Ghosts, Goblins, & Witches... O MY!

This post includes ALL THINGS HALLOWEEN.

I was going to do a separate post for each activity, but then I decided to just do one monster post instead.  So here we go.

Carving Pumpkins

Or I guess I should say Pumpkin singular. I love this tradition much more then my hubby.  I think it is so fun to get messy and creative.  The kids enjoyed it a lot more this year.  P even did the majority of the gunk scooping.  Em did not want to touch it.  I showed the kids a bunch of pictures of Jack-o-Lanterns and let them choose what face they wanted to put on our big pumpkin.  I think they choose a winner.  I found this awesome kit of stickers for the kids to decorate their own little Jack-o-lantern which they thought was super awesome.  P even took his stickers off and did it again.  It was also nice to have the kids slightly distracted for the actual cutting part.  We all pitched in and we all had fun.  And now we have some awesome looking pumpkins on our porch, you should come check them out.   :)

The Pumpkin Patch

Last year we went to the Clayton Valley Pumpkin Patch with some of our buddies.  It was a fun patch so we decided to hit it up again with some new buddies.  Can I tell you all I wanted to get out of the day (aside from my children having fun of course) was a decent picture of the three of us.  It was worse then pulling teeth this day!  I could not even get them to look at the camera let alone smile.  At one point Em was literally screaming as my friend was trying to take the picture, screaming!  Bah! Above was the last shot of the day and it took a great deal of begging and pleading on my part.   

This is how I felt and they looked anytime I picked the camera up.

Aside from the group photo, I did get some good ones of them running amuck in the pumpkin patch which I guess is what it was really all about.  They really love these fun boards where you get to put your face in and pretend you are the head to whatever is painted below.

Em loved browsing the pumpkins and was especially excited when she found a little one because, "It is little, just like I'm little."  I don't know why, but Em loves the fact that she is little and mentions it to me on at least and hourly basis.  cracks me up.  And the P man did what he loves most... ran and ran and RAN!  Climbing on hay bails and jumping off was a highlight too.  But this kids just loves to RUN!

This year they had an awesome milk the cow area.  They got to sit down next to a cow (fake of course) and try to milk it.  They really liked it and I think they would have stayed longer but a school kicked us out.  And I think their absolute favorite thing at this  patch is the hay bail tunnel.  I don't even know how many times P when thought it, but he just thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread (not that he even knows that that means, but you catch my drift).  They do have a special kids area that is filled with that kind of thing but you have to pay to get into that portion.  Maybe next year we will do that too but for now they were perfectly content with the little one.  So glad we had the chance to go to this one again.  So much fun, the kids love it!

Ward Halloween Party

This year the ward Halloween party was a lot of fun.  I dressed up with the kids and despite some last minute effort we were not able to pull a costume together for Jeff.

Here is what we were going for:

P was Flynn Rider (Rapunzel's hero/love)

Jeff was going to be what Em calls "The Bad Dream"

Em was Rapunzel

I was Mother Gothel or as Em calls her, "The Mean Mommy."  

And here is what we came up with.

Not too shabby right?  I'm still bummed we didn't get Jeff's together in time.  I painted one of my swim caps so he could be balled and everything.  O well.  Maybe next year we will actually start putting his together before the day of the party.  The most important thing is that the kids had fun and let me tell you, THEY DID!  Em was engulfed in her role as Rapunzel.  When we she got to the church Jeff mentioned to her that he forgot her shoes and she quickly responded, "That's OK daddy, Rapunzel doesn't have shoes."  In her mind she literally was Rapunzel!  When we put her dress on she ran to the mirror and danced with glee as she modeled for herself.  She loved that I was the Mean Mommy and told everyone she talked to who I was.  Jeff wore a hook for a little bit and it was enough for Em to still call him The Bad Dream guy.  They LOVED it!

We had a Chile cook off with I think only 2 pots of Chile and about 15 plates of corn bread.  Oops.  With out an actual activities committee things were a little unorganized.  But all still went fine.  Everyone was fed.  The kids played some awesome games.  And then of course the Trunk or Treat which is always a hit!  So glad we were able to attend and mingle with our friends.

Halloween

Since Halloween feel on a Wednesday we decided to make our weekly music time extra special.  The kids all came in costume and had a blast singing and dancing together.  It was a blast!

Trick or Treat!

The kids were SOOOO excited to trick or treat this year.  Jeff came with us to visit all the grandparents which both the kids and grandparents/great-grandparents loved.  They of course were extra generous and gave the kids as much candy as they wanted.  The great grandparents even had extra special goody bags made for the kids.  Have I mentioned we have the coolest family ever?  Well we do!  And I love that we are close and can share all these moments with them.  It is so fun!

After the family we decided to meet up with some of the kids best buds for trick-or-treating.  Originally I was planning on going with just the 4 of us but when I thought about it and what would really make it an extra special experience for the kids I knew they would LOVE to go with their friends.  I could just hear the dialog between P and his friends.  I could see his face and imagine everything perfectly.  He would have so much fun with his buds.  So we did!  It ended up being a good choice too because Jeff really had work to do, so after the family houses he headed home while me and the kids met up with them.

I was exactly right about how P would react.  He was so excited once his friends got there that he was literally sprinting from house to house.  For the most part the kids really did great.  A few reminders to keep their voices down and to slow down, but other then that they were great.  They remembered to say thank you and everything.  We really had a blast with our friends!

Once we finished our loop I told the kids we had just a few more houses and then we were going to get into the car (they already had PLENTY of candy, Em wouldn't even carry her bucket because she thought it was too heavy).  Right after I said that they went up to the next house.  I glanced over at them to make sure they were all OK and I see P get his angry face on, I hurried over just in time to hear him shouting at the lady that he wanted a kit-kat not the one she gave him.  I about blew a fuse!  I felt horrible.  I made him give the candy back, apologize and because of that we did not go to the last 2 houses.  I have no idea what got into him but we had a long talk about what he did wrong and why it was a bad choice.  I was so upset and felt awful!  I have no idea what got into him!  He has never acted like that before.  I seriously want to write the poor lady a letter I feel so badly.

Anyway, after A LOT of tears and our chat I think he really understood what was wrong.  I made him repeat "we get what we get and we don't throw a fit" many many times.  Anyway, we got home and we were all feeling better (we met up with them on the opposite side of town from us so it was a 15-20 min drive from where we live).  I told the kids they could go up to our front door and trick or treat from daddy.  They were excited to surprise daddy.  

Here is how our place looked that night:

I thought that black light would have been a little brighter.  Oops.  

We had a few neighbors that have been totally decked out all month long.  The kids have LOVED admiring their decorations so I told them we could go to a few more of the ones we had talked about.  They were excited and our neighbors really loved seeing the kids.  Have I mentioned how awesome our neighbors are?  Well, they are! They were all so sweet and gave my kids WAY TOO MUCH candy.  I think the kids really liked going to houses where they actually recognized the people.  Our next door neighbor even scared P (which I could see was coming and was worried P would freak out but decided to let it play out) and he just smiled.  Em even remembered it and told me all about it the following day.

Overall, if you couldn't tell, SUPER AWESOME HALLOWEEN this year (minus the one incident that I still feel horribly about).  It is so much more fun to do holidays with little kids.  All the way down to how every time I opened the fridge having them mention how we need to drink the milk fast, put a face on in, and put it out with the rest of them.  They truly loved every single day.  When November started and I was taking down Halloween the kids got so sad but I explained how now it is Turkey Time (don't worry, we have talked a lot about giving thanks too :).  Now when we drive by someone who still has Halloween up they tell me, "They need to take that down, it is Turkey Time!"  I love this kiddos to death!

I hope your Halloween was as awesome as ours!