Halloween Highlights

I am just in the midst of de-halloweening our house; I love that feeling but we sure did enjoy ourselves this week.
I did a terrible job at taking pics sadly but I managed to snag a few.  Here are the highlights:


On Friday night we lucked out big time.  Our friends gave us tickets to join them at a private halloween party at the indoor rides at the enormous mall here.  The kids had a complete blast.  Here is a pic that accurately displays what a gong show it really is to get a pic of them all ready to party!

 On saturday AL was invited to her friends costume birthday party.  She could not be convinced to wear one of her fairy or princess costumes.  She was determined she was wearing her "police dog" costume and she decided to convert it into a fairy dog by adding wings and bows.  Did I mention that the costume is probably a size 2T ?!?!
I should have taken a pic!

Every Halloween my sister has a little party at her house.  The kids trick or treat and then we enjoy a table of yummy treats and a few games.  They just recently moved to an acerage which isn't too great for trick or treating so we moved the party to our house. 
In preparation for the party the kids and I made some chocolates on a stick using the halloween molds from AL's party.

 We took the easy route this year and bought the "Mr.Potato Head" style pieces to decorate our pumpkins.  I knew my sister and her kids would bring their jack-o-lanterns so this worked out perfectly (no mess).

 The tape.......oh the tape!  This little turkey decided to stick tape to his head.  As it turned out it was the stickiest tape known to man.  It took over an hour late last night and a lot of tears and a bit of a hair cut to get it off.  It finally dawned on me to try the "blue liquid" that comes in my waxing kit that takes off the sticky residue, it worked like a charm (but man he was sore).

 AL and JA both enjoyed costume parties at school.  (I don't miss teaching school on days like Halloween and Valentines day ;)

My Halloween cuties.  I love that tiger!

 We had a festive dinner right before our party and tried out Mummy dogs, they were a hit!

 I even dressed up this year and broke out of my 12 year witch tradition.  Mary Poppins!

 It was beyond COLD.  We have never had cold weather with kids.  It was snowing "ice pellets" and the wind was strong with a -16 windchill.  We had adorable little snow suit trick or treaters.  AL managed to squeeze her crown over her toque!

 We had 20 people at our little party and it was a blast!  I made hot chocolate in the crock pot (thank you Pinterest), we had a table of yummy desserts and appetizers and tons of fun.  I sadly didn't snap more then one pic of Unlce M and Baby W while everyone else was trick or treating. 

I had a bunch of games planned (donuts on a string, halloween bingo, Twister) and we didn't even do them.  The kids had so much fun watching halloween movies, eating treats and playing.  It was the perfect night (even if they didn't fall asleep until close to midnight............good thing for afternoon school)!
I hope you all had a happy halloween too!

Happy Halloween!

We had just the best Halloween! I seriously love every minute of watching the excitement of the kids picking out costumes, carving pumpkins, getting dressed up and trick or treating.......so fun.
We started the day off with a trip to the dentist. It was AL's first time and she loved it. In her words, "The dentist is so much fun Mom". (I hope she always feels that way). I had the thought this morning to make the dentist extra fun by dressing up in her costume and then giving her a set of vampire teeth to wear when the dentist came in to "trick" him. She loved every minute of it and the dentist was so good at playing along and giving her a great reaction when he saw her "teeth".
We visited Daddy's work across the street and the kids had so much fun touring the decorated office building and loading up on treats. (So sad I forgot my camera)
Our tradition is to head over to my sister's house for a Halloween party and trick or treating with cousins and friends. JA could barely be convinced to put on his costume but seeing the other kids dressed up sure helped. The kids had so much fun trick or treating. I love this age (a block of houses and they are so happy with their pumpkin basket full of candy and ready to call it quits)!
Our little fairy and policeman were too cute. I love how much fun they have with their cousins (and cousin's cousins)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

The Princess and her Dragon had the best time trick or treating! They were adorable to watch knocking on doors (JA even tried to open one door that had a lever handle....I was glad it was locked!)
I hope you had a fantastic Halloween!

Trick or Treat

This year was our very first trick or treating experience as parents and it was just too much fun! We headed over to my sister's house for what has become the traditional Halloween party. All of the cousins were dressed so cute! (I guess they would rather be considered scary than cute!)


JA didn't do any trick or treating but the weather was just so perfect that he came along in the stroller with his little bat cape on.

After a few houses it became apparent that AL was a bit too slow for her older cousins so we headed off on our own. AL was just too darn cute at each house. She could have cared less about the candy, even though she said "trick or treat, candy please" at every door. She was having too much fun visiting each house, barking like a puppy, trying to just walk in each door for a visit and being taken with all the great house decorations. The real highlight for her was the incredible amount of houses with dogs to visit! Most of the houses we went to were older people who loved every minute of our barking trick or treat er. I loved how so many of them would comment that she was just so cute and then proceed to give her more candy (That is what a 2 yr old needs)!

It was hard to convince her to keep going when we ran into this cat; she wanted to stay and play with him (luckily the next house had a cat to pet).

After a super time trick or treating up and down the street we headed back to my sister's house for some amazing Halloween snacks, good visits and time with "Grandma Good Witch"!

Pumpkins, Ghosts & Witches

This past week we have been having tons of fun working on some Halloween projects. The first project was inspired by two fellow bloggers (JL and MG) who posted a link to this site www.ourbestbites.com. I found a few other sites that had similar projects and found some great ideas. My sister and bestest friend LF came over and we went to work. I think they turned out adorable and the kids loved them when they were all lit up in the dark.

My camera is on its last legs so the next pic is a bit funny but it kind of had a spooky look to it. I am going to go buy some fake cob webs and spiders to lay at the base of the jars.

From the first year that we have been married we have decorated sugar cookies at Halloween. This year the cookies had a whole new look to them. AL was in charge of the sprinkles and she had the time of her life (although some cookies were a little crunchy for all the sprinkles on them). It was fun to have her help!


Last night for FHE we carved up a couple of pumpkins. It was fun to see AL's reaction to what was inside the pumpkin; she kept wanting to eat the pieces of pumpkin thinking they were apples. My husband always spends a lot of time on his pumpkin (maybe because it is one of the few times he actually gets to be crafty) and this years turned out pretty cute.



My sister always has a little family Halloween party at her house and the kids go trick or treating there. I am super excited to see the kids all dressed up. The next project to get done for the end of the week are homemade oreo cookies that look like spiders and fruit salsa with Cinnamon chips in Halloween shapes!