Halloween

Happy Halloween!  Halloween keeps changing every year for us and the numbers keep get smaller and smaller as the kids head out with friends to Trick-or-Treat instead of going with us. The outfits too are getting more and more different for the older ones. But it is always a fun time for all.

This year Emily decided to be Anna from Frozen and also used the costume for her Sadie's dance the next day.  She and her friend, Spencer, went as Anna and Kristoff. Colby found this light up face mask online and decided to buy it for his costume.  The mask lit up with different face emojis and designs.  Logan came up with his own superhero dude as a costume.  This superhero is one he designed and made up with Annalynn and James while hiking in Glacier. Charlotte originally wanted to be Jessie from Toy Story but finally decided to be a cute cowgirl in general. Brooklyn had a great idea to be a chicken for Halloween.  Don't ask me where she came up with that but I sewed up a chicken costume for her to wear and it turned out great.  And Russell and I were Mexico tourists with our ponchos and sombrero.

Brooklyn's chicken costume was actually quite easy to make even though I made up the pattern as I went along. Don't ask me to recreate it because I don't know if I can.  I basically made a simple hooded poncho out of fleece and then added the red comb, yellow beak, and button eyes.  The feathers are a feather boa just hot glued on the arms to make it look like wings.  The finishing touch was the yellow dish-washing gloves for feet.  She just wore the gloves for feet for the picture because they were quite tight and not really practical for walking around outside.  Brooklyn loved it!

Our little cowgirl/farmer and her chicken had a great time dressing up and attending all of the Trunk-or-Treat events in town.

The first Trunk or Treat we attended was the Griffin's Auto.  The Youth Council helped out with this so after helping them get all set up, I took the girls around to all of the trunks/booths.

They loved collecting candy and prizes from all of the booths.  Everyone commented on the cute chicken.  The chicken costume was molting a little bit though so we could follow the trail of feathers to find Brooklyn. 

A few days later, we had our annual Ward Chili Cook Off party.  Each year a winner is crowned for the best chili, corn bread, and dessert.  I always bring something for each category, just so Colby knows there will be something he can eat, but I never win anything.

Well this year was a little different!  This year I won First Place for my corn bread!  I was so surprised because, like I said before, I never win anything.  The usual winners must not have entered anything because this was not even my best corn bread.  In fact, I wasn't even going to bring it because it didn't turn out as good as other times.  But here I am with the trophy!  Miracles do happen.  Ha Ha!

Carving pumpkins was pretty fun this year.  Each kid picked out their own pumpkin and designed their own face to carve.  They all turned out awesome. 

I remember when we spent the whole night carving everyone's pumpkins and now everyone but Brooklyn carves their own pumpkin. They all have their own personality and ideas. 

We were glad Becca came over to help us and be part of this fall tradition for our family.

While the other kids were in school, Brooklyn and I went to the Hyrum Museum and participated in the Trick-or-Treat around the Museum.

Once again we gathered many molting feathers from the chicken costume but she was the favorite of the crowd.  Brooklyn was able to learn about a printing press and press her own Halloween card using the press.  She also made this funny witch mask that she wore all day so then she was a chicken witch.

Logan had a Halloween band concert which was his first ever band concert.  

Unfortunately, he did not play with the band but he did perform a number with all of the percussion kids.  They did a great job and have been learning a lot in percussion class.

Brooklyn had Let's Play Music class on the day before Halloween so all of the kids in her class got to dress up for class.

The kids were so cute in their costumes and everyone loved the chicken.

At school, Russell and I helped with Charlotte's class Halloween party.  We played musical chairs and "Don't Eat Frank!"  All of the kids loved it and were really good sports during both games.  Afterward, all of the parents met outside to watch the Halloween parade.

The Halloween parade and Thriller dance are a yearly tradition for the school and all of the kids love it. It was a fun day for us all. 

Finally, Halloween night came and the three oldest took off with their friends while the two youngest stayed with us to go Trick-or Treat.  Emily and her friends headed to Wellsville to hit up those neighborhoods while Colby and Logan and their friends ran through our neighborhood.

While we were out we also gained some more friends of Charlotte's so they went around with us. The night was actually pretty warm so we were able to stay out longer than usual and get to more houses.  Brooklyn ran the whole way knocking on every door she could.  Charlotte wanted to keep going too but her cowboy boots were not the best choice for walking long distances.  At the end of the night, all the kids had a great time with their friends. 

Like always, they came out on top with a whole lot of candy.  There was way too much to eat so we saved most of it for our gingerbread houses in December.  Happy Halloween!