Halloween Festivities

The first time we had two kids dress up for Halloween, I thought it would be fun to do coordinating costumes for them--And it kind of turned into a tradition. So now every year we do a family theme. If I have time, even Arthur and I dress up. (I love dressing up--I'll take any excuse I get.) I thought it would be fun to show the different themes we've had so far.

2004 from "Robin Hood"

Robin Hood & Maid Marion

2005 from "Peter Pan"

Captain Hook & Tinker Belle

(Sean was born just two months before and my awesome mother made their costumes when she came out to help me.)

2006 from "The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe"

Sir Peter Wolfsbane, Queen Lucy, and Aslan

I had great plans to be the ice queen, and make Arthur a wardrobe costume, but I ran out of time. Plus, Daphne's costume turned out to be pretty pricey!

2008 from "Harry Potter"

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger

And Professors Snape and Trelawney

(yay! we finally got to dress up!)

2008--recycled our Harry Potter costumes, and added Hedwig

And . . . Drumroll, please . . .

The 2009 theme was

STAR WARS

Princess Leia, Obi-Wan-Kenobi, Yoda, and R2D2

and . . .

Padme Amidala, and Anakin Skywalker a.k.a. Darth Vader

Obi-Wan's costume:

Tunic and boots from Good Will,

Jedi Cloak, borrowed,

and the rest we had on hand

Leia costume:

White robe-borrowed

boots from Good Will

and yarn for buns, from Walmart

R2D2

This costume I actually made

It's a big piece of white felt and a beanie that I sewed colored felt pieces to make all his gadgets.

Sean loved his costume and wore it all over the place.

Yoda

I love this costume!

totally borrowed--no effort whatever

From our ward Halloween Party:

(great job, Amber--it was awesome!)

The kids enjoyed frosting sugar cookies

and face painting

Arthur (who is on the activities committee)

did a bang-up job of cooking the hotdogs!

Sean won "the most technologically advanced" costume award.

Hayden souped up on sugar!

And, what do you know?

Our family won "Best Family Costume!"

Here we are with our major award

Halloween Night

We had some tasty treats for dinner:

pumpkin cheese ball

"Mummy fingers"

don't know why this picture didn't rotate, but you get the gist.

Apple "bites" with carmel

And Witch's Brew

trick-or-treating

We went with a group of kids who, purely by coincidence, were ALL Star Wars characters, and none of them were repeats!

Sean & Hayden devouring their spoils

Every year, we go to visit our next door neighbor from our prior neighborhood. Her name is Barbara, and she is the sweetest lady ever. She brings the kids treats for Easter, and gets them a special treat for Halloween and really looks forward to them coming to visit her every year. I try to visit more than just at Halloween, but she especially loves to see them in their costumes.

We love sweet Barbara!

Snow on our Parade!

Today was the Halloween Costume Parade at Hubert Humphrey. But it was snowing this morning as we were getting the kids ready for school, and though it had let up by 9:30, it was still pretty cold, so most people watched the parade in the halls instead of outside.

Dallin is Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Daphne is Princess Leia. I didn't make any costumes this year--we pieced them together from Good Will purchases and borrowed items from friends. I can claim creative genius for Daphne's hair: I made her two side-buns bigger with brown yarn. Surprisingly, they stayed in the whole day!

We were all bundled up for cold weather, so we got pretty hot after awhile of waiting for the kids to come by our little spot in the hall. The boys were pretty patient, though. At one point, a kid in a pirate costume walked by and Sean yelled, "Look a pirate! ARRRRG!"

Finally we saw them, and they were gone so fast, I almost didn't get their pictures!

When they got home, they both told me all about their fun class parties and had bags of goodies in their backpacks.

Here's a shot of the temple with the snow-dusted Sandia Mountains in the background-- I took this late in the afternoon and the snow hadn't melted off yet!

Waiting . . .

Oh what do you do in the waiting room,

Just waiting to be seen?

Do you open the drawers,

or play with your shoes,

or wash your hands 53 times?

Is that what you do?

So do I.

(And sometimes, if we're really bored, we even dance.)

How do you wait at the Dr.'s office?

Musings of my four

The kids are always saying funny stuff and too often I forget to write them down and sometimes, even mere moments later, I don't remember the cute things they say. So I figured I'd better write some of the most recent ones down before they disappear into the unreachable depths of my brain. Here are a few things they've said lately that made me smile.

Sean: When I am big, I am going to be an astronaut and fly to the moon.

Daphne: When I grow up, I am just going to be a normal mom.

Sean: Hayden, you want some cheese?

Hayden: no!

Sean: you want some yogurt?

Hayden: no!

Sean: you want a banana?

Hayden: no!

Sean: pizza?

Hayden: no!

Sean: how 'bout some chicken & rice?

Hayden: (pause) . . . yeah!

Sean: Mom, Hayden wants some chicken & rice.

(Too bad that's the one thing on that list that I just didn't have on hand.)

Mom: When we get home, we have to wrap a present for the birthday party this afternoon.

Dallin: This afternoon? Well, what about the BYU game?

(True BLUE through and through--I don't know very many 7 year olds who might want to miss a birthday party because it conflicts with a BYU football game--He makes Arthur proud!)

Daphne came into my room one morning very groggy, her hair all tousled from her sleep, and very put out.

Daph: Mom-someone just totally turned on the light in my bedroom.

Mom: yeah, it was me--I did it because it's time to wake up.

Dallin: Mom, I can't wait until I'm a missionary because then I can get away with whatever I want.

(I'm not quite sure how he came to that conclusion. Maybe he thinks that the black name tag gives you unlimited power? I think Uncle Reed needs to set him straight.)

Daphne: "I sooo did not."

Daphne: "We don't need you breaking any more brooms, okay Sean?" This made me laugh because to my knowledge, Sean hasn't broken any brooms yet.

Corn Maze

Monday after school I took the kids to Wagner's Pumpkin Patch in Corrales. Umm, sadly, the only pumpkins left in the small patch were smashed, and broken. (Guess you have to go early in the month to get a pumpkin.) We had a fun time in the corn maze and the tractor-pulled hayride at the end. It was a cute little place, but I thought it was kind of overpriced for what they had there. Still--I got some fun pictures that will be fun to scrapbook someday if I ever have time to scrapbook again . . .

Singin' in the Rain

We had a good rainstorm today, so of course, the "funnest" place to play is outside.