halloweekend 2016

Is it just me or are holidays getting bigger? Halloween is a minor holiday, right? You dress up, carve a pumpkin, eat candy and maybe watch a scary movie or two. I feel like we've gone from one Halloween-related event to the next this past week. I'm not pointing fingers or blaming anyone else for something that I whole-heartedly participate in. I appreciate the time and efforts that people make to plan and execute these activities. I'm just in awe that I have so many pictures and so many events to cover "Halloween."

OP-C Trunk or Treat

Halloween started early this year with the elementary school trunk or treat Thursday night. I didn't really enjoy it as Anthony was out of town and it was the end of a long, stressful week. But the kids had fun. I do have lots of suggestions for how they can improve things next year, though me going in with a better mood will probably make the biggest difference. My friend Tabitha and her husband helped me supervise my kids while they trick-or-treated and we took turns passing out candy.

mermaid, frog and Frankenstein

half day friends

we love the Steiners

first grade friends

Frankenstein Lego Build at Toy's R Us

Ward Trunk or Treat

Saturday night was our ward trunk or treat. It started off with a little carnival inside the (extremely warm) gym. There was a cup cake walk, bean bag toss, fishing pond and more. Lauren was excited to get her face painted. After the games there was a costume parade. Since Jill and Jake were in town they came too.

the black frosting made Frankenstein's mouth look extra creepy

 Hermione Granger--the brightest witch of her age

 Rent-a-cop? Hot Cop? Bad Cop? 1/4 of the Village People?

 Emsley, Ruth, Michael, Jack, Kenni, Will

The kids spent all day Sunday asking for pieces of their candy. By this point I was already Halloweened out and the day had yet to begin.

THE BIG DAY

The lady that does the morning child watch at TRCC does such a good job. She organized a parade for the kids to wear their costumes and walk through the fitness equipment. It was pretty cute. Talk about herding cats. Lauren opted to be Cinderella for this outing. If you're keeping track that's her third costume of the season. She's a real Halloween chameleon.

One of the kids (I think Will) left his candy bag on the coffee table before he left for school. Elliott found it and was very pleased with himself as he pulled piece after piece out of the bag. He didn't open anything or put any of the pieces in his mouth, but he had watched his older siblings count and sort their candy over the weekend, so he knew it was good stuff.


School Festivities

Will and Lauren had school festivities at the exact same time. I couldn't go to both and had committed to helping with Will's party first so Elliott and I went there. Lauren and I made cookies for her Halloween party before school. We made sugar cookies but opted to press a few sprinkles into them as opposed to frosting them. Too much sugar!

 Hi, Mom!

Will's school had a no face paint policy for costume so Will wore the Frankenstein headband he got at the Lego Build Saturday.

Her school had a carnival in the gym and she got cat whisker face paint.

Trick or Treating

The Cooks joined us and we trick-or-treated around our neighborhood. Kellan joined us too. We got quite a haul. It is always hard to anticipate how many trick-or-treaters we will get each year. It seemed like our neighborhood was pretty busy. We've lived in our neighborhood five years now and I enjoy that we know so many more of our neighbors than we did when we first moved in.

It was warm--75 degrees! Elliott ditched the frog suit and decided to be Mowgli from the Jungle Book.