Halloween Fun

Okay, let's talk Halloween now that it's Christmas time, shall we?  It was so much fun this year.  I think my kiddos are at perfect ages for Halloween right now.  A) They love everything about it.  B) No one is really into the bloody, gory stuff yet.  C) They are all stinkin' cute in their costumes.  D) They share all their candy with me (whether they voluntarily do it or not really doesn't matter).  Here are a few of the fun things we did this year.

 

The kids' elementary school did their annual Fall Festival.  We didn't take very many pictures, but I did manage to get this shot of Cohen while we were waiting in line for the "Spook Alley" which I guess was technically more of a "Spook Hallway."  Cohen was really cute.  As we were standing in line, he said to me, "Mom, don't be scared in here.  Everything is fake.  But, you can hold my hand and I'll protect you."  He then proceeded to jump 3 feet off the ground anytime something jumped out at us.  I love having a Ninja Turtle to look after me...

 

They also had a cake walk, a costume contest and a bunch of other fun things to do.  I just didn't take pictures of any of it.  Too busy having fun, I suppose.

The night before Halloween, we carved pumpkins...

 

We haven't ever carved pumpkins much in this family.  I'm actually allergic to the inside of pumpkins.  Weird, I know.  If I touch the inside of a pumpkin, I break out on hives everywhere.  I can *eat* pumpkin just fine (thankfully--I'd probably die if I couldn't eat pumpkin cookies or pumpkin pie), but my skin does not like it for whatever reason.  But, I decided this year, we were going to carve pumpkins.  My allergy allowed me to do the "supervising" while Mike & the older boys did the manual labor--which also included cleaning up.  Hey, I didn't want to take any chances!  Hehe!!  All the boys designed their own pumpkins, and Connor & Aiden did all the carving on theirs as well!  Here's the final products!  From left to right, we have Connor's zombie pumpkin (complete with an eye falling out of its socket), Aiden's mean pumpkin, Cohen's silly pumpkin, and Vivvie's cute pumpkin.  I thought they turned out great!!

The next day was Halloween!  Everyone got dressed up for school, which meant Viv thought she needed to be dressed up all day as well.  Here she is dressed as a lovely princess (who won't look at the camera).  She actually had a cute little tiara to wear as well, but she broke it that morning.  Oh well...

That picture was taken at the boys' school while we were waiting for the Halloween Parade to start.  Connor & Aiden decided to go with a group costume this year.  They were Mario...

And Luigi.  And, yes, that was the best picture I could get of both of them as they walked past...

And, of course, we can't forget Leonardo & Princess Picking Her Nose...

That night, we got ready to welcome Trick or Treaters.  Mike turned fun Halloween music on our outdoor speakers & we lit our pumpkins.  They looked so cute...

Here's all four...I mean five...of my trick-or-treaters.  Mike actually decided to do a make-shift Darth Vader costume using the helmet & light saber that Nana & Poppy gave Connor for his birthday...

Trick-or-treating this year was a little different than other years.  Connor & Aiden both went trick-or-treating with friends instead of with our family.  That was a first for us--one that hurt my heart a little, I'll be honest.  They are growing up...much to my dismay!  Mike took Cohen & Viv for awhile until they were both cold & tired, then he brought them back & had fun hiding on the porch & scaring teenagers when they came to the door.  He turned off all the outdoor lights & then hid in the dark until the kids got close to the front door.  Then he turned on his light saber & went at them.  It was kind of humorous.

So that was Halloween 2013!  We loved it, and got a lot of great candy out of the deal as well!  Happy Halloween, about a month late!  --Lindsay