Halloween

Halloween was such a fun time this year!  I was a little concerned that we wouldn't be plugged in anywhere by the time Halloween rolled around and wouldn't have an activities to do.  As it turned out, we ended up with far more to do that we have in many of the past years!

Caleb's Boy Scout pack used to meet at a local Church of Christ church just minutes from our house.  They were advertising their fall festival and it was a full week and a half prior to Halloween, so we decided to make a trip up the street and let the kids run around and play games.  Unfortunately, I did not take a single photo at that event, but rest assured, they had so much fun!  

The very next Saturday, our church had their Trunk or Treat and we had to go!  Jes decided to sit this one out, so the kids and I headed out to the fun.

Somewhere along the way, the kids decided that Mama needed a costume.  These cat ears were about as far as I could/would take it.  I wore these things all night and was afraid that I would look silly.  Turns out, there were so many adults who were dressed up.  Maybe next year I'll go all the way and get an honest to goodness costume!

If you live in the south, it seems that the Chick-fil-A cow will appear at your event.  Of course we needed a photo op with the cow!

My little cheerleader!  When we initially went shopping for Halloween costumes, Caleb convinced her to be the pink Power Ranger.  About 3 weeks before the date, Piper came to me in a panic and said that she just couldn't be the pink Power Ranger and really wanted to go back to her original idea of a cheerleader.  Amazon to the rescue and we found a cute costume! 

Caleb decided he wanted to be Robo Knight, some sort of Power Ranger.  He assured me that he was a good guy and that he wasn't going to whack anyone with the sword that he haaaaaaaad to have with his costume, so we went with it.  

On a side note, one of these days I'm going to learn to not allow them to have accessories.  By the time we were half way through this event, I realized that I not only had the 2 bags we were handed as we walked in, but also the kids' 2 pumpkins, a Robo Knight sword and 2 pom poms in my hands.  sigh.

We had a great time playing games and there were some pretty fun ones!  The kids have always loved this duck game, for whatever reason, but I think Caleb's favorite is now the Duck Dynasty duck hunt game he got to play that night!  

We were having so much fun, even if it was 80 degrees and 85% humidity.  We do live in Houston, after all!

In my photo folder, I have a series of pictures of this game, mainly because I was so fascinated by how easy it was and so I could tell my mom and dad how to reproduce it for their church's event!  Basically, this was a bunch of boards cut, arranged and nailed together to resemble Noah's Ark.  They had drilled out holes and put wooden pegs into this holes.  As a child approached, they would hand the child a rubber mallet and tell them that they needed help building the ark and to hammer in as many "nails" as they could.  There was someone on the other side of the structure hammering the pegs back out, and on and on.  This wasn't a traditional Trunk or Treat game as it wasn't out of the back of someone's car, but it was the most crowded game the whole night!  Everyone loved it!

Before we left, Caleb and Piper participated in the cake walk.  I don't have a photo of Piper because she won on her first time around.  Caleb went around for quite some time and never won, but it didn't matter because it was so fun and he got the cupcake that Piper won since she couldn't eat it.  

Before we headed out, I let the kids grab a snowcone.  There was no way that I was going to allow a purple and a green snowcone in my car, so we took a break and they ate their treats.

While we were walking to the car, I saw these hay bales that were out and thought it would make a cute photo op.  Of course, the kids complied and posed for me.  They just look so grown up here...

Every year, since Caleb was a baby, we have gone to this pumpkin patch just north of McKinney to get photos and to get the kids' pumpkins.  This year, we planned to go while we were up there for a doctor's appointment for the kids.  However, the day we were going to go, it turned off cold and rained which meant we couldn't go.  In  panic, I called Jes and asked him to stop at the grocery store and buy pumpkins for the kids to decorate with the kits we got way back in the summer.  

Caleb chose Darth Vader.  No surprise there...

Piper chose Mrs. Potato Head.  So cute!

Halloween morning, we got up and it was pouring.  I was just about resigned to the fact that we wouldn't be trick or treating, but about 2 hours before it started getting dark it stopped and the streets dried up enough that we wouldn't be dodging too many puddles.  So, the kids got into their costumes one more time and off we went!

Here is their haul from that one night of Trick or Treating.  Apparently, our neighborhood is the one to go to when you want to rake in the candy.  We only went down one horseshoe street and then our cul de sac and this was all that they got!  I went through and divided up candy that was gluten free and was not and made sure Piper knew what she could and couldn't have.  I researched heavily what was safe for her and took the guess work out for her!  

All in all, it was a fun time and we can't wait for next year!