Halloween Time!

We had lots of fun for Halloween this year. We started off the season the week before Halloween by finally going to the pumpkin patch.



Then, the Saturday before we went to our local rec center for their halloween party. The boys got to go "trick-or-treating" around the track and then go through a hay bale maze. Mason took no time figuring out what was going on and quickly raced to the next person handing out candy as we went around the track. Afterwards, we headed to a diner for dinner. I was a little embarrassed as we walked in and found the place to be full of junior high and high school cheerleaders, since I was dressed like this:



Our Halloween festivities continued when we carved our pumpkins the evening before Halloween. Jefferson was big into doing as much as he could, Mason liked getting his hands in the innards, and Jackson just liked watching the process (he was done touching the pumpkins after sticking his hand inside once, as seen on his face in the picture below).



A sister in my ward has been doing a few sewing classes the last couple of months and at the beginning of October she did one to make "Trick-or-Treat" bags. I went and made these (yes, there are five- I only had intended to make 4, but I had enough leftover fabric to make one more, so I figured I might as well make another):



Halloween came and Jefferson and Jackson went off to school in their costumes (or costume #1 for Jackson):



That evening we all got ready for trick-or-treating (now Jackson is in costume #2):



The kids collected lots of candy and had lots of fun. Jackson and Mason were both nervous to go up to the houses that had "scary" decorations, but the lure of candy was enough for Mason that he still made it to the door, despite fussing a little all the way up and back. The weather forecast had said it would be a nice night, and it was, except for the rain that had been left out of the forecast. It was still warmer than last year, even with being slightly wet, so all was good. After dropping Jackson and Mason off (I was tired of pushing the stroller around), Jefferson and I went back out to hit a few more homes.

Halloween! Finally!

I know I'm a little late getting these up. I've been waiting for some pictures a friend took at our Ward Halloween Party, but it's been 2 weeks and I still haven't received them, so here are the pictures from actual Halloween night:

Mason was a frog and Jackson was a monkey:

Jefferson was a fireman (again) and I was a Pirate:

I wanted Nate to be "The Man With the Yellow Hat" but I didn't get around to finding a yellow hat and a pair of pants that would work and dying a white shirt yellow. I was just too busy everything else going on (like the Murder Mystery Party).

The night started off with Jefferson sneaking outside while we were handing out candy to kids at our door. After about 5 minutes of scary panicked searching, I found him around the corner. We had a little chat about not going out alone to go trick-or-treating and then we went back home and picked up Jackson and Mason and continued on our way. Jackson was definately more into trick-or-treating this year. He enjoyed going up to the doors and holding his bag out. He even said "trick-or-treat" a couple of times! Mason was stuck in the stroller the whole time, but didn't complain much at all. Jefferson had fun running from door to door and after about 30 homes was content with his candy ("Wow, I've got lots of candy!") so we returned home. Pretty short and sweet.

Jefferson's Kindergarten Halloween Party

I was able to help out with Jefferson's class Halloween Party. We sent up four stations for the kids and rotated them around the room. We did Pumpkin Bowling, Don't Eat Pete, Halloween Bingo, and cookie decorating (and eating). I was in charge of Pumpkin Bowling. I took a bunch of bottles (juice, soda, milk) and covered them with white fabric to look like ghosts and then the kids took turns bowling a small pumpkin trying to knock over the ghosts. The kids had lots of fun (and silly me didn't think to take any pictures of the kids in action).

Here are some pictures of Jefferson's class, another parent, and his teacher:

The Pumpkin Patch

The Saturday before Halloween we took a trip to a local pumpkin patch (Mabey's Pumpkin Patch in South Jordan- a great find!) to pick out some pumpkins and take some cute pictures. It was getting a little late in the season to be picking out pumpkins, so the choices were limited, but we still found some great pumpkins to take home. The kids had lots of fun running around the pumpkin patch and picking up pumpkins. Jefferson was ready to buy almost every pumpkin but we talked him down to his favorite two (one of which was "for dad"). Mason loved picking up the small pumpkins, and Jackson was fascinated by the tractor going around.

For FHE on Monday we carved the pumpkins. I carved a mean Jack Skellington and Jefferson had Nate do a traditional Jack-o-lantern face. Jefferson had fun scooping out the insides of the pumpkins. Mason and Jackson weren't interested.