Halloween Fun

Happy Halloween

Halloween 2009

We had a wonderful Halloween this year. It seems that Halloween sneaks up on us every year and is gone way to quickly. The kids were able to do a lot of fun Halloween things this year. On the 24th Ben and Sarah Kate went to a Halloween party at a friends Abbie and Anders house. It was a costume party and because I thought the invitation said the 29th instead of the 24th, I didn't get their costumes done in time. Luckily Sarah went to see if another friend could play that day and she just happened to be getting ready for the party. Sarah Kate came home, we got them dressed in last years costumes (thank goodness they still fit) and drove them to the party. The kids had a blast and I'm so glad they didn't miss it.

I finished making costumes about 2:30 AM the morning of the Spooktacular which was our next Halloween fun. I blogged about that already so if you're curious just read on and you'll find it. Halloween day was our next big Halloween fun. We woke up in the morning and carved our pumpkins (again already blogged about this.) After pumpkins Ben and Sarah Kate had another party to go to, this time at Cy and Carina's house. They got to dress up in their costumes (this years costumes this time) play Halloween games, bob for apples and other fun things. They got home around 3:00 which was just as the little girls were waking up from naps. The kids played for awhile, we ate dinner and then headed to the church for Trunk-or-Treating.

It's always fun to go to the church and see everyone elses costumes. We let Sarah Kate wander from car to car with friends while I took the other kids around and Kenny stayed at the car to pass out candy. Luckily the weather had warmed a bit (it had been in the 40's, that day we got in the low 50's) and with a bit of layering the kids stayed nice and warm. It's so much fun to watch my kids trick or treat. Every car we came to Gracie would say 'tree trae' and when they gave her candy she'd giggle. It was so cute to watch and most people giggled right along with her. She was very cute and very much in heaven (that girl loves candy.) Ben's the worst trick or treater ever. He gets distracted and doesn't care to much about the actual trick or treating. We have friends who own a local video game take and trade store and they brought their car with Guitar Hero in it. Ben was good to hang out there for awhile while I finished with the girls. It was a lot of fun and we got way to much candy.

The kids playing in all their candy at the end of the day. Yea! I'm going to be throwing a lot of that away.

After the trunk-or-treating we came home to do a little trick or treating in the neighborhood. Our neighborhood is pretty pathetic when it comes to homes who participate in trick or treating, but we got to go to a number of houses and the kids were just fine on candy. About 2/3's of the way done Ben decided he was bored and wanted to go home. We all headed home where I switched places with Kenny who took a turn going out with the girls to the remaining houses while I stayed inside. It was a very good Halloween with a ton of candy. Having 4 trick or treating kids sure makes the candy add up quickly.

Spooky Spooktacular

Trixie the Halloween Fairy and Pirate Ben leaving for the bus the day of Spooktacular

Every year Rimrock Elementary hosts a Spooktacular for the kids. This year it happened to be on Thursday the 29th (they didn't have school on the 30th because it was the end of the term.) The kids look forward to this every year. They get to wear they're costumes to school that day and do Halloween like things all day. At noon there's a parade through the halls so everyone can show off they're costumes and then the Spooktacular begins at 12:30. They go around playing games and buying candy, all proceeds going to the teachers and their classrooms.

This year I made costumes for the 4 oldest kids. Well I should say we made costumes for the 4 oldest kids. Kenny helped immensely, especially with Hannah's costume. I should have started a little earlier than I did because I was up until around 2:30 the morning of the Spooktacular finishing Ben's costume. Luckily I got it done in time and Ben and Sarah looked great as they headed off to school that morning.

Sarah Kate walking in the parade

I took the kids to the doctors for Gracie's 2 year check up and Daniel's 4 month checkup (they're both doing great) and then waited for Ben to get home from school. When he got off the bus we had about 15 minutes before we had to leave for the parade at the school. Kenny made Ben a pirate hat (something I'd forgotten to do) while I fed him a corn dog and got the girls and the baby dressed. We barely made it to the school in time for Ben to walk in the parade (I actually didn't get to see him because I was parking the car, but that's OK he still got to walk and that's all that mattered.)I love this cute upside down picture of Gracie

Playing games during the Spooktacular Ben wasn't too into taking pictures, he really wanted to play games and win prizes, so this is the only picture I got of him.

Monkey Man Dan

After the parade we wandered through the crowded halls finding games to play and activities to do. Sarah Kate decided she was old enough to go on her own, and we agreed so she left with a friend and we didn't see her very much. We enjoyed our time with the youngest 4 and they really enjoyed their time.

Witch Hannah

I wish I could take credit for this awesome costume, but the dress was all Kenny. My husbands the coolest!

Witch Hannah and Indian Gracie running in the gym while Ben waited in line to play a game.

Gracie watching electricity (the room was actually dark so it was much cooler)

Around 2:00 Kenny took the 3 youngest home for a nap and I stayed and helped with the game in Sarah's class. I got to hand out the candy and vampire teeth when kids won. Ben stayed with me and helped pick up the hula hoops after kids tried to throw them around pumpkins. It was a lot of fun to help out in the classroom. After school got out I decided to ride the bus home with the kids. Kenny had the girls and baby in bed and I didn't want to make him come get me. The bus driver was very nice to let me ride home and the kids thought it was WAY cool. I haven't been on a bus in about 15 years, not much has changed. I sat with Ben and while we were driving he kept asking to make sure I wasn't scared. What a nice boy.

Pumpkin Carving

Apparently all the rain in Eastern Idaho this past spring has made for a scarce pumpkins come fall. Normally this time of year when you go to Walmart the whole outside of the store is lined with pumpkin boxes. This year I only saw 2. I kept expecting pumpkin boxes to come, but they never did. By the time we realized why, all their pumpkins were sold. Lucky for us they still had some at Winco. We didn't have much to choose from, but we did manage to come up with some good ones.

Drawing faces on the pumpkins

Baby Dan loves to sit in the highchair and watch his siblings.

Halloween morning we woke up and pretty much immediately started carving pumpkins. Everyone was still in jammies without hair done, but we had a busy day and needed to get them done. Kenny spent the first part of the morning gutting all 6 pumpkins (what a wonderful guy) and then it was time to carve them. Ben and Sarah drew their own faces with a little help from Daddy and Hannah told Daddy she wanted a baby faced pumpkin (she loves babies thanks to Daniel.) Kenny did a wonderful job carving them while I fed the baby and started getting the kids ready for the day.

Carving Sarah's pumpkin while she and Ben watch.

After gutting 6 pumpkins, carving 3 of the kids plus one of his own, Kenny was all pumpkined out. I told him I'd carve Gracie's pumpkin and the pumpkin Dan and I shared. I had Gracie draw all over her pumpkin and then I did the best I could to make a face out of it. I love Halloween and all the fun things there are to do this time of year. All in all I think our pumpkins turned out great this year. There are sure getting to be a lot of them.

Sarah with her pirate pumpkin (the pumpkins saying 'Rrrrrr')

Ben's one eyed pumpkin (it's a total Ben pumpkin)

Hannah's baby face pumpkin (We're aware it looks more like a monkey face, but she was pleased with it and that's all that matters.)

Gracie's pumpkin drawn by her and cut out my me. She did a good job for only being 2.

The pumpkin Dan and I shared. He didn't give much input, but that's OK, he's cuter in pictures.

Daddy's graveyard pumpkin. Daddy always makes the coolest pumpkins.

Little Girls, How Funny

Hannah and Gracie have done some goofy things lately and I just wanted to share some pictures we've taken of them. First off, Hannah is way into dress-up, like always, which is fine with me, but her choices of outfits have been less than stellar.

Kenny posted this picture on facebook with the following caption. . . 'Sometimes as a parent it's important to find a way to look at your kids objectively. And when you do, if you're being honest, you just have to accept that somehow it's all gone horribly, terribly wrong.' I thought it was hilarious.

The other day, Kenny went downstairs to get the kids for dinner and he found Hannah in front of the TV. He ran upstairs, got the camera, and snapped a picture before she knew he was there.

If you look closely you can see she's watching pool. It's actually Cyberchase on PBS. She's learning math skill on her bouncy ball. WOW she can sure choose an outfit.

Gracie's been getting into everything lately. When we moved the big kids downstairs, we put Sarah Kate's bed right next to the gerbil cage. It's perfect for Gracie who loves the little critters. Normally she just opens the lid and tries to get them out. Last week she must have decided that if she can't get them out, she'd just join them.

I was worried she's step on one of them, but never fear, everyone was OK. I have an odd feeling Bug Eater and Blackberry stayed as far away from her as possible.

Last but not least, it's been fun watching how much these 2 little girls love each other. Growing up I always wanted a sister and it's been so fun to see my kids experience the things I never had. With Gracie's new bed comes the freedom to get in and out of it whenever she wants. Normally we catch her playing, get her in trouble once and then she goes back to bed and to sleep without any problems, but you can never be too sure.

Gracie has this thing with her diaper, she loves to undo it. Weird as it may seem I think it's a comfort thing for her. (Ben sucked his fingers and twirled his hair, Hannah pulls out her belly button, and Gracie plays with her diaper.) I've tried potty training her (she's not ready for that yet) and I've tried duct taping her diaper to her (that doesn't work either because she works at it until she manages to get it off.) We've resorted to pull-ups during the day because, even though they're more expensive than diapers, she keeps them on which keeps the poop off our floor and makes it so we use way less of them. You're probably wondering why I'm telling you this. Well at night we still put her in a diaper because they hold more so every night I have to go in and check to make sure her diaper is still done up and on her (it very rarely is.) On the 27th I went into the little girls room and this is what I found. . .

How cute is that?! Gracie sure loves her big sister and Hannah loves Gracie. I hope they stay great friends their entire life.