Halloween!!!

I love Halloween!! Heck, I love all holidays, but Halloween is just about fun and I love fun. I think I also love it because it kind of is the kick-off to the holidays and the next few months are my favorite. We had an extra special Halloween this year with Skylar's baptism. The whole week was special and there was a lot of excitement in our home as we prepared for it.
Ever since Skylar was one (and a few scattered years before), we have had a family theme. It is one of our favorite traditions. The kids really get excited about it and plan it out a whole year in advance. Yes, we already know what we're going to be next year but I'm not going to ruin the surprise just yet. Actually, the whole theme thing makes it great because I can start looking for costumes around January, when they are ultra cheap. I'm usually completely done with the whole costume thing by August, which makes it so easy. Anyway, everyone gets a turn to pick the theme and this year was Nick's turn. He chose Toy Story 2. I have to admit that this is one of my favorites so far. It was right up there with the Incredibles a few years back. Our family just fit the theme perfect and I love when that happens.Ben & I were Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head, Skylar was Jessi, Nick was Buzz, Kade was Woody, and Alexis was Little Bo Peep.















The kids costumes were awesome and thanks to some sweet friends, the accessories really completed them! They loved acting out their roles and posing for us!
The celebrations began with the annual Joy School Halloween party. Kade was so, so, so looking forward to this. He asked me every day for a week when it was. We always have a little parade of the kids and it's just so cute to see what they come dressed as. This year we had a beautiful bride, a Mrs. Potato Head, Woody, a unicorn, an alligator, and a Clone Trooper (who wasn't too into the picture thing). They all looked adorable! Kade came home from the party and was pleased to tell us all they did and the only disappointment was that he didn't have cake. I guess that was something he totally anticipated. He did say that he had some yummy cookies so it was all good.

The next day we went to the library, as we always do, but this week is always the best. They had a costume parade, but Kade was not about to participate and when Kade doesn't want to do something, that's that. It was still fun to see all of the other kids.


Of course we had to squeeze in some pumpkin carving. Somehow we got on this thing of finding some really cool, intricate pattern for carving pumpkins. The kids all get to pick out their own which is fun, but it takes forever! This year Nick picked Scooby Doo, Kade picked Mario, and Skylar picked a puppy. They looked cool but we are hoping to "forget" about the patterns next year!


On Friday was the school parade. I love going to that and getting the chance to sit with friends and watch all of the kids in our neighborhood strut their stuff. They come up with some really cool things.

Then it came to the big day! After Skylar's baptism and some major vegging to recover, we headed over to our ward's Halloween trick-or-trunk. I am not such a huge fan of this. It kind of takes all the hard work out of earning your candy, right? Plus I love going to people's houses to see how they are decorated and all and getting the chance to chat with them a minute. But, on the other hand, I love to go see the people in our ward together because we definitely have an awesome ward. The kids had a fun time gathering the loot quickly and we got to see some awesome costumes. Even our bishop was dressed up as Don King. My favorite costume of the night was little Malia's. Even though she was feeling sick, she dressed up as her daddy, in his football uniform. I love that sweet girl and was so glad she could remember him.

After the trick-or-trunk we hit the neighborhood next to us for the real trick-or-treating. Nick loves this because all the buddies he went to preschool with live there and we were able to see them all. The kids had fun and Alexis was a good sport watching from the stroller. After awhile Kade gave up and just sat in the stroller. We discovered why a little later when we found a pile of candy wrappers from all the candy he had been sneaking. The crazy kid probably went through a third of his candy that night alone! Oh well, at least it won't last forever, huh? We eventually made it home, got the kids in bed, and prepared for one of my favorite parts of Halloween, snuggling with my Benny, and watching some sort of scary movie. Ben went upstairs to get a snack and by the time he came back, I was out cold on the couch and there was no waking me so he ended up watching the movie himself. I was just so exhausted! Oh well, it was a good exhausted because we had a super fun, wonderful, amazing day!!