HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I just LOVE HALLOWEEN!!  I think I love it more and more each year.  I like that we have several traditions and we manage to pull them off.  I got my traditional picture of EVERYONE in their costumes.  This is a big part of my Halloween.  Call me crazy, but I LOVE having this picture of what everyone dressed up as each  year.  It's what I look forward to.  I didn't, however, get the individual pictures I like to get, because I was worried about holding everyone up.  This is why I dislike doing things with other people.  I want to do things that I want to do, and not have to feel like I'm putting ANYONE out.  (well, except my own family of course, but they put up with me and know what to expect)  Chris and Stephanie wanted to bring Sophie trick-or-treating with us, so they were there, on time, and we were not quite ready yet.  We hadn't even gone to the Milligan's yet, which actually ended up being a wasted trip since they weren't there!!  What a bummer that was!!  I hope it wasn't anything too serious but I really can't imagine them missing Halloween trick-or-treaters!  So anyway!  Here they are, together, and then here are a few of the shots I did get:

Jack: Football (not a skeleton regardless of how skeletony his costume looked)

It was an easy costume, he totally didn't mind wearing it to ALL of the activities we attended where Luke's costume was required (Lukey insisted that he have his football with him :) )  Jack was so good all night.  He fell asleep early on, in Nate's arms, then slept on the top of the stroller for a block.  He probably would have stayed asleep on there all night if we hadn't stopped for hotdogs and chips
(and the ever-popular full-sized candy bars!) at the Lamb's house.  He woke up there and I carried him, he was fussing a little, through the next two streets before giving in and making a pit stop.  I was so thankful to see Stephanie Jones.  She let me in, we chatted while I fed Jack, and then she even provided a diaper for his much needed diaper change.  What a great place to stop I'm tellin' ya :).  He was pretty good after that.  We caught up with Nate and the kids and then shortly after that Stephanie and I brought all the little ones home.  Jack was happy to be home and get in some dry jammies.  We were so grateful for such a nice warm evening.  He wasn't cold at all!

Charity and Kelly: Two-headed Monster, Noah: Spiderman (and apparently I didn't get a picture of Sophie looking toward the camera... rats!)

Charity and Kelly were a couple of pros this year.  Charity had been invited to go with a friend even, but since her other half wanted to stay with the family, she declined the invitation.  I was glad :).  I wanted her with us!  I'm not ready to give them up to friends on Halloween yet.  I'm going to have to come up with some sort of bribe or heaven forbid, just be better than any other option I guess to keep them with me.  Charity seemed to want as much candy as possible.  They were a little ways ahead of us and she and Kelly were in the group that continued on when the weak ones couldn't go further :).  They looked so great in their costume.  It was fun to see them use something that was inspired by my childhood and costume with Wendy Olsen.  It's a fun one.

Noah was extremely motivated in the beginning.  He knew what he wanted!  He had a hard time holding his Ee-oh bag, but he didn't let that stop him!  He looked so cute running around, Spiderman style, shooting webs here and there.  He really got into it :)  I like that about him.  He did get tired, and came home early with us.  He was SO cute when we got home, he didn't skip a beat, dumping out his bag the second he walked in the door.  Cute kid.

Bradley: "the ghost from Scream 4" (I know I shouldn't care, but I hope nobody thinks we've actually seen that movie just because we bought the costume... it was kind of a last resort when we couldn't find any of the other things Bradley wanted to be)  Bradley LOVED the trick-or-treating.  He was all over that!  He was way ahead of us the whole time, and had to keep waiting up for us.  But he was the one that hit EVERY house.  It was fun to watch him get into it.  He was definitely on board for the extra street at the end :).

Erika: Tinkerbell

Erika was a newbie this year, she did it last year, but she was SO much more into it this year.  She had been so excited for trick-or-treating!  She did so good, going up to the doors, yelling "TRICK-OR-TREATING!!!", saying "thank you" for each piece of candy, and then telling me that she had said "thank you" :).  She's so adorable.  I loved watching her run around with her sweet little smile on her face! She sure had fun during the first half.  I think she got tired, or her sweet little feet (in her too small, Sunday shoes- I told her not to wear them, but she insisted) were just sore.  She was done when Stephanie and I started for home.  She had me carry her on my shoulders down the hill.  She LOVED her costume.  I was glad about that because she had gone back and forth between Belle and Tinkerbell for quite a while before settling on Tink.  She pointed out every little girl who was in a Princess costume, commented on the dresses and after a few I said, "Do you wish you were a princess too?" to which she gave a resounding, "NO!  I TINKERBELL!"  I love that!  I wish I could be more like that.  Just happy with what I am.

Oh, I did get one of just Luke!  yay!  Luke: Football Player  

Luke had a total blast!  He kept up with Bradley for most of it.  He wasn't done when the little kids were either, and even wore that helmet the whole time!  He was anxious to run into Carter, and once we did that, he was set!  He was a lot of fun to watch too.  It's crazy that my kids are big enough to trick-or-treat way ahead of us, and that they WANT TO!  I'm just glad they had fun.

And then for the sorting of the candy!

her cheesy-ball smile... haven't seen that in a while!

 Yeah, Dad, this is why you have seven kids!!  LOOK AT ALL THAT CANDY!!!

After the big kids got home, and we were all settled, I remembered that I'd told Grandpa Hatch that we'd come up to his house.  We invited him down instead :). Some of the kids even put their costumes back on just for Grandpa.  Fun stuff.  And of course they all shared with him too ;)

I couldn't believe how hard it was to look at all the candy and not eat any of it!!  I did splurge and eat one of the Butterfingers that Lukey gave me.  We share a similar favorite and he gave up his for me!!  That means A LOT!!!  Bradley gave me one of his candies as well.  I have such sweet boys.  They love their Mom and take such good care of me!!

It was tricky to get everyone in bed, but once they were there... they were OUT!  Such a fun, exhausting night!!  We all had a blast!

It was Kelly's night to stay up and this is what she did :) :

I love that she got him to hold the sucker in his hand :)  So funny

She even caught him sneezing :)

These all turned out SO CUTE!!  He's smiling in so many of them!

I like his hair inthis one :)

Kelly's so beautiful and picks such cute poses!  And look at that smile on Jack!!  LOVE THIS ONE!

After Kelly went to bed, Jack and I watched the Jazz game with Nate.

Already a Jazz fan :)

And that was our Halloween 2012.  Lots of good memories!