I LOVED Halloween this year! This holiday is slowly becoming one of my favorite holidays. It was so nice that the kids had Halloween off! And then to top it off with Nate being off too! It was a lot of fun! We did try to take it easy because several of us were not feeling well and we wanted to make sure we were up for Trick-or-Treating, but we still had a good time. The older three and I played a rousing game of Monopoly in the morning. I was surprised at how quickly they picked it up! They were really good at it and I thought we had a lot of fun. It was of course more fun in the beginning when there wasn't that looming "I'm going to lose!" hanging over our heads. Charity was the first to go. She just didn't have very good properties. I lost next and I blame that on the fact that there were very few hotels and houses in this game. Kelly and Bradley were going for quite a while before Brad finally had enough money to put up the hotels that Kelly had had to mortgage, and he quickly took over. Kelly had a hard time with the loss. Bradley was surprisingly very sportsmanlike for the last quarter of the game. Feeling sorry for Kelly and all that. It was a sweet victory for him though :) I was happy for him :) I love that game, it's fun that my kids are finally old enough to enjoy it with them. And just for the record, I didn't cheat AT ALL! Cool huh!
So, the rest of the day was a little slow, but SO NICE! And the kids were having a lot of fun with each other! We got costumes on around 4:00.
Then went over to my Mom's to trick-or-treat. She spoiled the kids with donuts nd candy to start out Free Candy Night. Sarah and the Hatch boys were there, so we got to see Charlie in his Knight in Shining Armor costume and Alvin in his Dragon costume! SO CUTE!!
Iron Man fighting off villains while eating a donut!!! Now that takes skill!After Grandma's house, we headed on up to the Milligan's house. This is a special house. Our kids had been to their house last year, and possibly the year before, and found out why it is so special! They have a huge table just FULL of toys, EXTRA LARGE treats and goodies, just EVERYTHING cool :). My kids LOOOOOOOVE trick-or-treating at their house, and in fact talked about it ALL year. In face, thwn we told the kids we were moving out of Grandpa's house last year, that was one of their concerns! "What about the house with the table?? at Halloween??" Kinda funny, but I'm all about cool trick-or-treating houses, so I promised them we would still go there. It was a little out of the way for our trick-or-treating route this year, so we made a special stop up at the Milligan's on our way back from Grandma's house. They did not disappoint! It was all they'd looked forward to and more ;). I think Brad got a giant gummi snake, Noah and Erika got little matching trucks (Erika saw what Noah picked out and wanted the same), Luke got a package of Squeeze-its, Kelly got a huge package of licorice, and I can't remember what Charity got. I'll have to ask her. Kathy was sweet to humor us :) And I loved being able to talk to her for a minute. She was one of my favorite Young Women leaders growing up.
We went back home to wait for Chris and Stephanie to show up, but they took "too long" so we started without them. They came shortly after we left and we hadn't really picked up enough speed by then, so we were just up the street. And off we went!
Charity was a Puppy (of course! the only thing she EVER thinks about!) a Black Lab named Co-Co to be exact. I was happy to find her costume at Target and to not have it be lame sweats that she wouldn't ever wear again. I'm glad they were soft and comfy and something she likes. She wanted to use her hair as the ears, and I made her collar (we didn't have the collar idea until Halloween day, so the other two times we dressed up, we missed it!). Nate did her face paint and made it SO cute! He is getting really good at face-painting if anyone ever needs one :). I'm hiring him out :). Sister Showalter had Charity bark her "thank you" and she was very impressed with her talent :) Most people are. Charity seemed to enjoy Halloween this year, aside from not even eating one piece of candy! I'm so proud of her! There's no way I'd go trick-or-treating if I wasn't going to eat any of the candy! But she did, and only complained at the end. She is so grown up!
Kelly was Rapunzel from Tangled. We fretted over the wig all season, and then about a week ago found a place that would rent us an amazing Rapunzel wig for $3! I was ecstatic! She wore that wig the first time and half of the second time that we dressed up, but the hair just got too itchy and frizzy for her! She was seriously freaking out about it by Halloween. So I remembered an idea i had seen at the ward party for a Rapunzel wig, and I stole it. We made her a big braid out of yellow yarn and then put flowers all over it! I was very pleased with how well it looked and worked out. The other wig was definitely more authentic, but this worked just fine. I wish we'd tried it sooner. She had a cute dress that I found at a grocery store for cheap that passed as a Rapunzel dress quite nicely I thought. It was a little long and tore at the bottom, so we had to make some last minute adjustments, but it looked great! She didn't love the crown, but she wore it :) Next year I think I might have to encourage Kelly to pick something with less discomfort! She loved the trick-or-treating and was one of those who would have gone hours longer had we not had the others :). She loved seeing everyone else's costumes, and helped out with Erika and Sophie's baskets as well! She said the weirdest thing about Halloween this year was "those teenagers that went through our stroller!" That's a weird story! 
Bradley was Bumblebee the Transformer. He was so proud of his costume this year! I loved it! And he did look great! I actually found his costume at Walmart last year for $1! I was so proud of myself for finding it and buying it and even more happy when he actually wanted to wear it this year! So that was nice :). He loved wearing the mask especially. He LOOOOOOOOVED Trick-or-Treating this year! Couldn't have been more excited about it before, during and even after! He ran from house to house like a crazy person, sneaking in several extras when we would pass a circle or side street! He was on a roll! It was hard to convince him not to try the houses that had no lights on! He even carried his bag around the whole night, liek a tough guy and didn't complain at all! He must be getting older! It was fun to feed off of his excitement in getting the little ones excited! He's such a fun guy!
Luke was Mario (of course! The only thing he ever thinks about! :) ) from Mario Cart. We had wanted to borrow a costume but were unable to, and then when we finally resorted to buying one at the store, we were too late! They were all out! Popular item apparently! So we tried to talk him into something else, Toad or Luigi, or something completely different, and he just wouldn't have it! He was going to be Mario, no matter what! So, when we found the place that we got Kelly's wig from, we asked about a Mario costume (I knew I could get some of it from the DI, but I wasn't sure about the hat.... and I knew it was going to cost more than I wanted to spend). Sure enough! They had one! I was SO HAPPY!! Even the hat! And get this, they only charged $5 to rent it! While I'd rather have costumes that they can play dressup in during the next year, or have something to pass on, it is definitely nice to have something so cheap! And with Nate's professional mustache painting, he looked perfect! Lukey liked Trick-or-Treating and complained very little! But towards the end, he was getting tired of carrying his bag. So he would go up to the door with just his hand to carry the candy in :) Then run back to the stroller and put it in his bag! It was cute! He was tired sooner than most as well, and was ready to go home when it was time. He must have worn out his cute little feet too, because he cried about it all night long after jumping in our bed in the middle of the night.
Noah was Iron Man! He made such a great Iron Man!! He had the stance DOWN! Anytime there was down time, he would stand with his hands at his hips like a big tough Iron Man would! It was adorable. I loved it. We were lucky enough to be able to borrow his costume as well. Nate painted his face since it didn't come with a mask, and can I just say, I'd much rather do the face painting than a mask any day! He looked great and didn't have to "keep it on" or make me carry it! He looked awesome! Noah liked the trick-or-treating and actually walked the whole way up until the last street where we were just walking home, not actually trick-or-treating! I was SO PROUD OF HIM!! He usually rides in the stroller on our walks, so I wasn't sure how that was going to work with Sophie in his spot, but he did it! Near the end, he said, "I think I have enough candy, I just want to be done." What a cutie!
Erika was Little Red Riding Hood. I thought of this costume when Stephanie and Chris said that Sophie was going to be a wolf and that they wanted to come with us. And thankfully, Heather, my cousin had the cutest little costume for us to borrow. She is an amazing seamstress, and I got to benefit from her talents. Erika looked adorable, got so many compliments, and had a lot of fun! I was happy it was a comfortable, normal outfit, so she didn't fight me when it was time to put it on or anything. Not like the other kids at this age! She actually liked it! And she would talk about it and stuff. I doubt she knows who Little Red Riding Hood is, but at this age.... I don't think it really matters :). Next year maybe I'll let her go as the Kitty that she kept telling everyone she was dressing up as :). She did love the hood though :) of course. Erika did a great job during Trick-or-Treating. She sat in the stroller for most of it, but about the last street and a half, she suddenly got into it and wanted to walk and carry her basket, and go up to all the doorsteps, it was cute! I was surprised, but had a lot of fun with her! She LOVED the candy part of it and ate a LOT of it along the way :).
Nate and I went as ourselves. This was the first time in about 6 years that I have been able to go trick-or-treating! I LOVED it! I've really been missing out! We left our candy out on our porch in a bowl. I had kind of hoped we'd run out of candy and some angry kids would throw out our pumpkins, but no such luck. We chatted with Chris and Stephanie the whole time, counting our kids every few minutes since they were all- all over the place! My favorite was the Lambs house, they had hot dogs and cider, chips and pop, tables and chairs set up for everyone to eat. I love it when people do that! I think we will someday. It was fun to see everyone from the ward, and learn where they all live finally. I really did love this Halloween. Probably because I got to go Trick-or-Treating. It was a really nice night, hardly cold at all (and my kids were probably too hot because I had overdressed them thinking it would get cold), stayed light for most of the time too. I loved it!
My goofy little girls!
I like posed pictures, but for some reason, I like the candid, you-can-see-their-personalities-and-bring-back-real-memories even more. They make me smile :) Even if I can hear my kids complaining, or yelling at a sibling in a picture :)
Here's our Little Red Riding Hood with the Big Bad Wolf :)
(and another picture of me looking the wrong way :))
I took a few pictures of the kids trick-or-treating maybe because I never have been able to :) But then I felt like a dork and put the camera away, but hardly any of them turned out, so now I'm wishing I had taken more! Oh well...
It's always fun to watch them spread out their goods when we get home! Lukey kept coming up to Nate and asking him if stuff was healthy. Nate finally just said, "None of it's really all that healthy, bud, sorry." Then Luke found some crackers! Those are healty-er :)! It was awesome to think he cared. But he's of course stuffed himself silly with the unhealthy candy regardless :). Funny boy.
I'm always surprised at the random things the kids get that AREN'T candy.... Charity got some sunglasses!
Kelly got a slap bracelet which she noticed had Tinkerbell on it, and promptly gave it to Erika!
Erika loved the pictures of the Pixies :)
I don't know how she did it, but Charity did all the Halloween, Free Candy, fun, without eating a single piece of candy! She is not giving in!! And she didn't even take a strike on Halloween because she is determined to get her $100 a day earlier! I'm so proud of her! I can barely go an hour without candy when it's spread out in front of me like that! She's a good girl!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYBODY!!!
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