This year for Halloween I was determined that I was NOT going to buy costumes. Thanks to having two boys in a row and some donations from someone in our old ward we have quite a stash. I looked through our costumes and came up with three good options. Clayton was going to be Wall-E (for the second year in a row), Noah was going to be a McQueen race car driver (an old costume of Clayton's), and Josie was going to be a monkey. Fortunately dressing up for my kids is so exciting that they don't really even care what they dress up as and they didn't fight me at all as I took away their freedom to choose their own costumes. So yay for free costumes!!
Our Halloweening this year started with Noah's preschool Halloween party. Sadly, no pictures, but he loved going and seeing how all of his friends looked in their costumes and he loved showing off his costume.
The next day (Thursday), we had a Halloween party at our playgroup. Again, no pictures, but there was yummy food, a cute craft, and tons of darling little friends in costume! We were also able to pick my parents up on Thursday! They were here to spend the weekend with us. It was the best gift ever! We love it when they come. Their visits are never frequent enough or long enough!
On Friday there was a party for the kids of the residents at the clinic. The kids (once again) got to wear their costumes. They got to watch a movie, eat a snack, be in a 'parade' for all the residents, and go trick or treating at all the office doors. The kids loved seeing Daddy at work and had a ball. While we were at the party, Grammy went to Clayton's school to eat lunch with him. It was such a treat, he got to show off his Grammy to all his friends! (Just in case you're wondering, Clayton was in school for all of these events. So sadly, the costume count is Noah: 3, Josie: 2, and Clayton:0)
These are our friends who came to the party at the clinic.
This little girl had some M&M's!
Yum, candy corn!
Friday night was our ward trunk or treat. It was an outdoor event full of good food, games for the kids, hay rides, a raffle, costume contests, and (of course) trick or treating. Unfortunatey, it was freezing!! I was really glad that I had chosen to wear jeans and a sweater instead of my costume!Josie also decided that she was going to play a trick on us at the party. After the hay ride, I thought my dad had Josie and he thought that my mom had her. So there we were, in the dark and within walking distance of a pond, when all the adults realized that we had no idea where the baby was. I panicked! My mom told me to take the boys trick or treating and they'd look (which ended up being so inspired). I initially thought that there was no way I was going to be able to hold it together to take the boys around, but I did it. As we were making the rounds I heard a teenage girl in front of me talking to a woman who was going around with her own kids. She told the woman that she'd seen her daughter - to which the woman responded, 'my daughter is right here'. I quickly jumped in and asked if the little girl was dressed like a monkey in a tutu (yay for a distinctive costume). She confirmed that it was, in fact, a monkey ballerina. I told the boys to stay put and took off at a dead run. I found where she'd last been seen and asked if anyone had seen her. A few people told me they'd just seen her and we all spread out. Someone found her snuggling with a couple of black labs (they must have reminded her of Disco) a short ways away. I scooped her up and didn't put her down the rest of the night! I still have a little PTSD over this experience.
On Saturday there was no trick or treating, but the kids got to go to a pumpkin patch with my parents while Justin and I went to the Notre Dame game (go Irish)! Again, no pictures, but if you check out my brother and sister in law's blog, Kerstin took some amazing pictures of the pumpkin patch.
On Sunday we had to say goodbye to my parents. Clayton was heartbroken. I'm pretty sure no one has ever loved a grandparent like he loves my parents. He was practically inconsolable on the way home from the airport. This, of course, made me teary. I love the relationship my kids have built with my parents. It's so special. In order to ease the pain of their loss, we went trick or treating. The kids had a ball.
I had to doctor Josie's costume up a bit. I love this monkey costume and wanted her to wear it, but I wanted her to be girly at the same time. I ended up with this monkey ballerina and I love it!
Noah loves this costume. He literally wore it out this year. It has rips and stains in it and can never be used for Halloween again. It's now just a dress up costume. I love that he was so happy with it.
Clayton also loved his costume. He was so happy to be Wall-E again. I'm not sure I can get a third year out of this costume with him, but I'm grateful for a son who is so willing to wear the costume I've chosen for him and be happy about it!
Finally, I have to add these for my mom. She'd bought this kit for her and the kids to do together, but had to leave before they got around to it. She made Clayton promise that we'd make it and show her a picture. So I present to you, the gingerbread coffin:
It was a great week of festivities and I'm really glad that we were able to share it with so many friends and family. Now if only I could find a way to eat all this candy without gaining any weight...
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