Halloween Fun!

What a fun holiday! We had an entire week of Halloween fun.

Our Celebration kicked off with our 2nd annual W Family Halloween Party. This party exists as an act of bribery by Mom and Dad to get us out of the elementary school pumpkin walk. The pumpkin walk really is fun, but it's the night before rush to decorate the pumpkins in the class theme that wears me out. (The funny thing is that when Ryenne was in kindergarten I was a room mother, and was in charge of creating a display and setting out all of the class pumpkins for the walk. I felt so sad for the kids whose parents didn't help them participate. It all seemed so fun and important. In only 3 short years, see what I've deteriorated to?)

Anyway, we had a great time at our little party. We played "pin the nose on the pumpkin", which always brings a few good laughs. This was followed by the donut on the string game, after which we decorated a haunted gingerbread house. (It didn't look anything like the finished one on the box, of course, but the girls and Courtney had a great time.) Dad was in charge of applying the frosting, which he pretty much threw on and then let the girls stick candy everywhere. Afterward, the girls teeth were blue from eating the candy that came in the kit.

I love this picture!

The next day, Emmy and I decorated her pumpkin while the girls were at school. After we finished carving, she took markers and made her pumpkin into Pocahontas.

We had a great time at the Elder's Quorum Halloween Bash. It was actually nice to have it the week before Halloween, because it forced me to have the girls costumes prepared a little ahead of time!

On Halloween day, the girls were excited to wear their costumes to school. I arrived just in time to see the traditional costume parade, which is always a good time! It's fun to see all the kids and the creative costume ideas.

Ryenne chose to be Ashoka from Star Wars Clone Wars. This costume took a little ingenuity, the internet, and help from a talented seamstress in our ward to create. She was excited with the result, but got tired of everyone asking who she was. Apparently a lot of people are about as familiar as I was with Clone Wars. Although I've only seen pictures out of a book, I have to say she looked very close to the real thing. She won the funniest costume award in her class.
Each year at the costume parade, these two very tall men creatures show up for a peek. They are almost as tall as the school and a little bit freaky!
Kate was the cutest scarecrow on the block, of course!
Emmy the cheerleader was, as usual, filled to the brim with enthusiasm!

We started our trick-or-treat run at Grandma & Grandpa C's. Bop had just arrived from a Harley ride when we got there. The girls were quite taken back by his skeleton mask. When he asked Emmy if she was scared she answered him by laughing.

The girls were so excited to have cousin Kalli join us for trick-or-treating. Especially when she showed them around the coolest treats in her town. We were amazed at the reports of Caramel apples, amazing spider cookies, haunted houses, and homemade donuts! R town is definitely a trick-or-treating paradise! It made the bucket of laffy taffys I left outside my door look pretty lame.

From Riverside, we traveled to north to visit Grandma & Grandpa J. Claire the bumblebee (who was obviously very impressed with her costume) was excited to see Bridger the chunky monkey.

The girls had a great time, and the weather was perfect! After an adventurous night, we brought the girls home, watched a movie, and had a "Kalli sleepover" in the family room. What more can a girl ask for?

Did the fun end on Halloween night? Oh no! We stretched the party into Sunday, when all of the C cousins gathered together for a little costume parade of thier own. It was a pretty fun sight!

We were so excited to see our newest little cousin! Jonnie, Shanna, & Whitney brought their new little addition (he doesn't have a name yet!). He is such a cute little guy! He arrived just in time for Halloween, weighing in at a whopping 9 lb, 2 ounces!All of the excitement just wiped little Claire out!

All in all, it was another successful Halloween. The girls made a haul, which I am trying to buy from them. I even offered $1.oo for every 7 pieces of candy. They weren't very impressed by my offer, and couldn't believe I was just going to throw the candy away. Needless to say, we still have way too much candy around here. Oh well, it will probably be gone soon. . .just in time for Christmas candy.