Spooky Walk and Family Game Night

Today was our town Spooky Walk, in which kids in costume get to trick-or-treat at various participating shops in the center of town. 

Here are our own Elsa and Anna ready to collect candy:

As you can see in the background of this picture, there were a LOT of Elsas and a fair number of Annas out there.  It's not like we picked characters from this past year's most popular kids' movie or anything.

The girls had a ball, as usual, and we now have a Halloween load's worth of candy a good two weeks before the actual Halloween!

In other news, this evening we tried playing a family game of Pictionary.  Ethan teamed up with Madeleine, while Julia and I played together.  The girls actually did surprisingly well!  Madeleine drew first, successfully pulling off a picture of a helmet and bringing her team into the lead.

When it was time for Julia and I to go, I got the word "farmer."  Piece of cake, right?  Apparently not.  We all know I can't draw to save my life.  Here's what my farmer looked like:

JULIA: Uh...a cowboy?  Uh...a person?  A head?  A hat?
ME: (drawing the cow in the pasture)
JULIA: A horse?  A horseman? 
ME: (adding curly hair under the hat, because uh...I had no idea what else to draw that is a dead giveaway for a farmer, right?)
JULIA: Um?  Hair??  Curly hair?

Yeah.  So we ran out of time.  Zero points scored for us. 

MADELEINE: Wow, Julia, Mommy STINKS at this game!

Harsh words, Madeleine.  Then again, look at my farmer and compare it to the picture of Sleeping Beauty that Madeleine drew yesterday:

So, yeah, I think she might actually be qualified to judge the stinkiness of my drawings.

Luckily, there were a few stumpers out there for Madeleine and Ethan as well.  Despite her best attempts, Madeleine was unable to convey the image "glare" to Ethan.  Just look at this fiercely glaring armless zombie that she drew, though:

Good effort, Madeleine!


Fortunately, Julia helped us score a few points in an All-Play, during which she and Madeleine squared off to draw "doorstep."  They both put in a solid drawing attempt, but victory was ours when I guessed it first:

Madeleine's doorstep

Julia's doorstep.  It was the arrows that did it for me.  Great thinking, Jules!


There were plenty of failed drawings as well.  Often because the thing we had to draw was something the kids have never heard of.  Like when I had to get Julia to try to guess "traveler's check."  Or when Ethan got "kindergarten," and attempted to draw the kindergarten playground at Julia's school but wasn't able to convey the message:

MADELEINE: Uh, Daddy, if you're drawing a backyard, you have to draw some GRASS.
ETHAN: Just pay attention to the picture, honey.
MADELEINE: Well Daddy, you better draw some GRASS if it's a backyard.  Down there Daddy.  Just draw some GRASS.

Maybe if she had been less obsessive about the grass she would have gotten the concept of the picture more quickly, because she did manage to figure out what it was a drawing of AFTER the time had already run out.

While Madeleine and Ethan clearly won the game, I at least got to redeem myself a *little* bit in the final All-Play.  It was down to Madeleine and I, both drawing the word "yawn."  And the pictures were awfully similar:

Madeleine's yawn

My yawn


I thought my team was DOOMED when the guessing first started.

JULIA: Uh, a tiger?  Someone screaming?
ME: (pointing at the closed eyes)
JULIA: Uh, she's DYING?  She's DEAD?
ME: (pointing at the mouth)
JULIA: Roaring?  A roaring mouth?  I don't know, it looks like scream is coming out of her mouth!

Luckily, the other team made the fatal error of making a guess too loudly, and that got Julia on the right track.

ETHAN: She's going to bed?
JULIA: Going to - OH!  She's YAWNING!

BOO-YAH!  Point for Jules and I!  Not enough to win the game after my disastrous farmer and traveler's check attempts, but enough to give us a sense of pride in the last round of the game.  Next time maybe I'll let Julia play with Madeleine so she actually has a shot at winning!