Trick-or-Treat!

I still can't believe Halloween has come and gone again. At the end of September, we told our kids that we needed to know what they wanted to be for Halloween by the beginning of October. Hayden was the first to decide. He wanted to be a Back-hoe. What? First of all, what 4-yr-old knows what a back-hoe is (as opposed to just calling it a tractor), second of all, how on earth was I going to pull that one off. I started getting ideas, and gathered up some boxes and spray paint. I got one coat of paint on, then we got some seriously cold, snowy weather. I finally was putting on the last coat on the Thursday morning before Halloween, because he needed his costume for preschool that day! It was so cold, that the paint cracked a little, but he didn't mind.

Bryson had decided quite a while before that he wanted to be a superhero, but he was having a difficult time deciding which one. Finally he settled on Iron Man. I usually like to make their costumes (as much as possible) but I knew this one would be a challenge, so as soon as I saw it at Walmart, I quickly scooped it up. It was hanging in his closet from the very beginning of October. He got to wear it to a Costume Birthday Party quite early in the month, so it got used enough to make it worth it! :)


Kaitlyn didn't take too long to decide what she wanted to be. She wanted to be Frankstein's monster, yet a girl version. EASY! I was so excited that she chose something so easy. We just went to DI and picked up a black skirt and blazer that were cheap enough to not care about, and cut the bottom of them to look ragged. The rest was just makeup and black hairspray!

And here's one that we took Friday morning before school... just playing around :)

Eryn was the one who struggled the most. In fact, she didn't decide on a costume until just a few days before. The unfortunate thing is that she wanted to be a bag of jelly beans. Cool! Too bad the stuff I bought didn't seem to work. We just couldn't figure out a logical way to do it where she could wear it to school. She ended up not even going on Friday, because she was sick, but we decided to just have her be a vampire (she did feel better on Saturday). We just used whatever we had on hand. She did mention that she was starting to feel a little old for trick-or-treat, so this was her last year for sure! She's just getting too grown up.

Here's my "Clark Kent" and my little monsters. So cute!

I had to dress up too, so I was "Harriet Potter." HEHE

Here we go!! Time for some trick-or-treat fun.

Eryn went with us to a few houses, then met up with her friends to do the rest. It was such great weather. I was grateful! I was really afraid it would be nasty, after the week we had with snow and wind! The kids definitely got WAY too much candy, but they had so much fun.

After hitting our entire street, we headed over to see Grandpa Grace. He was looking great, and it was fun to visit for just a little bit before heading over to my parents' house for a few more houses and some yummy Taco Soup! It was a great Halloween!

And poor Hayden. He was completely worn out. He fell asleep on the way home.

Carving Pumpkins

I love carving pumpkins. I remember when I thought it was disgusting and I would make my dad scoop out all the guts... it stunk, too! Well, thankfully I've grown up, but I have a daughter who was gagging and plugging her nose through much of the pumpkin carving this year. And who ended up "gutting" and even finishing carving hers? That would be me! I do have to say, she wasn't feeling really well anyway, so the smell of pumpkin wasn't helping, but hopefully one day she won't think it's disgusting anymore :) Also, I did enjoy carving it for her. She designed it (drew on the face she wanted) and I followed her lines. I messed up the nose, but that's ok. The other three "designed" theirs, too. Jared did a lot of carving and scooping. I love watching him, because he really concentrates! Here are some pictures of the fun!


Poor Eryn... She really wasn't feeling all that well, and she even ended up staying home from school the next day. Thankfully she was feeling better by Saturday.



Kaitlyn... she did her entire pumpkin on her own (I may have scooped out a little bit that she couldn't get out, but that doesn't count!)



Crazy little Bryson... he had a blast. He drew a very elaborate face for me to carve. It ended up being pretty cool :)


Hayden... he actually had a bigger pumpkin, but chose to have his smaller one carved. Daddy helped him. He was quite proud of his little jack-o-lantern! And if you notice, he still has his "facial hair" from his earlier preschool party. He was a construction worker :)



I love watching Jared help the kids with their pumpkins. I think he has as much fun as they do.


The kids loved how their jack-o-lanterns turned out. We did forget to set them out and light them on Halloween, but we lit them a couple of times inside, and they thought it was fun to see the cool light shapes on the ceiling. Too bad they start to shrivel and stink after just a few days. They will be going to pumpkin heaven later on today! :)

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, everyone! We've had a fun week of making costumes, carving pumpkins, missing teeth, and tonight we are looking forward to trick-or-treat! There will be plenty to post about next week, so stay tuned :)

Pumpkinland!!

Tuesday, we went to Pumpkinland for the preschool fieldtrip. Of course it happened to be on the COLDEST day yet. We bundled up in our coats, hats and gloves and had a great time. We didn't stay as long as we have on past fieldtrips, because it started snowing, and our fingers and jaws were frozen, but the little boys still had fun. It's so fun for Hayden to have his cousin, Justice, in his class. They are hilarious. One minute they are having the best time, then the next they are having an argument, but they are best of buddies. Our adventures consisted of seeing bunnies, ducks, chickens, peacocks, turkeys, and a couple of goats (one of which got mad and tried to bust through the fence to get the boys), as well as climbing, swinging, sliding, and going through a cute little "haunted" house. The kids each got to pick a pumpkin before we left.

Every year, we stop here and take a "class" picture. It's both the morning and the afternoon classes.

Best Cousin Buddies!

There's Hayds peeking through the nose. I tried to get a better picture, but he didn't stay long enough. He was all over the place, soaking in all the fun!

Climbing, sliding, playing, laughing... Pumpkinland is fun!

Halloween is on it's way!

Wasn't it just August last week? That's what it feels like! In fact, I still can't get my head wrapped around the fact that we are a week into October. Maybe that's why I forgot to call and let my parents know about the School Fall Choir Concert that was last night. Just a couple of hours before, I had Eryn call to invite them (I know... I know... Sorry Mom and Dad!) Being the awesome grandparents that they are, they came even with the short notice. Eryn has always been our little "singer." Even before she could talk she was trying to sing. She chose to take choir this year, and is loving it. I am so impressed with her teacher. She has learned so much, and has even started harmonizing with songs on the radio. Her concert was so fun. I did record some video, but it's rather long, so I don't think blogger will even let me post it, but we really enjoyed the fun fall/Halloween music. They had these cute "monk" costumes that were made from bedsheets, and they came in singing a cool chant with their hoods up and holding fake candles. It was pretty cool, and very Halloweenish. They sang a fun fall song in Old English, then some songs from the Nightmare before Christmas (definitely Halloween songs), the other choir performed, and then they all sang "Oh Fortuna" which was VERY cool. You'd recognize it if you heard it. Here is a picture I snapped just before they sang one of their songs.