Halloween 2011

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Wow- it seems that my family is on the edge of their seats, waiting for this Halloween post... I thought about making you wait a little longer, but how could I withold all this cuteness!  We missed the Ancestry Halloween party this year- both for it's big candy haul and the opportunity for DMP and I to dress up :)  Fortunately, a new friend in the ward had a great party at a local park. It was suprisingly cold (esp. after the sun went down) and while I did grab jackets in the mad rush out the door, I neglected to think of my poor girls and their bare legs. Thankfully, massive amounts of sugar seem to help raise your blood temprature, because once they started in on the desserts and candy, they were fine!

 Here we have our tiny superhero- Jack Jack from the Incredibles.  Watch out, he bursts into flames when he gets mad!  I keep waiting for the floating super power- this kid is HEAVY.  He is also super fast. Like, halfway accross the enormous park at the very far away playground when we weren't looking, fast.  Also, too fast and busy seeking crime to fight to get a decent picture.

We didn't do our punkins until Oct. 30 this year. I think that is a new record for our family. I was kind of worried about mold and bugs if we did them TOO soon. To make up for it, we've left them outside since Monday 'cause we're classy like that (Hi neighbors!).

EJ was THRILLED with the Kaya/Indian girl costume that her Grandma made for her. The day it was supposed to come in the mail she couldn't WAIT to get home. She told me that she told all of her friends about it and how her Grandma made it just for her then she said "I told them my Grandma is very talented, Mom."  I was thrilled to find moccasins in her size at a second-hand kid store. We added extra beads to the moccasins, recycled a feather headband from her birthday party, and used a beaded pin her Grandpa gave her and she had one fine costume!  Big, huge thanks to Grandma K!

 The pose above was her idea. Very politically correct :)

Dorothy-Bird insisted upon posing in the woods, just like Kaya before her. She was so adorable in her costume. Good thing, too. I've wanted one of the girls to be Dorothy for a while now, and I picked up a sparkly, deluxe costume after Halloween last year for cheap.  All year Birdy has talked about beind Dorothy and having the red, sparkle shoes.  I'm super smart and I didn't have her try on her costume until the week before Halloween. Turns out the "5-7" sizing is very much on the "7" size, and not so much the "5".  It was really, really big. So off we went to Kid to Kid to buy the exact costume, except the less sparkly and deluxe version.

So while not the great deal it was supposed to be, she was a beautiful Dorothy!  Her favorite were the sparkly shoes. She's worn them to church for weeks and it's a good thing I found them at Kid to Kid and they are 1.5 sizes too big, so she can wear them FOREVER!

This is what happened when we tried to get a group shot of all the kids while we were waiting for Daddy to get home. That little super-hero cannot be contained!

Luckily for me, our neighbor walked by with his dog.  That will get this guy to sit still and smile (for about 10 seconds!)

Bear was the big suprise at Trick or Treating this year. Once he got the idea that he could walk up to people's doors and they would open them and give him a piece of candy, he was hooked. He walked around with a piece of candy in each hand. When he got to a new door, the nice person would offer him a candy and he'd try to give him one of his. So it was more like "Trick or Trading". He loved it and was extra, super, burst into flames mad when he had to go home early with Daddy.

The girls and I bravely soldiered on. I was smart and packed extra shoes for Birdy in her size so we could do some serious trick-or-treating. It was so much fun to walk around in the dark and it wasn't cold AT ALL.  The girls took turns playing with the flashlight and running from house to house.  Then we found Hershey Lane. It is a small street in our neighborhood and they go all out. Everyone's house is decorated with lights, blow-up thingies, fog machines and other fun and/or spooky props. People were grilling and handing out hot dogs, kids were running everywhere and all the people were sitting in lawn chairs in front of their houses. It was a lot of fun! 

After Hershey Lane the girls and I trick-or-treated our way home. They got quite a haul (you can see EJ's bag is nearly full!) and they were pooped.  Their very favorite "treat" were the Batgirl and Supergirl comic books that one guy was handing out (no kidding- we got home and they munched candy and looked at them forever!).  It was such a great time- probably my favorite Halloween in a very long time!