Halloween 2015

Halloweening this year was great! We were able to take the kids out trick-or-treating for the first time, and experience the awesomeness that is giving toddlers tons of candy, but then telling them they can't eat it all in one sitting. :D

But let me back up...

On Friday the 30th we spent the day finishing last details on Halloween costumes and painted pumpkins with Gram:

We helped out some friends, baked some cookies, and threw together some last minute costumes too, oh my!

That evening we went to our ward Halloween party at church. Since we are in a married student ward there are only 4 nursery age kids, and two of them are ours, so we don't do a trunk-or-treat which is common in full family wards. Instead we have a chili cook-off and spooky dessert contest, along with everyone dressing up. Way better!

Our family went with the Sword in the Stone theme this year. :) Jon was Merlin, Kate was Arthur (the Wart), I was Madam Mim (marvelous, magnificent, and mad), and Edwin was Archimedes the Owl.

yes, my face is pink, I don't just have a weird sunburn.

Jon made Kate's sword, and I think it turned out pretty amazing!

I added the famous inscription to the blade, although writing on varnished fake swords is harder than one might think...

At the ward party each of the kids got a pumpkin activity bucket with stickers, coloring book, toys, and then went on a candy hunt!

Kate really wanted to sit on the couch and eat her candy instead of going back to the main party. 

There were great prizes for funniest costumes, best last-minute throw together, what you want to wear next year, spookiest dessert, best chili, and many more. :) Everyone got a chance to vote. Our little family won the best group costume. Kate has been admiring our skeleton guy sitting on our bookshelf for the past couple days and says he is very pretty!

On Halloween day Jon went to work, and after a few hours of homework and German study group (which I brought the kids to), we went over to Hemming Village (a shopping center in town) where they had a big Halloween Party going on. My friend Jordan came to help me with the kids, which was AMAZING. Local business collaborated to have free activities and treats for everyone who came. We went through a little costume parade, had some apple cider, and the salon had a spooky set up where you could come and get your nails done and get temporary glitter tattoos!

Kate getting pampered:

she picked the sparkly green polish for her nails, and got a pink glitter flower on her hand :)

Cruella DeVil hosted story time, and had the best wicked witch cackle I have ever heard!

Kate was even called up by Cruella to make a scary face for the crowd, but instead Kate just stood there. She seems to be very shy in front of new people, but then as soon as she sat down she was talking to me all about it!

Back outside there were Disney Princesses and characters walking around for the kids to meet. Kate only cared about Mickey and Minnie Mouse :) She would insist that we go up and say hi, but then as soon as we did Kate would freeze up and didn't want to give anyone high-fives or talk to them. We did get a picture with Minnie, but Mickey took off before we could catch him. We also said hi to Daisy Duck, but Kate didn't seem really interested in more pictures.

That night we treated the kids with a spooky dinner of mummy dogs, string cheese/pretzel witch's brooms, and creepy kiwi strawberry monster faces!

The kids ate it ALL, which makes dinner a win. I just wanted to make sure they were happy and fed before we went out trick-or-treating. :) Kate decided after dinner that she didn't want to wear her brown boots, so instead she wore her pink sparkly ones. She also broke her sword earlier in the day when she stepped on it in the car, plus it was cold and windy so she was wearing a sweatshirt. Jon also didn't wear his costume out trick or treating because he had worn it all day at work. So we were half-group costumed. ;) But it was still a lot of fun.

As we headed out to trick-or-treat I asked Kate what she was going to say while we knocked on people's doors. She answered, "I get treatsies!" HAHAHA

I taught her how to say "trick-or-treat" but at each door she froze up. She was really good about saying, "Thank you" and "Happy Halloween" though, so I didn't worry about it too much.

We encountered some creepy doors!

And when the kids saw jack-o-lanterns they immediately got down on the ground and tried to blow out the candles...

We just visited a few houses of people in the ward, because it was too cold and windy to walk very far. We really appreciated everyone making an effort to have candy and goodies like glow sticks and spooky tattoo packs ready for our kids! Our last stop of the night was to Gram's house, and each kid was allowed one treat before getting ready for bed.

Overall this Halloween was a success! No major meltdowns, or catastrophic costume malfunctions, and we're already looking forward to next year. :D