Halloween Activities

Halloween has never been my favorite holiday.  I do enjoy it, though since I know my kids look forward to it. 

Carter &  Parker made some fun Halloween masks at Scouts this past month.  They looked great!

 Parker

 Carter 

Red Ribbon Week was the week previous to Halloween.  One of the days was "crazy hair day."  My boys like to stay in front of the mirror for an endless amount of time trying to see what crazy things their hair will do.  It probably fell flat after being at school for just a little bit of time, but they were happy with the results. (Johnathan, Tanner, Parker & Carter)

We had our Ward Halloween Party on Oct. 20th.  Luckily we had all of the costumes from previous years so we didn't have to purchase anything.  I love it when my kids are willing to be whatever and not so particular.

Johnathan had to draw a picture of himself at school and then come up with something about himself for every letter in his name.  I love what he wrote about himself.

We got our first snowfall on October 27th.  We woke up to around 4 inches of fresh snow on the ground.  Tanner had a pretty bad cough and ended up staying home from school.  Not sure if I should have allowed him to stay home because he was very interested in going outside with Bradley to play in it.  I guess I get a "Bad Mom" award since I allowed them to do it.  Bradley loved having Tanner outside with him and this saved me from having to go out.  They were able to make the best snowman.  Bradley loved helping Tanner roll the balls.  It was really good packing snow.  They decorated the snowman so cute and then came into the house.  Within a few hours the poor snowman started to fall over and melted almost completely by the time the rest of the kids came home from school.  The snow was short lived and the rest of the kids weren't able to play in it at all.

Bradley was able to dress up in his Halloween costume for Joy School on Thurs., Oct. 28th.  He was so excited to show his friends his superman costume.  I didn't get a picture of all of the kids before Avery went home, but here is Reese and Gavin.

Bradley was invited to attend a Halloween party over at the McArthur's home.  Lisa always goes way over board on things and this was no exception.  The weather was so nice even though it had snowed 2 days previous.  We didn't even need a jacket.  Bradley had a lot of fun.  There was a spooky cave to walk through, cake walk, story telling, cupcake decorating, pumpkin spiders, and a pinata.  He came home with more candy and treats than he could have eaten.  Thanks Lisa for inviting us!

The kids were able to dress up to go to school.  They always have a parade where the classes parade through the halls to show off their cool costumes.  It was really nice to have Byron take the day off of work so we could relax and enjoy the day together.  The morning started out by getting everybody all ready for school.  Most of their costumes were pretty easy to put on.  I just had to deal with the makeup which was relatively simple.

Tanner didn't really want to be an Asian person for Halloween after dressing like that for the Ward Halloween party.  I started throwing ideas around and came up with a scarecrow.  I had fun making the costume.  I bought the hat from Party Land and then just had to buy raffia.  Camille & I sewed it onto his sleeves and pant legs with the sewing machine.  We then added patches to this pants.  I think it turned out darling.  He definitely made a really cute scarecrow.

The scary Johnathan - ghoul

The scarecrow - Tanner

The cowboy - Carter

The ninja - Parker

Superman - Bradley

After getting the kids off, we headed over to the school to get ready for the Halloween parade.  It took about 30 minutes for the parade to make its way into the cafeteria.  I enjoy watching for the kids in our ward, boys that I teach "Bears" with, and of course my own children.   

Johnathan made a paper mache mask at school - I think it turned out pretty cool!

Friday evening we made carmel apples.  I bought the carmel wraps which is pretty much a cheater way to make them.  They definitely weren't as fun to make, but easier.  Camille was at a Regional dance, so she missed the fun.

Bradley, Tanner, Parker, Johnathan & Carter

We had fun playing games.  Carter & Parker played scum.

Byron taught Johnathan & Tanner how to play rummikub.  The four of us had fun playing a few games together.  I had forgotten how fun this game was.

Saturday afternoon we carved the pumpkins.  We were lucky to have such beautiful weather that afternoon (before the rain started) that we were able to carve them in our backyard.  I set up a table out back and the kids went at it.  Byron was up at our duplexes, so I was the only adult helping.  I am definitely not as good as Byron at these.  We weren't as thorough as Byron is in taking all of the pumpkin seeds out. 

Cleaning out the pumpkins.

Camille spent a lot of time carving the outside of her pumpkin with a tool to scrape the outside off.

Johnathan's pumpkin

Bradley's - it looks like it has food in its mouth:).

Parker

 Carter has a "cyclops" pumpkin.

Round 3 for Halloween costumes- It is always pretty overwhelming when we have to put on the costumes more than once. This year we had our Halloween party, school parade & then going trick-or-treating.  Right around 4:30 p.m. the rain started.  It didn't quit until around 7 p.m.  The poor trick-or-treaters were out with rain ponchos, coats, umbrellas to brave the elements. 

Parker, Carter & Byron went together.  They went around the whole ward in about 1 1/2 hours.  Byron had a hard time keeping up with them as they were running from house to house.

Tanner went with Kobe Mickelson and Preston Morgan(not pictured).  They were a little slower than Byron, but got more candy.  Tanner had never been with a friend before and really enjoyed that in contrast with being with his siblings. 

Johnathan went with Tyler Atwood.  Tyler's dad drove them around along with Tyler's siblings.  Johnathan didn't get wet like his brothers, but also didn't get as much candy.  He loved being able to go with his best friend.

Camille was really nice to take Bradley around.  They were probably gone for about 45 minutes when Bradley came home all done.  He had quite a bit of candy for a 3 year old anyways.  He was ready to count his loot and be in the warm house.

Tanner with his almost full bag as we were heading to Grandpa & Grandma Beck's house.

Camille was invited to a friend's Halloween Party and enjoyed spending her evening there.  She watched, "I Am Legend" and enjoyed doing "girl" things.  We were sad to not have her there when we went up to Salt Lake, but she definitely is old enough to do things on her own now.

Grandpa & Grandma's house was filled with donuts, hot chocolate, games, puzzles & candy.  We had fun visiting and playing a game of scum.  We missed seeing any of the other cousins, but were able to visit with Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Melissa & Uncle Eric.  The time always goes way too fast when we are there.

Once we got home, the candy was dumped out and the kids started sorting it out.  I couldn't believe the amount of it they had.

Carter above & Parker below

Johnathan

Tanner's candy - he probably got the most of all the kids. 

What a fun filled day!  We were all ready for bed and exhausted!