Happy Halloween!!!

This year the kids got to dress up for Halloween three times.  The first time was for Trunk o' Treat at church.  They had a chili dinner and decorated the church for the parade and games.  Then, after it got dark, the kids were able to go from spooky car to spooky car to get candy.  The kids loved it.

We had little Charlie Brown and Einstein.  (By the time we ate dinner, Jason had rubbed off his mustache!)

Then the kids got to dress up for school.  Ethan was Percy Jackson.

Alaina was the girl in 'A case of the Stripes.'

Ethan was a stick man.

On Halloween night we had the kids invite a couple of friends over for some spooky food before we went out trick o' treating.  

We had a bone cheese-ball.  Eye ball meat-ball sliders.  Ghost banana pops  (those were NOT my favorite.)  Mummy hot-dogs.  Eye-ball punch.

Fruit salad.  Candy carmel popcorn balls.  Sugar cookie witch fingers.  Grape centipedes.  Witch brooms (peanut butter cups and pretzels.  

Oh and don't forget the skull jello and worms.  :) 

After everyone ate up, we all went out around the neighborhood.  Jason loved it.

With Halloween fast approaching, we brought out the sugar and butter and started cooking.  The first thing I made was carmel apples.   Coated first with carmel and then with white chocolate...you really couldn't go wrong.  (I think I almost lost a tooth trying to eat one, however.)

Then we all made some sugar cookies.  The kids cut them out and then decorated them.  

Jason's were slightly better looking before he accidentally laid on top of them.

Here is a little cookie with his frosting.

The kids did a fairly good job decorating their cookies...

But I rocked it.   That's right, baby.  When it comes to frosting cookies...I kicked their trash! HA!

Here are more pictures of our fun night.

Mama's little helper.

Emmett got into the Halloween spirit with this little face.  He looks like he is gleefully hatching some plan or another.

While stocking up on candy, Jason found this little guy at the store.  He was amazed at it and kept hugging him.  That is true candy-love.

October wasn't all fun and games.  Just mostly.  Alaina did a really big project for one of her classes, where she had to trace her body and draw a couple of the characters from her book.  

The twins also went on their first three-day school trip to Pali Adventure Park.  It was hard to watch them leave, but they loved every second of it.

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This is our third October in Nevada and I have to admit, I've given up on the idea of finding a great pumpkin farm here.  Last year we drove an hour to the only pumpkin farm to be found and it was dirty, dusty, hot and crowded.  It was a long walk to find the actual pumpkins and even they looked depressed being there.  Pumpkin farm and Las Vegas just don't go together.  Happily, the pathetic, fake farm that was set up in the Wal-Mart parking lot the first year we were here, moved a minute away from our house (down from the two minutes to Wal-Mart) to an empty lot.  Put in a truck load of California pumpkins an a few more of hay and voila! you have a make-shift pumpkin farm.  A little sad...yes.  Will it do?  Why not.  The kids seemed to like it and we were able to do the whole trip in under an hour, so I guess it has its perks.  We took off one fine evening and browsed through their selection.  The kids knew that we felt bad that we weren't in Virgina at real farm, so they talked us into getting as big as a pumpkin as they could carry.  I admit it.  We're suckers.

Jace and his baby pumpkin.  Now.  That's cute.

Overachiever.  :)

Maybe they won't remember the roar of the freeway right next to them.  Instead, they'll have spice-cider memories with giant orange pumpkins dancing in their heads.