Halloween in 3.5 Rounds

Round 1- The School Round of Halloween. (Thursday)

Dane at preschool. He was a little shy at first but once all the kids commented on his cool parrot, all reservation went out the window. No doubt he went wild. He was so funny with the beard of this costume. If there were ever a 5 yr old to have an opinion about fake facial hair, this is that 5 yr old. He didn't want a beard or a mustache, only a goatee. And only in brown. He told me just where to paint that fake goatee too and for the record, I didn't get it right until the night of trick or treating on Halloween. That night it was cool.

Kathryn's teacher doesn't like Halloween and so for the past couple weeks they have been studying bugs. The kids chose a bug to study and their teacher made their costume.

From the way Kat has described the bugs and choices, it didn't seem like a small project. She chose to be a Blue Morpho Butterfly. She knows all about them now, just ask her.

I sent Milo to Nathan's party in my absense due to the dreaded strep sickness. He borrowed my cousin's Seahawk jersey and went as the quarterback that people think he looks like. Nathan thought it was so cool he came in 'costume'. I sent the camera too, with instructions to take enough for blogging material. He came home with 4 photos. 2 blurry and 2 decent. I asked why he didn't take more and he said, 'It was so busy, there was no way I had time to take any pictures.' Ha, it made me laugh. Now he knows what a busy classroom means.

Nathan was more than wild with his dad in class. Milo ended up at the face painting station (is that funny to anyone else?) and Nathan asked for Harry Potter lightening bolt.

Round 2- The Stake Carnival Round of Halloween (Thursday night)

This round was especially insane! I was joking around about Mormons in our little town. Give them an activity on a weeknight and a reason to celebrate and nothing stops their partying. Yes, I realize I'm making fun of myself because we were all over that party too but seriously it was such a packed house. Congrats to the planning committee, the turn out was huge. Milo laughed his way through many football jokes, especially the ones like....'take that jersey off and don't come here until you start playing and we start winning!'

We gave Reed his first Dum Dum sucker. He loved it, soaked his onesie with drool and got his dad sticky in the process. Tears and dirty fingers when we took it away.

Both Reed and Dane won the costume contest in their age groups. I'm sure it was an accident to choose 2 from one family but in our defense they didn't even know whose kids were whose. Ours were just cute, ha!

Round 3- The Neighborhood Round of Halloween (Friday)

Kat the witch, Nate the Seahawks football player, Dane the pirate and Reed the spider. All on Granmimi's front porch. Perfect. Nathan has wanted to be a football player for 3 years. And every year we search and still don't find a costume. We found this one at Target and it was more money than I have ever spent (or planned on spending) on a costume. He begged and begged and both Milo and I just couldn't say no. We made a chart and he had to earn half of the money for the costume. Which he did. He asked for jobs everyday after school and a couple times after getting in trouble had to re-earn money back. I feel like we made a dream come true that night. Over something so small I know he'll remember it. It was well worth it.

10 of 11 grandkids on Milo's side of the family. We missed you Ladybug Emma. I love that they kids were able to trick or treat with their cousins. Even if it was a bit insane. Building memories takes patience....

The three baby boys. They're all crawling now and nothing is safe on the ground level. I dread the day they all walk.

Reed and I stayed back at the house while the cousins went trick or treating. This bowl of candy was his favorite 'toy'. He's starting to move fast up on all fours and he would dart for this bowl if it was left on the ground. He was so cute just dumping it over and over. I'm not going to lie, a couple ended up in his mouth and back in the bowl. Oops!

In between Rounds 2 & 3......The Witch Party.

Marion has been planning a witch party for months. Months! I can't even remember the last time I have dressed up. At least 10 years. At least. I've mentioned it once or twice (or more) but Halloween is just not my holiday. I'm a buzz kill when it comes to getting giddy in October. But this year, Marion had a way of pulling me out of my shell. Her helping find a cute hat and tights and wig for me definitely had something to do with it. We had a really good time at lunch and everyone was all full of 'witchy support'. Thanks for taking your idea and running (sprinting) with it.

I did have to give my wig a haircut. The uneven, nasty ends were too much. And when the haircut didn't end the ugliness, I swooped some bangs and made a side braid. I just had to.