Happy Halloween!

It's no secret... I LOVE Fall.

Each year as Fall approaches, I get excited.

I anticipate the smell of autumn leaves, the crispness of the night air, the shorter days, birthday time and Halloween.

I think Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I don't know why I like Halloween so much. I've never been one who LOVES dressing up and I don't care for dark or evil things, but... I still really like Halloween. I guess it's fun to dress up my kids.... and the candy may have a little to do with it. :)

Although this year I really haven't eaten much candy. Zero on the actual day of Halloween and really only one day of indulgence..5 or 6 mini candy bars. That's it..which is kind of amazing. I am serious about this weight-loss contest!!!

This year has been different for me. I didn't get that same excitement or thrill as Halloween approached. The kids and I are usually heavily involved in costume idea/creation the last week of October. This year we talked about costume ideas, but didn't go all out creating. I was more hands-off and basically directed them to find what we had around. And although I missed the creative part, I didn't miss the intensity. It was almost stress-free.

So this is what they came up with...

Taylee-Napoleon Dynamite (again), Rylee 80's girl, Treyson- Magician and Abree- ballerina.
I guess I was most involved in Treyson's costume. We borrowed the cape from Amber, we had the magic wand, but then I bought the hat, mustache and bow-tie.
Wish his hat was a bit less Pilgrim-like and more top hat-ish, oh well.
Abracadabra!
Rylee has been on an 80's kick recently. That night she dressed up kinda Madonna-like.

It was cute to see her research 80's make-up ideas on line. She artfully recreated this look by bringing her make-up downstairs and putting it on while looking at the computer images.

Taylee used Jason's costume from a few years back. Such a brave soul to sport that wig, glasses and boots.

"What are ya gonna do today, Napoleon?"

"Whatever the heck I feel like...gosh!"

Originally Abree was going to be a pig. I had found some ears and a snout second-hand, but didn't have anything for the body of the pig. So on to plan B. She said she wanted to be a ballerina. Ok, that's easy. She ran upstairs and pulled her costume out of our dress-up boxes.

The tu-tu was made by Taylee a few years ago for a Christmas present. We had the leotard, tights and ballet slippers. I put her hair up in a bun and called it good.

Rylee and Taylee went to a Halloween Party at a friends house. Jason took Abree and Treyson trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. I blasted Halloween tunes and passed out candy at the door. I hadn't done that in a while, so it was kinda fun.

One of the little girls said, "I like your music" as Ghostbusters was playing in the background.

Another little guy came to the door, yelled "Trick or Treat" and then thrust his hands out towards me (no treat bag, I assume his parents had it). I handed him 2 pieces of candy, then continued passing candy out to the rest of the crowd. He then got my attention and handed one of the candies back to me and said, "I don't like that kind!" Soooo, I gave him a different one. :)

Another cute little boy thanked me graciously for candy, as I put it in his bucket. Then as he was walking away from the door, his dad asked him if he had said thank-you. He turned around and said, "Oh thank you... oh so very much. Thank you, thank you." Fun-ny!

Abree and Treyson made quite the haul. I had them choose 10 candies each, to give to their party-going sisters... and then the sorting began.

Then it was Treyson's turn for a party. We dropped him off, then picked up the older girls and headed to Grandma McKinley's. Missed the Croffs and Dean/Candice's families, but hung out with Tim/Karen and their girls.

The kids also did a quick round of trick-or-treating in Grandma's neighborhood. Rylee and Taylee wanted to get in on the trick-or-treat action. :)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

With Halloween being on a Sunday, it seemed to make it last ALL weekend long.

Friday night was our ward trunk-or-treat.

Taylee went to a birthday party, Rylee passed out the treats from our trunk and Treyson and Abree partook in the treat gathering.

Saturday we did the official trick-or-treating.

We dropped Rylee off at a friends house for a party, then the other kids went to ward member's homes, who were passing out treats. After an hour, we dropped Taylee and Treyson off at their party and finished trick-or treating with Abree. It was weird only having 1 kiddo again. These kids are getting busier, as they are getting older!

Our ladybug with a little 'tude.

Our Clown for World Peace.

Our cute, freckled Pippi Longstockings... complete with Mr. Nilsen, the monkey.

HaPpy HaLLowEen!!!

Daddy-daughter Date

The girl's middle school had a fundraising dinner and auction on Friday... the "Husky Howl".

Taylee was babysitting that night, so Jason took Rylee on a daddy-daughter date.

Rylee talked Jason into letting her put make-up on him and dressing up for the event.



Jason said he ended up being the ONLY adult dressed up.
A little awkward, but he was a good sport about it.


I think they had a good time together... or to be more accurate, Rylee had a good time hanging out with her friends, while Jason got ditched and hung out with the other dad's.
Again, he was a pretty good sport about it. :)

Halloween Party

A lady my mom works with, has a Halloween Party for her neighborhood kids each year. She asked my mom if she would like to bring her grandchildren to the party.

My mom said, "How many? I have 14."

"Oh, maybe just a few of them then."

When other grandkids were busy, out-of-town or still too young to come, my kids got lucky enough to get on the invite list.

Treyson decided he wanted to be a clown, when he found a costume and wig, in my stash.

He wore Jason's Converse shoes to achieve that floppy, big shoe look.

Abree found this costume in the stash. Taylee raved about HOW CUTE! she was, so Abree decided she wanted to be a ladybug.

Taylee had decided she wanted to be Pippi Longstockings this year. We had waited to the last minute, only having striped tights, to come up with her costume. We felt we had found a treasure, when Rylee discovered an actual wire hanger in the closet (those are rare and hard to come by in our house). Taylee gathered mis-matched pieces of clothing and I began bending and cutting the hanger to go in her braids. Another awesome find was when we discovered the orange hairspray in my stash. Only thing missing was Mr. Nilsen, the monkey. He was hiding out today, but maybe he'll make it for Halloween.


Isn't she just the cutest Pippi.... or maybe Wendy, from Wendys?!

Quite the trio.

Who wants to bet, Treyson comes back with his clown make-up looking like the Joker, from Batman?

Jackson's Halloween Birthday Party!

It started with an October issue of "Family Fun" magazine...

Taylee was looking through the magazine and discovered a veggie tray/dip decorated like a Haunted Graveyard. She thought it was so cool and couldn't stop talking about it. She pleaded with me to have a Halloween party. I was a little partied out... but was bitten by the cute bug. The veggie Haunted Graveyard was SO cute, I told her I'd think about it.

By the next day she had a new angle... what if the Halloween party was a FAMILY party? Could we do a FAMILY Halloween party? I told her I wasn't committing yet... I was still thinking about it.

A few days later, I was talking to Candice on the phone. Some how the subject of parties came up. She mentioned that Jackson had been wanting a Halloween Birthday party. I told her Taylee had been pressing me for a Halloween party. She then had a brilliant idea... "Would Taylee like to be my party planning assistant for Jackson's Halloween Birthday party? Would that satisfy her party planning cravings?" Yes, I believed it would.

For the next several days, I sent Candice every site and blog entry I found, for cute Halloween ideas. I bombarded her with so many, I hoped that she wasn't getting tired of seeing emails from me. I couldn't help myself... there were so many fun ideas out there!

We met and finalized plans. I offered to have Taylee and I do a snack, a game and a craft for the party. It was satisfying Taylee, as well as myself, to be able to do some fun stuff without having to be fully in charge.

The night before the party, Taylee and I went shopping for the Haunted Graveyard ingredients; celery, broccoli, carrots, spinach, olives, pretzels, eggs, a variety of crackers and hummus. Did you know that Winco sells a hummus mix in the bulk food section? I didn't either until I talked to my very own personal hummus expert...my sister Amber. It was less expensive than buying it pre-made and was very simple to make.

The next morning, Taylee and I created the long-awaited Haunted Graveyard. I mixed the hummus, while she washed and cut the veggies. Then we assembled it. Hummus mixed with fresh spinach, for the "earth", green dyed Ranch dip for the "swamp" and then everything else arranged around it. (The Ranch swamp was my original idea. I was also proud of my carrot pumpkins. Another original idea, not pictured in the magazine. So clever.)

It turned out WAY cute! See for yourself...

The artist with her masterpiece.

The white little crackers in the swamp and around the grounds are "Kraft Macaroni and Cheese crackers (white cheddar)" we thought they looked like bones.


After costuming the kids, we were off to Jackson's party.


As we arrived, we could tell there was a par-tay goin' on. Fun decorations adorned the yard, along with Jackson and Micaela greeting us at the curb.


I think this is how Micaela felt about this party.

Jackson, the birthday boy, along with his friend Ross.

Cousin Kyrick the dinosaur.

Cousin Audrey, as Glinda the Good Witch. Cousin Katelyn, as Dorothy, with her little dog Toto too. Soooo cute!!! (I missed getting a picture of Jackson's friend Quinn, little sister Lizzy and baby cousin Maliah.)

Franken pops

Earthworms and eyeballs

Can you guess how these were made?

Jackson's birthday graveyard cake

Rat's blood punch
Candice's idea... no blog needed for this one. :)

The kids played "build a monster" kind of like "pin the tail on the donkey".

Poor Frank, all his parts are detached.

We also played a hot/cold game, by hiding and finding a Frankenstein. As the finder got closer to the Frankenstein, we would make spooky noises louder. The ghost groans, werewolf howls and cackling witches were almost too much for some of the young party goers. A few kids covered their ears and just waited for it to be over with. :)

Jackson was ready to blow out the candles, as soon as it was in front of him. But when given the go ahead, it took several more blows to get them all out.

A little Frankenstein goody bag was sent home with each kiddo. My kids declared it the "best treat bag they had EVER gotten". They loved the rubber poppers and Slinky's inside.

Here's the little craft we did. Isn't he cute?... for a Frankenstein that is.

Gift time

Ross was SO excited to give Jackson his gift... I think he was hoping he had one just like it, as he held it, touched it and pulled at the packaging, while Jackson opened the other ones.

The whole party gang.

As the party was winding down, a game of Witch Broom Limbo broke out (the game Jackson had been insisting on since day one).

Dean couldn't resist and had to get in on the fun.

How low can you go???

Happy (early) Birthday Jackson boy!!!

Great party Candice. Are you ready for the next one??? :)

Trunk-or-Treat

Last Saturday, we had 2 parties to attend... our annual neighborhood Halloween party and the ward's Trunk or Treat. I had been working on Taylee and Abree's costumes, but hadn't completed them yet, so Saturday was the day. I spent all morning working on them... all morning and into the afternoon that is.

By the time they were complete, and everyone was dressed with make-up on, we had missed the neighborhood party (and I thought we just might be a little late..oops!). But we were WAY ready and prepared for the ward's Trunk or Treat... 2 hours later.

Abree's our little "Posh Poodle Puppy". She named herself "Frenchy" and goes around panting and barking at our heels.

" Heeeere's Johnny! "

Treyson's the "Human Torch" from the Fantastic 4. --He begged to use one of the costumes from my collection (I usually sell Halloween costumes on Craigslist and children's consignment sales each year.). It was so nice not to have to worry about making his...why don't I just do this every year..for ALL my kids???

"Ham and cheese...please!"

Taylee always likes to have a unique costume. We thought of several ideas this year; cupcake, jellyfish, mermaid, etc., but ended up with a ham and swiss cheese sandwich. --I loved how the sandwich stuffing's turned out, but would have done the bread differently, if I had the time. One kid commented (at the trunk or treat) that she looked like a Pop Tart...and from the back she really did. :)

Rylee wanted to be a "sleepover girl". Because I was involved with getting the other costumes finished and really didn't have the time or energy to push for something else, I agreed. She was probably the most comfortable and warmest out of all of us. She even wore her thick, comfy robe for added warmth.

--Her friend Lessa was a "Dalek" (pronounced doll-ick). 50 points, to the first person who knows what a Dalek is. I had no idea, but it sure was a cool costume.

" Trunk or Treat!"

Our ward party was fun. We ate hot dogs, chips and homemade root beer, while listening to Halloweeny music.. "Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you? You've got some work to do now...". Another well-done job from our activities committee.