitting in so well! I really hope he adjusts to his new school quickly!

  4. I am SO glad to hear that school situation is improving. It’s a lot of changes for Johnny, but, hopefully, now they will stay put. I think the idea with stickers is great – Anna always enjoys getting something “different” after being showered with candy at each door.

    1. I hope our neighborhood kids like the stickers! I was pretty pleased when I thought of that option – and found some nice stickers to use!

      I am very relieved that Emma and Johnny are in the same school now! I just hope Johnny likes his new class as much as he liked his previous one!

  5. I’m glad the school situation is worked out! Good idea to pass out stickers. Every year after Halloween, I grab up the clearance Play Doh Halloween bags and put them away for the next year. All of the kids love getting Play Doh, even the teenage boys. LOL!

    1. That is smart! We have given out Play Doh before, and it has always been a hit! Maybe I’ll stock up for next year after Halloween this year!

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