Don't be scared...

Just a closer look at the costume selections for Halloween.

I think the green crocs really add to the lion costume.

I Want Candy

Trunk or Treating at the church with friends. Jeremy's Swedish Chef costume was my favorite for the year.

Carve it up

 Carving pumpkins and our sweet little pumpkin. 

 His smiles are better than pumpkin pie!

All Hallows Eve

Madison was the big hit this year with her Mad Hatter costume . It's a good thing too because it took her a long time to gather up the stuff and make the hat. The rest of us just bought stuff and wore it. But we wore it well! However, our attempts to make James have a mowhawk to accompany his rockin' attire fell flat. Someone told me later that using egg whites will help a mowhawk stay up. Who knew?

What are YOU?

Jeremy said my outfit was tacky, but the people who figured out that I was a "Coal Miner from Chile" had a good laugh about it (Jerm's just jealous because he wore nothing to the Fall Festival- well I mean no costume!). Madison is still trying to figure out what the heck she's dressed up as. She helped be a part of the Haunted Classroom and this is the outfit they gave her to wear. She couldn't wait to get out of it by the end of the night because it was stiffling.

Rock Star by day, Mama's boy at night

Here's the tatoo that couldn't be seen under Jamesy's rock star exterior! This costume didn't make quite as big of a hit as the Yoda one he wore the year before, but I still liked it. I considered myself to be one of his groupies since I ended up carrying his guitar all night at the Fall Festival so it's only fitting that he has my name tatooed on his arm!

Star Wars Fanatics

Just a few more picture of us dressed up in our themed Halloween costumes. Okay- I know there was no witch in Star Wars, but Madison woulc not consent to dressing up like anything from Star Wars. And I made plenty of great suggestions... a wookie, C3PO, Amidala, Leia, Clone Trooper. Nope. Well, I tried. And I sewed. So here are more pictures.

Spooky Jacks

The Jack with fangs was carved by Madison. Grant carved the bat with some help from his Dad. And Carter's Jack is pictured here without his barf.

Carving Time!

We carve some pumpkins every year (messy traditions are fun for all). This year Carter wanted to save some of the glop and make his jack-o-lantern a barfing pumpkin. I wanted to roast some pumpkin seeds and burnt them instead. Jamesy wanted to eat the pumpkin slime and may have actually succeeded in eating a couple of seeds . The things we want and the things that are good for us don't always align.

The kids weren't afraid to dig right in to the gloopy glop of the pumpkins guts. I hardly had to help hollow out the pumpkins at all this year. Each year they get better and better at being independent human beings.

Fall Festival

When I was in elementary school we got to wear our Halloween costumes to school and have a party/parade for the last hour of the day. My kids aren't allowed to go to school in their costumes. Instead they can dress up and go to a "Fall Festival" for an evening at their school. None of my kids wanted to go through the haunted hall, but they all enjoyed some sugar and games. Yoda was a big hit. Everyone wanted to talk to him and bask in the light of his saber.

October Fun