Halloween Celebrating

On the 31st day of Halloween we had a sugar high, over and over again!  It maybe wasn't as bad as it could have been, but then maybe it was.  It was certainly a fun day for one and all.

The pre-school morning routine got significant readjustment today as I helped Blythe put herself together with her costume.  She was Pippi Longstocking this year, and Pippi's hair was a challenge.  I had to figure out how to do flippy-up braided ponytails, spray it all red, and add some freckles to her cheeks and nose.  It took some time, but we sent her out the door looking not entirely like herself--just right for Halloween. 

Brandt, now in middle school and somewhat over the whole Halloween thing, which he's never liked anyway, went to school dressed normally.  In a nod to the holiday, he did wear a jack-o-lantern hat, but that was all.  He could have dressed up, but didn't.

Mikayla volunteered in Brick's class for his Halloween party.  She's having babies in the new year, and wanted to help in the first half of the year.  So I had Cora and Kal.  We went to Macy's for dry ice because I was making root beer later in the day and didn't want to forget the dry ice and have to run all over the valley trying to find some like happened last year.  We wandered around the store, visited with a neighbor we ran into, and then played at our house for a bit when we got through. 

I had a moment or two of calm, and then I got a call from Andrea Lucas (she who was with us yesterday) who needed some help finishing up moving out of her apartment.  She was still miserable from her oral surgery yesterday, she was working alone, and she didn't have enough boxes.  She's moving to Washington and trying to get everything she owns in a minivan.  I helped maneuver boxes and loose items into small spaces in the van, while encouraging her to make the final push before they came to check her out of her apartment at 4:00pm.  I had to leave her at 3:00 because my children were coming home from school, and I had to make root beer for the neighborhood hot dog party, but several kind people stepped in to help, and she got everything done. 

I made root beer in the kitchen sink (the coolers were in the sink, not the root beer directly) and tried to ply the children with something healthy to eat before they went off to do their trick-or-treating.  "Have a crunchy!" I kept saying.  It all fell on deaf ears.  Shortly before 6:00pm, Kent and I took the root beer down to Nelson and Hilary Davis' house.  They were hosting the hot dog party at their house.  The Hills have done it for years and years and years (like over three decades), but couldn't make it back from St. George, and asked if anyone else was willing to host.  Hilary volunteered, then wisely asked for donations of food from all the rest of us.  So smart.  It's a super fun tradition in the neighborhood and we don't really want it to stop, but it's a big job and should be shared.  We were happy to contribute the root beer, and happy to eat a hot dog and chips to start the evening off.  I love visiting with our neighbors.

On the way home, we stopped at the Seamon's house for a churro and at the Stice's for a donut.  So much super celebrating!  We spent the rest of the evening handing out candy, as the children came in and out periodically.  Blythe trick-or-treated with Lilly and Emma Bradford, and Brandt trick-or-treated with Paul and Kevin Moreland.  For the evening's activities, Brandt "dressed up" like a weatherman from the Weather Channel who did ridiculous fake reporting.  He put on a beany, made a small hand-held microphone, and a blue jacket.  They had a great time and returned late in the evening sacks full of candy. 

The Johnsens came to our house early and did a bit of trick-or-treating.  They were happy to see us, and we were happy to see them.  As frequently happens by the end of a long day full of activity, the children were very tired as they came back from candy gathering.  Cora stomped in and said, emphatically, "Grantie Kake, I take a bubble bath!" and stomped upstairs.  She was retrieved before she could start filling the tub, and went home for a bubble bath at her own house. 

In other reporting, Blythe and all the fifth and sixth graders got to go Classic Skating to roller skate.  Blythe said it was super fun and she had a great time.  I wasn't there, so no pictures.

 

 

 And on a final note, we did go across the street to see Jim Cutler's pumpkins.  He did the Munsters and the Addams Family themed pumpkins which were all amazing, as always.  He also carved a Chris Baird pumpkin, our dear friend who died in June.  He was her home teacher for many years, and she loved his pumpkins, and he carved her face, then had her looking towards all the pumpkins.  I thought that was very sweet.  No pictures of that, either.

On the 30th Day of Halloween

On the 30th day of Halloween we carved pumpkins for the porch.  A couple of weeks ago, we went to select pumpkins.  I'm happy to report that I didn't need a pumpkin intervention this year.  We bought a very reasonable number of gourds.  It has been warm this month, and I discovered that a couple of the pumpkins had molded, leaving big chunks black and mushy.  We couldn't carve the big one Brandt had selected, and one that I had chosen, but we had smaller ones that worked for him and me.

Here's how the carving went.  Brandt hacked away at his pumpkin on his own, free-handing a face complete with unibrow, zit, big smiley mouth, and mustache.  Blythe wanted a pattern, and when I couldn't find our book with pumpkin carving patterns, she had to look one up online and then had to have lots of help from me to realize the pumpkin of her imagination.  I carved a small white squash to look like a ghost, and we left the rest to moulder and ooze a bit.  It was a fun FHE activity and gave the front porch an even more Halloween-y feel that before.

Now, before tomorrow, I need to find some votives to put inside.
Pictures courtesy of Andrea Lucas, my friend, who was hanging out with us today following surgery on her mouth.

 

  

DeMartini Family Halloween Party

On the 29th Day of Halloween we gathered with the DeMartinis for a Halloween party.  We all met at our house which is overly decorated and just right for a party held this month.  We had dinner--pizza for the children and chicken pot pie for the adults.  We adults were so happy not to have pizza, and the children were so happy they got to have it. 

We played a rhyming game where you had to find and identify two rhyming items sitting together--hook on a book, sock on a clock, candle on the handle, bug on the rug.  There were 21 official rhymes, but Guy and the big boys came up with several of their own--Crew by the brew (Crew standing next to the steaming pot of cider), Brandt by an ant (plastic bugs), Luke by the puke (guacamole with black chips the boys thought looked gross), Blake by cake (which I had made).  We did donuts on a string, and then Collin wanted a punch board.  Mikayla and I bought a board, cut holes in it, put prizes in tissue paper covered cups behind the holes, and then let everyone have a turn punching a hole and getting the "treat" behind the paper.  Collin was very pleased. 

Mikayla took pictures of everyone in their costumes and all the kids together.  Blythe is going as Pippi Longstocking and wanted to do her whole hair, a whole process I was unwilling to help with, so she wasn't costume complete.  And Brandt has been planning to go trick-or-treating as a middle-schooler-who-is-largely-over-Halloween -but-still-wants-candy, so he didn't really have a costume, per se. 

Otherwise, many people ran around sort of shrieking and getting cake and donut all over the floor.  Cora, dressed as Princess Peach, ran around and around carrying a donut on a plate, waving it wildly about.  We all thought it would for sure fall on the ground, but the frosting held it firmly affixed, making it look like a stage prop, not a real donut.  She probably ran around six or seven times before it did fall off, but she stopped mid stride, picked it up, stuck it back on the plate, and took off again.  We do enjoy being with family on occasions such as this.

 Cousins eating

 

This is the cake I wanted to make,

 

and what mine actually looked like.  

My colors weren't as vivid, the batter not as separated,

but the cake certainly looked scary,

so I guess it was a win!

 

Mikayla's picture makes it look better.

 I made ice cream brain, too.

Cora and Kal were loving the picture taking.

I think next year, we need to take a picture of all the adults looking much like the children; 

some behaving, some not.