Trick or Treat!

It has been brought to my attention by several family members that I have not shared our Halloween festivities. I did in fact share them on Facebook...but not everyone dear to us is on Facebook (Hi Zoo! And Opi & Omi! And Grandma & Grandpa!), and even those on Facebook don't...um...really understand how to use it? So they only see things I tag them in (Hi too-many-parents-and-other-relatives-to-name! At least for my mom, our friend Cindy tells her what I'm doing on Facebook, so she keeps up!)

So...for the facebook challenged... Here is our Halloween Hoopla!

First of all... While I LOVE fall, I'm not really a fan of lots of aspects of Halloween. We love dressing up and trick-or-treating (or going to our church's Halloween party), but I don't let the kids dress up as anything gross, evil, or scary. I do however, like to do LOTS of things leading up to Halloween, so the kids get opportunities to wear their costumes and enjoy more than just one night. We usually do a pumpkin patch (not in costume), and Boo at the Zoo. This year we didn't do anything other than the fall/pumpkin related things at the apple orchard, and I'm paying the price. If you ask Micah how he liked Halloween, he says, "I GO AGAIN!?!" And Tobin would NOT stop talking about how he was so sad that Halloween was only one day. It does help that we got some good deals on costumes at the after-Halloween sale, so they have dressed up every day this week. BUT next year, I want to do at least one other costume activity ahead of time... My vote is for what my neighbor did this year, Boo at the U: Halloween with the University Equestrian Club. The horses were in costume. How awesome is that??

We did take the time Monday night to carve pumpkins, which the boys LOVED.

Last year: Meeting in Uganda. This year, carving pumpkins together!

I wasn't sure how this would go over, since when I came home with the pumpkins, Tobin claimed his and insisted that we would NOT be cutting "her" open. Oh dear. But when the time came, he was pretty happy to give her a scary face.

 Luke did a great job with his giant pumpkin, and Matt did Micah's. I drew Tobin's face, but he wanted to cut most of it out himself. He did over-cut a few times, but I think it came out super cute. And there weren't even any tears when we needed to throw the pumpkin babies out. My tender hearted one is growing up!

So once Halloween rolled around, we got our traditional jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's (a DEAL at $8, it's take and bake, so you can pick it up earlier in the day and have it ready when you want it.)

Then the little boys got suited up, while Matt drove Luke to the middle school skate party. We had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle....

 And a cowboy on a horse. If you're keeping track, this is not the first time you've seen this costume. Or the second. I have gotten more mileage out of this after-Halloween-sale purchase from 4 years ago....

 I would have shelled out for a new costume for Micah's first Halloween...But little bit is OBSESSED with horses, "My Horsey Favorite." He was THRILLED, nothing I bought new would have made him this happy.

It was lovely weather, and we went trick-or-treating with our fun neighbors. Good times.

Laying in the loot!

Meanwhile, Luke was skating with the middle school group from church. He didn't want to get a costume (I think he'll want to next year...he doesn't like depending on the sharing kindness of others, as far as candy goes.) But when the night rolled around, he decided to dress up. Tobin followed him around asking, "What are you supposed to BE?"

 Afro-Circus Mardi Gras Fairy?

Happy Fall, y'all!

Happy Halloween!

We’re just home from Fall Break at Walt Disney World with my mom, sister & brother and their families – it was a GREAT time, and I have lots of fun to share.
But I wanted to put some Halloween memories up before we get to far into November… So here’s what we had for dinner (a jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphy’s – as you can see ours has a bit of an acne problem. :D)

Our little cowboy:

For those of you paying attention…yes, this is the same thing as last year. Our whole family was Pirates for the Halloween Party @ Disney World, and I didn’t want to have to come up with multiple costumes (especially since we have about 10 to choose from, including Luke’s costumes from ages 3-6, which will all fit Tobin.) But he wanted to be the cowboy riding a horse again, rather than any of the other choices.
Notable differences this year: Both years, almost every person who saw him asked what his horse’s name is. Last year, he stubbornly insisted “Just Horsey!” every time. This year, his horse is names “Gallop”, and Tobin did indeed gallop up and down the street as we went trick-or-treating. And at every house with steps up to the front door, as he descended, he stopped and reared the horse’s legs up, saying, “NEEEEIIIGGGHHH!” :)
And our Roman Soldier:

I am so thankful we were able to find this costume… We don’t have tons of choices for Luke like we do for Tobin, and since Luke was Captain Jack Sparrow for Halloween when he was 6, I knew he wouldn’t want to use the same costume we had for him @ the Disney party. When he said he wanted to be a Roman Soldier, I wondered where in the world I would find that, and knew I wouldn’t want to pay whatever it cost. He was ecstatic when we were able to borrow this get up, although it ended up being much heavier than he anticipated…we had to leave the helmet behind, and hardly made it back into the house before he was disrobing. :)

And…. our family squirrel.

I NEVER thought I’d sink so low as to dress my dog up for Halloween, but the boys BEGGED, and I couldn’t resist this squirrel costume – for our dog who is squirrel obsessed. He was (obviously) less than thrilled, but patiently let me dress him up. Hee hee.

Poor dog.

And our traditional “laying in all the loot” shots…

It took a lot longer to get Luke Roman-ized, and Tobin changed his mind about his costume about 4 times…so we were quite late getting out to trick-or-treat. Luke discovered the glory in this, as lots of houses told the boys, “Take a whole handful, we don’t want any left over!” I think we have 20 mini-snickers bars!

  
Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat

Before I get terribly behind... Here are our adventures in Trick or Treating.

Tobin LOVED it. He was just asking this morning when we are going Trick or Treating again. (He told me, "It IS Halloween!") I can't imagine what he's going to think of Christmas, Halloween was such a hit! All night long, he kept asking, "Are we having Halloween??" And he would tell everyone we saw, "We are having Halloween!!" (after he told them his horse's name was "just horsey." :D)

As a kid, I was a big fan of Halloween, because I've always loved dressing up. I have mixed feelings now (because of the link with witchcraft and the fact that it is a big holiday for pagans etc.). We've found a compromise that works for our family, and it sure is fun to see the kids enjoying the heck out of this holiday!! I probably need to lay off the halloween candy, however... :)