The roundup of Halloween week

 We kicked off the week before Halloween with a fun party for Aubrey and 5 of her friends, who attend a total of three different high schools. What great girls they are! I was so impressed with the kind way they visited with each other. After eating dinner and talking they watched "My Best Friend's Wedding." We hope to have more fun friend parties soon!

 The next day the girls received their pre-order of Taylor Swift's new album on itunes. You should have heard the shrieks and giggles emanating from our den.

Monday night . . . family home evening was about the Armor of God (Dan taught the same lesson he would give to the freshman-age seminary kids the next day).  Joseph very happily volunteered to dress up in complete head to toe armor, including Iron Man helmet, random tough guy breastplate, Batman belt (to "gird" up his lions"), Captain America shield, Spiderman socks, Pirate sword.  It was pure awesomeness in every way, and I even learned some things about the symbolism of the armor talked about in the scriptures.

 Tuesday. . . . after cello lessons and basketball practice we raced over to the church for the ward Halloween party. Joseph decided at the last minute not to wear the Ninjago costume we purchased this year. Instead he wore a ninja costume from a year or two ago. The length of the costume really shows how tall he is getting! These are three of his good buddies.

 The party was a hit in every way. So much better than lame truck-or-treating.  Dan was asked to deejay music and songs for Just Dance. He dressed the part, as deejay Dan the crazy Seahawks Fan. Or something like that.  Bailey dressed as Taylor Swift.  I dressed as . . . a chauffeur. Luckily, I didn't have to change my outfit because chauffeuring is my almost full-time Mom job. In fact, I had to leave the party early to get Aubrey picked up from her theater class.

 Dan in his deejay duties.  The entire ward had such a good time dancing along to Just Dance songs!

 We held our annual Mom's Disgusting Halloween Dinner two days before Halloween.  We had lots of gross sounding but normal tasting food on the menu.

 Bailey pointed out that this was her last Halloween at home. From now on she will be at college and living her life elsewhere.  That makes me sad. I hate how there is a hole left in our family when each of the kids grow up, even though we are so happy for them and proud of them.

 Joseph choosing his menu items.

Only Joseph wanted to do pumpkin carving this year, and he attacked it very studiously.

First he drew a picture of his plan and transferred it to his pumpkin with a sharpie.

Then he very meticulously carved it just the way he wanted it.

When we were done I taught him how to light a match and we looked at the eerie glow the candle made.

Halloween Night

I'm not going to lie. By the time Halloween hit we were pretty darn exhausted in this house. The week before the holiday was full of events, adding to our schedule already filled with sports and theater practices, college applications, and high school homework. The emotions at our house were all over the place and we had some major costume drama. Luckily, one of my good friends saved the day with the perfect costume at 10:30 p.m. the night before Halloween.

And the costume that Bailey was really excited about turned out to be pretty poorly made and needed major alteration, and she lost her nerve and decided not to wear it for her party.

But Halloween day was really fun and festive.

The cleaning the house part wasn't so fun, and neither was my mad dash to stores to get food for the evening.  But then I was able to help at Joseph's school. What could be more fun than an elementary school "Harvest Party" (they aren't allowed to specifically call it a Halloween party).  I was in charge of planning a game for the party so I did what all seasoned moms do . . . I picked the easiest activity I could think of, one with little preparation required.

The kids dressed each other like mummies using toilet paper.  It was actually an interesting sociological experiment, as I observed the girls meticulously wrap toilet paper around the "mummy," with very neat and proper mummy-looking results.

And the boys (including Joseph, here on the right), chose to haphazardly throw toilet paper all over the place. Because their "mummy's" wraps wouldn't stay on, they chose to lay down like they were dead for the picture.

By the time evening came had lots of friends visiting and our house was literally rocking with kids from age 9 to teenager eating, laughing, running up and down the stairs.







Dan handed out candy nonstop and supervised the parties while I took Joseph and two buddies trick or treating.  Joseph is crouching down in true ninja form in this picture, and in coming years he is going to wonder why he looks so short!

I love trick or treating, and when the boys wanted to quit after half an hour I told them they were absolutely NOT done yet. I might have even (lovingly) told them they were being wimpy.  Don't kids these days understand the value of candy? I lived for trick-or-treating when I was a kid and then hoarded my candy for many months!  Despite their whining, we did continue on for another half an hour, until their pumpkin baskets were sufficiently full enough to meet my approval.

Then we came back home and the boys traded candy, which we all know is the very best part of Halloween.

Except that I have realized something interesting about Halloween, at least in our neighborhood. Because we get SO MANY trick-or-treaters and hand out so much candy, everyone in our neighborhood buys the same huge bags of chocolate candy at Costco. Which  means that the kids get the exact same 5 types of candy. That's kind of a bummer!

Our friends the Kartchners talked to us in the living room for a long time while the kids handled handing-out-candy-duties.  While we talked I shoved one Snickers bar after another into my mouth.  That very likely explains my serious stomach ache the next two days.

Happy Halloween!

Welcome, November!