All Kinds of Halloween

I feel like I need to hibernate in order to recover from yesterday's Halloween activities and today's baptism activities, it would have been really nice if those two events hadn't been back to back.


Yesterday found me in a frenzy of preparations for Whitney's class' Halloween party. I'm the room mom for her class, along with another woman (a first timer) and ended up really being in charge of everything. I had a hard time finding enough mom's to help (we needed 3 plus us) that weren't already helping in another child's class. We ended up with 5 rotations (4 games and a craft). I had the stuff for the treat, the craft and one of the games so I had to make sure not to forget anything.


It all went well and the hour-long party just flew by, but I had to keep reminding myself throughout the day not to be wishing my obligations away because I knew it would all end up fun and worth it. (I even dressed up as a witch.)


Right after we got home from the school Lori came over and we headed up to Grandma Dot's house for our traditional Halloween visit. She used to make caramel apples for all the great grand kids, but now she gives them a little goodie bag instead. (Ashley wouldn't wear her bunny costume until it was time to go trick-or-treating.)


Andrew ended up wanting to ride with me over to Adam and Amy's house, so Lori took his spot in Robyn's van. I have no idea why he wanted to ride with me, but I was honored. He's not really a chatty one so our conversation involved me teasing him for yawning so much. Austin was in the back seat of the car and said,

Austin: "What's he doing?"
Me: "He's yawning a ton."
Austin: "Why are you so excited about it?"


We all gathered at Adam and Amy's house for beef stew, good bread, salad and chips and queso. It was so good, the perfect Halloween meal.


We finally got everyone fed and the kids' costumes in order so we could go trick or treating. It's kind of crazy to see this group shot every year because it seems like just yesterday that my kids were tiny and some of the other cousins weren't even born yet!


My dad was surprised that all of us wanted to go trick or treating...what the? He stayed at the house with Andrew and watched a basketball game. This prompted me to ask him if he ever went trick or treating as a kid...the answer was no! I think he was born as a mini adult.


I was brave/foolish to hand my camera over to Adam for this family photo. He squatted down (not a good angle, hello...girl with many chins here) and snapped several, I lucked out that Whitney's head covers my chins.

{Photo by Amy}

We hiked around the neighborhood (it's very hilly) and couldn't believe how warm it was. Coats really weren't necessary, even when it started raining. The kids were all amusing in their own way, especially Ashley since she's the youngest. She took several spills, was carried for awhile, then ended up in the van which Jared had gone back for and ended up being our escort with. At one point Ashley said, "I've got some little bit of candy" which basically translates into her being so cute it hurts.


The post trick or treating activity was chaotic but fun. There was candy inspecting, sorting, eating, trading and counting going on...ah childhood. Good times.

**Do you have Halloween traditions?
Did you have good weather?
Can you believe how fast the years go by?**